Zoom Lens

[Dazza]

I've got a Nikon D40 that has the kit lens - i would love to get another lens to take some close ups of wildlife but not sure which lens to go for.

I don't have allot of money so i would be looking on ebay for a second hand one - can anyone recommend one for me.

I've heard Sigma are good.

[robski]

Dazza

You really need to specify the size of wildlife (ants, bird, horse) and the distance your be taking the shot from.

[Dazza]

Originally Posted by robski

Dazza

You really need to specify the size of wildlife (ants, bird, horse) and the distance your be taking the shot from.

Birds...Squirrels... at about 25 to 30 yards.

What are these lenses like? NIKON 70-300mm f4~f5.6 AF G Zoom Lens

[Joe]

Hi Dazza,
Yes, that lens 70-300 will give you higher magnification at the tele end, than say the Nikon 55-200mm (which normally comes with the twin lens kits)
Bearing in mind you want to use the lens on a D40 body, you'll need to be looking for AF-S lenses (the ones with the Auto Focus motor in the lens). Nikon AF-S lenses will be your better choice. Unfortunately AF-S being the slightly more expensive range.
To my knowledge none of the independant lens manufacturers like Sigma and Tamron will give you Autofocus with your D40 body (was true a year ago, but I stand corrected if Sigma or Tamron have since sorted this, and launched an AF-S type lens).
Personally I would be looking at the Nikon lens range, and checking it is an AF-S one. The 70-300mm you suggested is good zoom range, unless you have really deep pockets.

hope this helps
good luck
cheers

[sigmasd14]

Originally Posted by Joe

Hi Dazza,
Yes, that lens 70-300 will give you higher magnification at the tele end, than say the Nikon 55-200mm (which normally comes with the twin lens kits)
Bearing in mind you want to use the lens on a D40 body, you'll need to be looking for AF-S lenses (the ones with the Auto Focus motor in the lens). Nikon AF-S lenses will be your better choice. Unfortunately AF-S being the slightly more expensive range.


To my knowledge none of the independant lens manufacturers like Sigma and Tamron will give you Autofocus with your D40 body (was true a year ago, but I stand corrected if Sigma or Tamron have since sorted this, and launched an AF-S type lens).
Personally I would be looking at the Nikon lens range, and checking it is an AF-S one. The 70-300mm you suggested is good zoom range, unless you have really deep pockets.

hope this helps
good luck
cheers

Or he could save a lot of money and get a much sharper and faster, used, 300mm prime lens like the Tamron SP 300mm f2.8 LD IF (60B model). Yes, the 60B is manual focus but wide open the Tamron would be sharper than the Nikon zoom wide open and it has two whole stops advantage over the Nikon at 300mm so giving you the option of using much faster shutter speeds to enable you to feeze fast moving action like birds in flight.
Add a Tamron 2x BBAR teleconverter and you have a 600mm lens with the same speed as the Nikon and with virtually any noticable loss of image quality.