Basic lens suggestions for our D3300

Hi there,

I hope this is the right place to ask this. I know they're basic questions, but our budget isn't that large and we don't want to make wrong lens choices when we buy our camera and lenses.

We are used to shooting on film with a Pentarex. We bought a Canon 1100D but managed to break it and now we wanted a new DSLR.

The new 100D from Canon has a touch screen instead of physical buttons, and the image chip is kind of old.

We will buy a Nikon D3300 instead.


We're used to shooting with a 55mm 1.4 prime Carl Zeiss on our Pentarex. We like it very much.

On our first DSLR, the 15-55 kit lens showed distortion through our viewfinder at 55m. I am guessing that that is something inherent to zoom lenses. We didn't like that at all.

On to the questons we have:

-Would the Nikon 35mm 1.8 prime from Nikon be a good choice for us?

If I'm understanding it correctly, it should be similar to a 50mm on a full frame camera, so it should be similar to that 55mm on our Pentarex film camera? We're looking for a natural looking lens without much distortion.

-If we do get that lens, would there still be a reason to have the 15-55 kit lens? If not we could buy the camera without a kit lens.

-Would the Nikon 55-300 f/4.5-5.6 zoom be a good choice in combination with the 35mm prime?

-Can a normal person hold that 300mm steady enough and still get a nice shot without a tripod? The biggest focal length on our pentarex is a 135mm prime and it was a much faster lens. Not used to shooting with larger focal length lenses.

Thank you.

Welcome!

My Nikon 18-55 VR kit lens is fantastic and the new ones are even better I'm told. Strongly suggest you not pass it up. I also have a 55-200 VR which is very good, I've been told it focuses much faster than the 55-300 VR. I often walk around with that pair on the D300 when I want to travel light. I am very satisfied with the images these budget lenses produce.

My FX Nikon 70-300 AF-S VR is fantastic, sharp and fast focusing, a recommended upgrade from me. I have no trouble hand holding in bright light.....

I believe the DX Nikkor 35 F/1.8 prime is an excellent choice as well.

Enjoy your new camera and gear!

I have a D3300 and the Nikon 18-55 is a good lens that will serve you well. Mine has very little distortion and if there is any, almost all software has a way to correct it. While I believe you will find the 18-55 most useful, the 35/1.8 is an entirely different animal. Eventually, as your budget allows, get the 35 for low light and interior photography. It can also adequately serve as a decent portrait lens. You have a good camera, just use it. A lot!

Good luck.

Thank you both for the information and taking the time to reply to me.

D3300 seperate and with kit lens cost..just compare them if its worth to let go the kit lens
18-55 newer verison is amazing..a highly under rated lens..
35 prime is mindblowing..too too good for its price..

55-300 is good but save a bit and go for 70-300VR


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Welcome to the forum, Tass.

If you fill out your profile we can better answer any questions that you might have.
You can do that at http://nikonites.com/profile.php?do=editprofile

FAQ

Some useful links
Nikon Product Manuals available for download | Nikon Knowledgebase
Nikon | Imaging Products | Digitutor


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Blueandgreenmakecyan Tass said:

-Would the Nikon 35mm 1.8 prime from Nikon be a good choice for us?

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Yes, it would be an excellent choice.

Blueandgreenmakecyan Tass said:

If I'm understanding it correctly, it should be similar to a 50mm on a full frame camera, so it should be similar to that 55mm on our Pentax film camera? We're looking for a natural looking lens without much distortion.

Click to expand...

The 35mm is just the ticket. It's not a portrait lens so if you try to do head and shoulder shots, yes; you'll see some perspective distortion but that's not what this lens is for. For general shooting purposes the 35mm f/1.8G is a must have.

Blueandgreenmakecyan Tass said:

-If we do get that lens, would there still be a reason to have the 15-55 kit lens? If not we could buy the camera without a kit lens.

Click to expand...

I'm not a huge fan of the 18-55, personally. Nothing wrong with it, per se, but there are so many better options, IMO. This lens would do not but gather dust and take up valuable space in my bag.

Blueandgreenmakecyan Tass said:

-Would the Nikon 55-300 f/4.5-5.6 zoom be a good choice in combination with the 35mm prime?

Click to expand...

I'd say it would be a "good" choice, in that it's a decent, capable lens. Outstanding glass makes a world of difference though, and the 55-300mm is not an outstanding piece of glass. It's also not priced like outstanding glass is. I'd steer you toward the Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED IF AF-S VR instead, personally.

Blueandgreenmakecyan Tass said:

-Can a normal person hold that 300mm steady enough and still get a nice shot without a tripod? The biggest focal length on our pentax is a 135mm prime and it was a much faster lens. Not used to shooting with larger focal length lenses.

Click to expand...

Entirely do-able but you'll want to keep the shutter speed up and that's going to mean, most likely, shooting at higher ISO's. Good technique and VR will help of course.

....

Welcome to the forum.

The D3300 is a fantastic camera, and image wise keeps up with the more expensive D5xxx and D7xxx. What is missing is in my opinion of no consequence if you are used to manual focus film camera.

The 18-55 is a great lens and you should not skimp on it. Any way the difference while purchasing the camera, with and without the lens is very small and not worth letting it go. Here are some salient features of this lens
. A zoom has many advantages over prime, especially when the light is good. It gives you flexibility of framing in tight spaces, and at 55mm you get a decent telephoto.
. It has excellent VR, so slow speed hand held shots come out perfect.
. It has one of the largest magnification factors of a non-macro lens - 0.36 in MF at 55mm. So you can take a lot of close ups of small objects. Coupled with 24MP sensor, you will rarely need a macro lens, at least initially.
. It is extremely light. The D3300 with this lens is lighter than my SB800 flash.
. The battery lasts a long time - between 400 and 500 shots for me, so you will rarely need a second battery during travel, as long as there is electricity where you spend the night.
. With promotions running often, you can pick up the D3300 with 18-55 and the 35mm at practically the official price of the body, and most of the time there is an SD card (4 or 8GB) and bag thrown in.
. Regarding distortion most of the software in the market have distortion correction. I use Nikon's Capture NX-D, a free software for processing RAW images. Keep in mind that RAW images have the full DR in them (compared to jpg), so recovering shadows or marginally blown highlights is a breeze if you shoot RAW.

The 35mm F1.8DX is another lens which is underrated. I have used it for concert & parties and usually at F1.8 you need no flash. As you have already pointed out the lens has the same FOV as the 50mm on film.

There are many posts in this forum of images from these two lenses. You can view my posts in the D3300, Prime and Wide Angle sections to get an idea of what is possible.

Thanks so much everyone. I filled in the rest of my profile Fotojack, thanks for that. Although it doesn't recognise our pentarex or any of our zeisss lenses, they're pretty old.

I got to see and hold the camera and the lenses in a shop for a bit.

Thank you for the suggestion about the Kit lens Aroy. We will buy it with kit lens then, since you all seem to really like it, thank you for that.

Adityasoman and Horoscope, you both seem to be suggesting the better 70-300 over the 55-300 in the replies. I looked online, I noticed some people not 100% happy with the 55-300 focusing speed. I was looking at the Tamron 70-300 VC too online. I think I might not be completely happy with the 55-300 either, will look at the other 2.

They didn't have those zooms in the shop, but I did get to see the 35mm 1.8, it looked nice.


They showed me the 85 prime 1.8G, I really really like that lens for some reason. It looks very similar to our 135mm on our pentarex film camera and it seemed familiar. Guessing because of the crop factor on the Nikon. It's still affordable and I really love it's compact size and magnification. Does anyone happen to know if it has any issues with the D3300, will autofocus work properly? (I read something about autofocusing not working with the D3100).

I held the 3300 for a bit, it was extremely light and nice to hold.

Thanks so much for all those replies, wish I could quote everyone but that would be a long reply.

The 85 1.8 G lens will work flawlessly on your 3300. You will never regret getting this lens, I promise.

That's great to hear, thank you Marcel.

I think starting out with the kit lens and 35 85 primes is a great idea.

Add a 70-300 AF-s VR down the road.

(Translation I want a 85 f 1.8 G too !!! )

One think I have noticed is that all moderately priced zooms are soft at 300mm, so the long end - 300mm is only useful for occasional shots when you have one lens with you and are not bothered much about IQ. Other wise the 300mm F4 AF-S is the most cost effective lens for dedicated long distance shots (even more so with the TC1.4, which makes it a 420mm).