Camera Labs

Hi everyone, we've published a guide to help Nikon DSLR owners choose their next lens.

This guide is aimed at first-time or relatively new DSLR owners who know what kind of photo they want to take, but are not sure what kind of lens they need to do it.

We've split the guide into five sections covering portrait, sports, close-up, wide-angle and general-purpose photography. Within each section we've picked out a number of highlights from the Nikkor lens catalogue which are ideal for that purpose.

We plan to produce guides for other mounts in the near future, along with including third party options. In the meantime, I hope you'll find this guide useful, and as always if you have any questions, please ask right here in the forum. Please keep this thread for comments about the guide though and ask specific lens questions in new or existing threads - thanks!

See our Nikkor lens buyers guide.

If you're interested in just browsing the entire Nikkor catalogue, check out the Nikkor lens range, with specifications and current pricing.

So if you're wondering what lenses are available, how much they weigh, what filter they take and crucially how much they cost, check it out!

Gordon

Thanks to you I picked a Nikkor 14-24 f/2.8 G ED, I had the 16-35 f/4 but upgraded, thanks for the great advice Gordon.

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Nikon D700, Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8G ED

Future purchases: Nikkor 24-70, 70-200 f/2.8G ED & AF Fisheye 16mm f/2.8D

Thank you for the guide and extensive coverage. I just bought a D7100 with 18-200mm zoom kit. It is convenient but IQ is not very good. I am looking for alternatives.

I need better quality between 35-85mm (FF equivalent) that I use over 65% of the time and the wider end of it the most. I realize there are not many DX lenses that compare to the performance of FX lenses. I won't be going to FX camera any time soon, if at all. My interest in FX lenses is because DX camera uses the better part of an FX lens.

Which of the following lenses gives best hi-resolving power for a dense-pixel camera like D7100? I realize this camera has 1.5 times more pixels per mm than the D800 does.

* Nikon 16-85mm DX (covers 90% of my needs but F/5.6 at the long end is slow; does this compare in performance to the 24-85mm?)

* Nikon 17-55 F/2.8 DX (read reviews that this doesn't keep up with newer hi-res cameras)

* Sigma 17-70 F/2.8-4 | C DX (reviews rate it better for newer hi-res cameras)

* Sigma 17-50 F/2.8 DX (older and not optically the same as newer 'C' lenses)

* Nikon 24-85G F/3.5-4.5 FX (you gave it a very good rating on D800; F/4.5 at 85mm is better than the 16-85 DX; is it as good on D7100 with its 50% more pixel density?)

* Tamron 24-70 F/2.8 FX (limit of my lens budget!)

* Nikon 24-70 F/2.8 FX (over my budget and no VR)

I would love to see how the new Sigma 18-35mm F/1.8 Art lens performs; that would be my perfect lens along with 50mm and 85mm primes, but then it may be way over my budget.

Thanks a lot.
Satya