Which lens for d5300

[dazza141]

I'm new to digital photography and looking at buy a Nikon D5300. but I am very confused on what lenses to get. I have some experience from my younger days with film SLR but haven't taken photos for years. I would like to be able to take landscapes in low light and full night like star shots. Also I differently would like to take macro shots. I have been trying to compare different lenses but to go I'm getting very confused on which way to go. I was looking at the Tamron 16-300 but research told me that the picture quality wasn't good. Could someone help me with maybe two lenses to go from 16 to 300+ I am on a budget of around $1000.

Thanks Darryl

[ricktas]

Welcome Daryl,

Looking forward to seeing you on the forums.

To answer your question re lens. For landscapes look at something like the Sigma 10-20. And for macro, I would look at probably the Sigma 150mm f2.8. Even then you will be pushing the limits of your $1000.00 budget. There are better lenses out there for landscapes but you would be blowing your budget on just one wide angle in the f2.8 arena, even before you looked at the macro lens.

[Kym]

:gday: & Welcome to AP!
- lets see some photos in the main CC forums (http://www.ausphotography.net.au/forum/forumdisplay.php?5) maybe try a competition or 2 and have fun!

[Hawthy]

Hi Daryl,

If you are new to photography you might want to start with the 18-55 mm kit lens that you can often pick up quite cheaply as a package with the D5300. It is a good compromise until you work out just what you really love shooting. If you want to take landscapes in low light and night star shots, you can do these with that lens but you will need a tripod. Maybe set aside $150 to get a reasonably good tripod.

Also, make sure that you get some good processing software and learn how to use it. Good processing can resolve myriad deficiencies in the original shot. If you enjoy landscape photography you will love being able to stitch several photographs into one panoramic shot. You can easily do this using your 18-55 mm lens and most people will not be able to tell that this was not taken with a specialised lens.

I am subscribed to Photoshop Creative Cloud including Lightroom for $9.99 per month and this offer is still available. At first glance, Photoshop appears daunting. However, there are many tutorials on just about any aspect of Photoshop on the web.

Once you have a good grasp on the basics and understand what you want to shoot, then have a look at other lenses. Unlike camera bodies, lenses retain their value so if you buy one and find that you don't use it, you can usually unload it on-line without too much of a loss.

Good luck and I look forward to seeing some of your work soon.

[arthurking83]

...... I was looking at the Tamron 16-300 but research told me that the picture quality wasn't good. Could someone help me with maybe two lenses to go from 16 to 300+ I am on a budget of around $1000.

Thanks Darryl

16mm to 300mm with a budget of about $1000 is either impossible to do with high quality image capture, or involves a few compromises.

The Tammy lens will probably give you OK image quality, as long as the output you require isn't overly excessive.

That is, if you generally want to print the whole image to only an A5 size(fold a piece of A4 in half), or simply want to share to the web at 1000pixels wide .. I doubt that the tammy lens would disappoint you in terms of image quality.

Note that the D5300 is a very high res capable camera(24Mp over the sensor size is quite high resolution) .. and there is a tendency to pixelpeep images once they're on the computer screen.
A low resolution lens like the Tammy lens will disappoint you if you do this, whereas a higher resolving lens will definitely render more image detail.
The problem is that the higher resolving lens has compromises in terms of focal length, price, size, weight .. etc.

The question you need to answer is why did you decide to get a larger DSLR, rather than say a bridge type or P&S camera?
if it's for the sake of greater image quality capability, then the camera is fine(and will provide the means to do so) .. but if you skimp on lens options, then you're not really doing the camera justice in some way.

In terms of the kinds of lenses that you could use successfully on the D5300(and hence achieve IQ that makes the purchase worth the effort):

Sigma 10-20 f/4-5.6 or Sigma 8-16mm f/4-5.6(wide angle for most landscape situations)
Nikon 55-200VR or 55-300VR(another important question is do you need focal length up to 300mm?)
Tamron or Sigma macro lens in the 90-105mm range.

All three lenses will cost just a bit over $1000, but should give you better image quality at the extreme ends of the focal length ranges, than a lens like the Tammy 16-300mm will.
The advantage of the Tammy 16-300 is that it's all packaged in the one item.

As for software, it's not unreasonable to suggest the use of software such as Adobe's CC system, but for the sake of price, and to get started out and find your feet, I normally suggest the use of Nikon's free software(comes with your camera) .. BUT!! to shoot raw(NEF) file type from day one.
Clicking about, aimlessly and without any prior knowledge of image editing software is very easy and educational in Nikon's software .. as long as you shoot in raw.

[Hawthy]

I interpreted Darryl's post as looking for a complete camera and lens set up for less than $1K. While the suggestions provided have wonderful lenses, I think that a beginner might want to consider a less expensive set up. For instance, one can buy a D5300 with an 18-140 mm zoom for under AUD $850. I have no experience with this lens, but I think that it would provide a beginner with a great focal length variety and a brilliant introduction to photography.

Now, one could spend heaps on a f2.8 zoom but is a beginner really likely to need this? It has a very shallow DOF. Darryl wants to shoot landscapes and night shots Most landscapes are typically shot between f8 and f22. You need to be pretty skilled to use f2.8 successfully for any photos. I believe that people starting out need some basic things. A tripod. A remote release. Good processing software.

I am a beginner photographer and I think that these basic items have helped me enormously. Plus using the weekly challenge. That is a structured way to challenge and stretch yourself.

[arthurking83]

good point.

I've assumed that the $1K budget was for the two lenses .. not the entire setup.

From what I've read the 18-140mm lens is quite good. If it's even just a little bit better than the Nikon 18-105VR(which I have) then it'll provide good images.

[Mary Anne]

Hello Darryl and Welcome to AP. I am going to suggest *Keep Saving* :D

[dazza141]

hi all
Thanks for all the great advice sorry I haven't been updating but I've been away from internet connection's. The Tamron lens seemed to be the answer but with a lot of looking at lens reviews I have gone with two lenses the Nikon 18-140 and the Tamron 70-300. The reviews I seen gave both lenses very good reports for picture quality and build. The budget was just for lenses and I have come very close to it, the rest of the package included a tripod and flash. The very first thing I will be getting when the budget recovers a bit will be a Nikon 50 f1.8 but not just yet. Looking forward to see what you think of my choice. The only major problem I have now is I'm going away for work and can only think about using it not getting out there into something I really enjoyed years ago cant wait.
Once again thanks
Darryl

[Hawthy]

Good choices. I will be interested to hear later which lenses became favourites, and why. Have fun.

[Mark L]

G'day Darryl.
Looking forward to seeing some photos those lenses take.
Hope you get involved here. 'tis what makes forums work.:th3: