Zoom Lenses What Is Good For Me, and Questions about mm

Question

Hey guys I just found myself wanting to buy a zoom lens. Now I have only been using my Nikon for skateboarding photography, meaning with my fisheye and I have never used a zoom lens of my own before.

Now this past week I have found myself wanting one so my question is what is a good example of a lens that would out perform lets say a lens that would come with a package with a camera. I want to see things up close you know. anything 2-500$ and around that range is fine by me.

And what is the difference between an 18-70mm lens and a 55-200mm lens. They both look like they zoom in about the same amount at a picture comparasin but if I am mistaken doesn't the larger the number at the end mean more zooming capability?

I have a d60 by the way...

Answer 1

The 55-200mm will zoom much further. The higher the mm the closer things will appear in the viewfinder.  The difference between the lenses is that the 18-70mm lens goes from slight wide angle to mild telephoto while the 55-200 goes from about normal (what the eye sees) to mid range telephoto. The 55-200mm is a good choice that is in your price range. For a little more reach you can try the 70-300mm. I provided the link below. You may be able to find a better price but this should give you a good description of the lens.

http://www.ritzcamera.com/product/541536...

Answer 2

50mm is the standard lens. About the same angle as our eye. Below that around 18mm and shorter are called wide angle...all the way to fish eye. Higher than 50 are the telephotos up to 1000mm or maybe higher. If you use it for skateboarding an 18-70mm would do. That would also allow you to get closer to your subject and still pan your subject easily. 55-200mm will also suffice, provided you are good on tracking your subject specially if you are in 200mm but you have to stand further back. But if you can get the 18-210mm that should cover both lens you mentioned. I'm not so sure if they made it yet for your digital SLR.

A good starting zoom for you is the 18-70mm package with the camera.

Good shooting!

Answer 3

Well yeah, in layman's terms the greater the number the closer you get.

There's a huge difference between the 18-70mm and the 55-200mm. The 18-70mm is a moderate wide-angle zoom whereas the 55-200mm is a moderate telephoto zoom. They're both pretty much entry-level glass for different uses so comparing them wouldn't be practical.

What you should get is up to you and your needs. The 18-70mm when mounted on a D60 is equivalent to a 27-105mm lens. The 55-200mm is an 82.5-300mm equiv. lens.

Take a look here to see what that means:

http://www.tamroneurope.com/flc.htm

Slide the slider over the actual focal length (mm), not the equivalent, to get a representation of what you'll get on a Nikon APS-C DSLR.

A $500 budget will give you a few choices. Let us know whether you're looking for a wide or tele zoom so we can further assist you.