Since December last year I started to practice professional photography with my first DSLR, a level entry Nikon D3300. I bought a kit at Costco and brought two lenses. The first one is a DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f / 3.5-5.6G VR II. The second one is a DX NIKKOR 55-200mm f / 4-5.6G ED VR II.
My interest is landscape and macro photography. I know they are two different lenses, one for each thing, but really do not know which one to buy because I do not know much about the socket so the lens can fit in the camera. Also there are some people that say the Nikon D3300 is not āfull frameā and there are certain lenses that should be avoided because it could not use them entirely, because they are focused on cameras with āfull frameā sensors, but I donāt know which lenses they refer.
So, can you help me? What lens should I buy for a Nikon D3300, for landscape and macro photography? Which lenses should I avoid because of the sensor size? How can I know what lens are compatible with my camera?
@Psyfurius Two lenses you mentioned are more than sufficient for almost all normal needs and they have (especially the 55-200 VRII) great quality. Is your creativity really affected by lack of lenses?
Thus, it will be nice to know first how many shots you have MISSED so far due to lack of lenses and what is the percentage of those missed shots to the shots that you were able to take.
If you havenāt looked at that data and still want to buy new lenses, then it is most likely that you seem to be infected by the Gear Aquisition Syndrome (GAS). In this syndrome, person assumes that acquiring sophisticated gear automatically improves their skill as a photographer. Please be very careful about your purchases.
I can safely wager (with about 99.9% success rate) that during the last 10 months or so you have not yet reached the limiting factor of the equipment you already have. Thus, my advice will be to first reach a stage where you are unable to take a large percentage of photos that you can SEE in front of you due to lack of equipment and then the choice of which lens to buy becomes clear because it is a necessity.
No, my creativity is not Affected by lack of lenses. Iāve missed some good exposures like that day when i was trying to compose a scene, but my 55-200mm lens is āzoomā. I walked back, but there was a very high fence and I could not capture the scene as I wanted.
And again, no. Iām not AFFECTED by the Gear Aquisition Syndrome (GAS). I read about this and do not identify with this syndrome. The reason I want to buy two new lenses is because I want a macro lens that works for photography and one for landscape. The 55-200mm works for landscape, but as I said, is a zoom lens and I have to get away from the scene and sometimes thatās a problem. The reason I want a macro lens is because I have no lens that works for this type of photography.
Here I show you a picture that I found landscape. At least with the 55-200mm lens that I have, I could not achieve this kind of effect, and I would like to take pictures like this.
Thanks for that Link, I would check it out. I would consider renting lenses, but where? Online? Is there somewhere where I can rent this online? Because in my country ( Puerto Rico ) there is none. I already did that research in the past.
The example you have seem to be taken with lens within your 18-55 lens. Also, some very clever post-processing seem to have been done (probably HDR) to get the final effect as the tonal range looks very wide.
Do you take photographs in raw format or do you depend on the camera to give you the final picture? I do not think any camera/lens can give the picture you have presented as an example.
Here is an example of one of my photos (and, without false modesty, I can say that I am no expert photographer) taken on FUJI XQ1 compact camera (your equipment is much better than it) which is post-processed in GIMP
Here is another example of close-up photo taken on Canon 1100D with 18-55 ākitā lens and post-processed in Rawtherapee (again, your combo is much better than this):
I really think that your two lenses (18-55 and 55-200) cover almost all the range required for landscape photography. If you do not shoot raw and post-process your photos, I feel that you will never get the picture of your example. No matter what lens you use.
I think that @shreedhar had a somewhat too negative approach when he warned you about becoming infected by the Gear Acquisition Syndrome (GAS). Oh, it is true, it is possible to become infected. However, some suffer from the infection while others simply enjoy it.
May I suggest a small, tiny, not-too-expensive acquisiton to your Nikon D3300?
An acquisition that will greatly improve your macro possibilities: a set of extension tubes!
[quote=āClaes, post:11, topic:2191ā]
An acquisition that will greatly improve your macro possibilities: a set of extension tubes!
[/quote]I totally second that. A diopter like the Raynox DCR250 would be another alternative. Both will allow you to do some macro work with your existing lenses. Whatās even better should you buy a dedicated macro lens later you can still use them together for even more magnification.
Regarding landscapes, Iād say (ultra) wide angle lenses are really good fun. Stitching panoramas can be an alternative but I find it quite a lot more work and it can be quite tricky if there is foreground because of the parallax. I do like zooms for landscape work because of the more flexible framing but on a budget an ultra wide angle prime is probably your best bet. Given that your Camera has a crop sized sensor youāll want something really wide. Probably a 10mm at the wide end. Maybe have a look at the samyang 10mm/2.8. Another thing youāll probably want is a tripod. It allows you to do long exposures, hdrs (such as the image you posted) and work in low light.
Thank you for this information. I checked if that site ships to Puerto Rico and they do. I will try this before buying a lens. The only thing that I donāt like is the high Shipping and Handling to Puerto Rico. About $20.
I do shot in RAW.
Thanks! This sounds good and inexpensive. I will give it a try. Any suggestions for the type of āextension tubesā I should get? How this works? Attaching the tubes in the camera and then putting on one of my lenses?
Waitā¦ a what? Ultra Wide Angle? I did a search on https://www.lensrentals.com and https://www.dxomark.com , and Iāve not seen that āultraā option. Iāve seen āwide angleā and āsuper wideā, but not āultraā.
I do have a tripod. I bought my tripod at Best Buy a month after I got my camera. Is a Manfrotto - 60" Compact Action Tripod. ( http://www.bestbuy.com/site/manfrotto-60-compact-action-tripod-black/4854011.p?id=1219103680660&skuId=4854011 ) I got it for $120. Itās only $79.99 on their web site, but they donāt ship to Puerto Rico. So you have to buy it in their store at a High price. I went today looking for a new wireless desktop mouse, but the price was too high. So I walked out the store. I need a new mouse that works on Linuxā¦
Here are some photographs that I took with my pair of lenses. I shoot the first two pictures with my 55-200 mm and the last two pictures with my 18-55 mm. This pictures were post edited in Adobe Lightroom. Recently I moved fully to Linux Mint so now Iām practicing with Darktable.
So, what do you think guys? Should I need a āultraā wide lens for landscape or should I stick with my 55-200 mm ? Iām looking forward that tube extension for Macro Photography.
Looks like youāve got it covered. I donāt think youāll get a much better lens than you already have given your budget. Iād look at extension tubes and save the money so you can step up in lens quality with your next purchase.
Close-up lenses and extension tubes have the same drawback, they make your camera (and you) short-sighted: the focus range goes for instance from 40cm->infinite to 20->50cm. No a problem for still photo on a tripod, but when chasing insects this makes you a bit blind. A 2nd-hand 60mm (or better, 100mm) macro lens isnāt that expensive (you donāt need the stabilized versions).
I was answering to the question about getting a wide-angle lens to supplement a tele for landscapes when the poster already has a 18-55mm that can be quite useful in that area (I have a 10-20mm in my bag, and itās mostly used indoorsā¦)
This said, some of the pictures above are more in the outdoor category that in the ālandscapeā one, and some show that a tele lens sort of densifies the hazeā¦ (OK, this is a case where āzoom with your feetā is not very practical, either)
Oh, it is true, it is possible to become infected. However, some suffer from the infection while others simply enjoy it.
