Help - What Lens for D40 general use?

Makhaira

Makhaira

Makhaira

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Lancashire, UK
I know next to nothing about photography. Remember that!

I'm looking to get my girlfriend (who is into photography) a present of a new lens for her camera - it's a Nikon D40 body. Her existing lens died a death so it's currently in a bag in the cupboard, much to her disappointment. Her old one was the normal one with the D40, and she was after something a bit more versatile this time.

Any suggestions or advice at all? Both on the item and where to buy it from ideally!

Thanks!
 
The lens is dead and buried so I don't think I'll be able to find out what it is without giving the game away.

Budget wise, what do I need to spend for something decent in D40 sort of territory? I don't want to fit rubbish to a Rolls Royce, but I don't want to massively overspec something either.

Thanks for the help!
 
The d40 is a pretty old camera nowadays but I can only guess it had a 18-55 kit lens on it, you can pick these up new for about £75

It's hard to say what she requires but assuming she did have the usual kit lens then I'd maybe go for an 18-105 for about £170 as that gives a bit more versatility
 
Thanks for that. Is the mounting generic? I. E. If its an old camera and I get a lens, will she be able to reuse the lens on another nikon in the future?

Any suggestions on good or bad places to buy from? Cheers!
 
Get a used Nikon 18-105mm VR, shouldn't be much more than £100 and its an excellent general purpose kit lens.

Lots of people have them and they never leave the camera.
 
Makhaira said:
Thanks for that. Is the mounting generic? I. E. If its an old camera and I get a lens, will she be able to reuse the lens on another nikon in the future?

Any suggestions on good or bad places to buy from? Cheers!
Click to expand...

Yup as long as she sticks to Nikon dSLRs she will be able to use the lense with a newer body. Obviousely if she's moved to a different make she will need to replace the lens as well.

Although there have been changes Nikon have used the same basic mount since the '60s. Although not all lenses will work with the D40. You need to look for AF-s lenses.

I've bought lenses from various places, London Camera exchange can be good. But they dodn't seem to have very consisntent pricing between branches.

MPB photographic (http://www.mpbphotographic.co.uk/) are very well regaurded (I've not used them personally).

This lens is probably the one she had.

THis one is the one Columbo suggested.

If you're looking to buy new then camerapricebuster.com is a good place to look for deals.

One thing you could do is replace her 18-55 with another one and then also get a cheap telephoto lens. Like this 55-200.
 
Any experience of how the 18-105 compares to the 18-55 in terms of quality? I have been warned off wide-zoom lenses because of barrel distortion, but not sure what length/range it is really an issue at. I think an 18-105 would suit most of my needs, and I'm hopnig to pick up a 2nd hand D5100 and lens next month.
 
There's very little difference between them except the 18-105mm zooms in further and is bigger as a result.

Unless you are taking pictures of brick walls you wont see the barrel distortion so I certainly wouldn't worry about it and whoever warned you off buying them because of it should really learn what they are talking about before offering such rubbish as 'advice'.
 
Columbo said:
There's very little difference between them except the 18-105mm zooms in further and is bigger as a result.

Unless you are taking pictures of brick walls you wont see the barrel distortion so I certainly wouldn't worry about it and whoever warned you off buying them because of it should really learn what they are talking about before offering such rubbish as 'advice'.
Click to expand...

To be fair, they were directing their advice to things more in the range of 18-250+mm, I just wasn't sure how far down that extended!
I actually asked them the question of "why not just buy an 18-250 and be done"
 
Depends how much you want to spend and whether you want like for like.

1. 16-85mm VR - £420
2. 18-105mm VR - £170
3. 18-55mm VR - £80 (this is the lens that would have come with her D40 but with VR) + 35mm f/1.8 DX - £140
 
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abbotsmike said:
To be fair, they were directing their advice to things more in the range of 18-250+mm, I just wasn't sure how far down that extended!
I actually asked them the question of "why not just buy an 18-250 and be done"
Click to expand...

This doodle might help, or it might just make you more confused.

http://imaging.nikon.com/lineup/lens/simulator/

Oh and the 35mm f1.8 is an amazing lens but I don't think it's what your g/f is looking for.

I would stick with the 18-55 + 50-200, or the 18-105 or the 18-70 is also a nice lens.

Do you have a budget in mind?
 
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