Nikon Lens - which one?

[Ray Singh]

I am a newbie to photography and bought my Nikon D40 a few years ago in order to capture my children growing up.
The body of the camera is still in good condition and I just take photos and am not using photoshop etc to manipulate the shots.

Recently i have found that the standard 18-55m lens is just not good enough at distance photography. This was particularly evident at a recent school play.

As i see it, I have two options.

1) Buy a 18-200 or perhaps a 18-300 lens. This would be the one lens solution.
2) Buy a 55-200 or 55-300 lens as a secondary lens.

I am not keen on going to a third party manufacturer and need the lens to have VR.

I have checked ebay and lenses of this type seem to vary from the low hundreds up to over £600.

What do you suggest?

[chris.mapey]

I'd keep watching eBay for a Sigma 70-200 f2.8 (with or without OS). I have one, and it's tack sharp with both my D300 & D40 bodies.

Built like a brick out house as well ;-)

Highly recommended & much better value than the Nikkor alternative.

[condor]

I also have a Nikon D40 and mostly use the 18-55 lens it came with. I bought the Nikon 55-300 with VR for approx £400 but have only used it a few times - in hindsight was a waste of money as it's been used so little. Main issue is that it's heavy and lugging it around motorsport events can be tiresome.

The changing of the lenses I found quite challenging - I was warned that this is the time that a speck of dust could get into the main body and to be extra careful.
I'd be pleased if someone posted that that was a load of tosh as it's another reason why I'm not too keen to put the zoom lens back on.

[K12beano]

chris.mapey said:

I'd keep watching eBay for a Sigma 70-200 f2.8

^^^ This or a 70-300mm f/4-5.6G AF-S IF-ED VR Zoom-Nikkor

[VEX]

K12beano said:

^^ This or a 70-300mm f/4-5.6G AF-S IF-ED VR Zoom-Nikkor

I loved my 70-300 VR lens until I bashed it at silverstone last year.

Just watching eBay and amazon for a replacement.

V.