Any recomendations

I was looking at getting one of these for my D40:

Tamron 70-300mm F4/5.6 DI LD Macro (Nikon AF)
http://www.jessops.com/online.store/products/66332/show.html

anyothers for the sub £200 bracket. I would love a 'one lense' does all… but I guess thay are mega money…

cheers

nikon 55-200 may be a better bet, what lens do you already have?

got the standard 18-55 that came with..

thing is I like macro photography… but the 55 just isnt enough grunt in the zoom dept.

I'd be wary of getting a lens that long with no optical stabilisation, unless you are going to be using it with a decent amount of light and on a tripod most of the time; which if it's primarily for macro might well be the case.

I had a quick look on Warehouse Express and they're a bit above your budget but the Sigma 17-70 Macro (£250) might be worth a look or the Tamron 28-200 macro (£250) although that's only 1:4 reproduction ration which isn't really macro….

The equiv Sigma 70-300 comes into your budget – I picked a nice one up 2nd hand for under £100 a year or so ago, it's not top glass, but happy enough with it for going out-and-about with it and not worrying too much about the consequences. As Stumpy says, it's fine in good light, but the lack of IS can be a ballache shooting in-hand if conditions aren't ideal.

The 18-200 is excellent, the macro isn't that great but its pretty close to do it all..

bit more expensive mind.

The Nikon 55-200VR kicks ass for the money, check out Ken Rockwells excellent site for all things Nikon:

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/55-200mm-vr.htm

I've got that Tamron one for my D40X, as well as the stock 18-55mm one. It's pretty good for the money, but I find the autofocus is a little slow and a lot loud! I tend to focus manually most of the time as a result. Macro shots are fine, but you should consider a tripod due to the aforementioned IS issue.

The only thing that bothers me now is the 55-70mm range that I'm lacking. I need it more often than I thought I would, so it is definitely worth thinking about a 55-200mm one instead.

Got a second hand 18-200 not so long back for my D5000. Nice bit of kit. Not too much bigger than the 18-55 either. Performed realy well on a holiday in Venice. Was £390 though… (although I couldn't actually tell it wasn't new!)

cheers for the suggestions, I will look into it further… the world of lenses is a tad confusing at times…

spoon (or anyone else), have you got a model No for that 18-200? and is it auto focus?

Neil

I've got a Sigma 105mm 2.8 macro to sell if you're interested. It's nice, but not going to solve your zoom desires.

I've got the 18-200mm as well – it's not got a macro facility, but does focus pretty close. just google nikon 18-200mm vr, that'll help you. Not much change from £500 new though, and holds it's value.

vinnyeh, maybe no, but, I could get that and a dedicated tele lense? mail me some details…

Was looking at lens in a shop that doesnt sell indian food despite the name,the sales chaps idea of selling me a lens was to slag off tamron repeatedly,to jab a biro into the lens, and the d300 camera i was also looking at,to come out with techinical terms like colour washout,at the edges, and that tamron was only suitable for people who didnt care about photography, but just took pictures of machinery,(like i do, steam trains etc)the classic was tamron lens where made of plastic and poor qulity glass

He then told me i needed a dedicated 39 quid sd car for a basic video camera, as tghats what it said on the sd card, video sd card.

Oh ive got a sigma 70 to 200 zoom,on a nikon d40, nice lens and got a free filter from the nice helpful chap in Jessops,just for asking.

Second hand lenses hold their value well, but you should find what you need on http://www.talkphotography.co.uk