Upgrading my D7100 kit lens.

DMcL

DMcL

Senior Member
Greetings, hope all is well.

I currently shoot a lot with the 18-105 VR Nikon kit lens and have saved up £500 (£600 by end of month) to buy a new lens. I tend to shoot landscapes, murals and long exposures. I do have a 50mm lens (rarely use it) for protraits so covered in that respect.

With my price range am I being realistic in hoping to get much of an upgrade? Sharpness and general image quality are what get me going. As for range I don't think I would like to drop lower than 50mm unless it was hugely advantageous to me.

Current lenses I have are Sigma 10-20mm, Nikon 50mm F1.4, Nikkor 55-300mm and of course the kit lens.

So all suggestions welcome even if it's just to tell me to stick with what I have :) But I do love the thought of a shiny new piece of glass that will up my generak shooting game a notch ot two.

Thanks!
 
J

john*thomas

Senior Member
DMcL said:
Might just be me but that article confused me. Found it hard to navigate and get any sense from. But thank you I'll try reading it later again hopefully make more sense of it.
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The links at the bottom are probably the easiest to figure out. Best Prime models and Best zoom models.

I don't know, I would think the Sigma 10-20 would do pretty well for what you say you shoot mostly....landscapes. Just rambling.....I would think you should be pretty close to being able to afford the highest rated zoom on that list. It's not a landscape lens though.

I have the Tamron 70-200.....again, not a landscape lens but wow, it takes great pictures. Bigger and heavier than what you are using now though.

I suppose one would need to know more of what you are wanting to expand into.
 
DMcL

DMcL

Senior Member
I am probably more interested in finding a good walkabout lens at the lower end of the scale say about 18ish upwards, I rarley go near the 105mm on my existing kit lens.
 
DMcL

DMcL

Senior Member
Two lens that keep popping up are Sigma 18-35mm and Sigma 17-50mm, if anyone has any thoughts on them?
 
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J

john*thomas

Senior Member
DMcL said:
Two lens that keep popping up are Sigma 18-35mm and Sigma 17-55mm, if anyone has any thoughts on them?
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Isn't the Sigma a 17-50? I have a few minutes here but I am far from those here with a vast knowledge of lens. If it's the 17-50 2.8 that would give you something different than what you have. It should give you some real advantages in lower light situations.
 
Horoscope Fish

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
DMcL said:
Greetings, hope all is well.

I currently shoot a lot with the 18-105 VR Nikon kit lens and have saved up £500 (£600 by end of month) to buy a new lens. I tend to shoot landscapes, murals and long exposures. I do have a 50mm lens (rarely use it) for protraits so covered in that respect.

With my price range am I being realistic in hoping to get much of an upgrade? Sharpness and general image quality are what get me going. As for range I don't think I would like to drop lower than 50mm unless it was hugely advantageous to me.

Current lenses I have are Sigma 10-20mm, Nikon 50mm F1.4, Nikkor 55-300mm and of course the kit lens.

So all suggestions welcome even if it's just to tell me to stick with what I have :) But I do love the thought of a shiny new piece of glass that will up my generak shooting game a notch ot two.

Thanks!
Click to expand...
Well it appears to me you've got a pretty mix of focal lengths (10mm to 300mm) and it's all *good* glass, not great, but no real "clunkers" either. This makes specific suggestions difficult.

I would tell you to bear in mind that better glass will help you get cleaner shots, but it will not improve your photography. Maybe a better option would be investing some of that money in some photography classes or other educational material that will help you up your game instead. As I'm fond of saying, at some point you have stop asking yourself, "What lens do I need to get the shot I want?" and start asking yourself, "How do I get the shot I want, with the lens I have?"

One leads question invariably leads to NAS (Nikon Acquisition Syndrome), the other question leads to better photography.
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DMcL

DMcL

Senior Member
Horoscope Fish said:
Well it appears to me you've got a pretty mix of focal lengths (10mm to 300mm) and it's all *good* glass, not great, but no real "clunkers" either. This makes specific suggestions difficult.

I would tell you to bear in mind that better glass will help you get cleaner shots, but it will not improve your photography. Maybe a better option would be investing some of that money in some photography classes or other educational material that will help you up your game instead. As I'm fond of saying, at some point you have stop asking yourself, "What lens do I need to get the shot I want?" and start asking yourself, "How do I get the shot I want, with the lens I have?"

One leads question invariably leads to NAS (Nikon Acquisition Syndrome), the other question leads to better photography.
.....
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Interesting, hear you loud and clear. I do get some good photos with my current kit, and yes definitley I have a lot to learn and improve on. It is more so that the 18-105 lens is on my camera most of the time and sometimes when I print images taken with it they are okay in quality and I have it in my head that the camera body could be pushed further even with my limited 'skills'.
 
DMcL

DMcL

Senior Member
I think the key point is, if there isn't a 'walkabout' lens out there in my price range that will make a marked difference in image quality then I may be better off sticking as I am. Appreciate everyones' input.
 
Horoscope Fish

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
DMcL said:
I think the key point is, if there isn't a 'walkabout' lens out there in my price range that will make a marked difference in image quality then I may be better off sticking as I am. Appreciate everyones' input.
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Well, my favorite two walk-about lenses for my D7100 are the Nikon 18-140mm which would be a step-up, IMO, from your 18-105mm. Exactly how much of a step up is harder to quantify. You'll gain some focal length, a little bit better build quality and a little better image, overall. My other favorite is the Tamron 24-70mm f/2.8 Di VC USD. It's less focal length, at both ends of the spectrum, but the IQ is simply superb. This lens, or its Nikon equivalent, would out-class anything in your current arsenal.
....
 
DMcL

DMcL

Senior Member
Horoscope Fish said:
Well, my favorite two walk-about lenses for my D7100 are the Nikon 18-140mm which would be a step-up, IMO, from your 18-105mm. Exactly how much of a step up is harder to quantify. You'll gain some focal length, a little bit better build quality and a little better image, overall. My other favorite is the Tamron 24-70mm f/2.8 Di VC USD. It's less focal length, at both ends of the spectrum, but the IQ is simply superb. This lens, or its Nikon equivalent, would out-class anything in your current arsenal.
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For some reason I assumed, that if I went from 105 to 140 I would lose some IQ, so interesting suggestion. As for the Tamron, I will have a play about with the 24mm on the Nikon simulator that someone kindly linked to see if I would be happy with that as widest focal length, as I understand the D7100 is a DX so the 24 becomes 35 or close to it with crop.
 
Horoscope Fish

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
DMcL said:
For some reason I assumed, that if I went from 105 to 140 I would lose some IQ, so interesting suggestion. As for the Tamron, I will have a play about with the 24mm on the Nikon simulator that someone kindly linked to see if I would be happy with that as widest focal length, as I understand the D7100 is a DX so the 24 becomes 35 or close to it with crop.
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I've found the 18-105mm is marginally sharper at the widest focal lengths. Beyond that, I've found the 18-140mm to be sharper and too have better contrast.
 
DMcL

DMcL

Senior Member
Horoscope Fish said:
I've found the 18-105mm is marginally sharper at the widest focal lengths. Beyond that, I've found the 18-140mm to be sharper and too have better contrast.
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Thanks, appreciate your time. Lots to think about over the nex week. I also seen Sigma have a 24-70mm lens I'll dig about a bit and see how this compares to the Tamron you mentioned.
 
hark

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
DMcL said:
Thanks, appreciate your time. Lots to think about over the nex week. I also seen Sigma have a 24-70mm lens I'll dig about a bit and see how this compares to the Tamron you mentioned.
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The Tamron is better than the Sigma plus it has VR that the Sigma lacks. That said, I own the Sigma and love mine. I tested 3 copies of the Sigma lens, and this one was noticeably sharper than the other two. Contrast is less than a comparable Tamron or Nikon lens, but that can be corrected in post.
 
D

Don Kuykendall_RIP

RIP :(
Horoscope Fish said:
I've found the 18-105mm is marginally sharper at the widest focal lengths. Beyond that, I've found the 18-140mm to be sharper and too have better contrast.
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I had the 18-105 to start with and moved to the 18-140 and I found the 18-140 on my D7100 was much nicer. I think it had better IQ to my eye. I did recently move up to the 24-120 F4 lens on my D7100. I miss the extra wide and length but the IQ of that lens on the D7100 is very nice. Also trying to upgrade all my lenses to FX in anticipation of upgrading my camera at some point in the future and in the meantime I bet better glass on my DX camera. It runs around $1,100 USD so not sure if that is in your budget
 
DMcL

DMcL

Senior Member
Don Kuykendall said:
I had the 18-105 to start with and moved to the 18-140 and I found the 18-140 on my D7100 was much nicer. I think it had better IQ to my eye. I did recently move up to the 24-120 F4 lens on my D7100. I miss the extra wide and length but the IQ of that lens on the D7100 is very nice. Also trying to upgrade all my lenses to FX in anticipation of upgrading my camera at some point in the future and in the meantime I bet better glass on my DX camera. It runs around $1,100 USD so not sure if that is in your budget
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Excuse my ignorance (stupidity) how do you know if your lens is FX? and would an FX lens make any difference on a DX body? I won't be looking to move from the D7100 for a long, long time if ever.
 
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