Art and Photography

Nikon D5300 - What single lens to get?

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Sr. Member
Nov 24, 2006
717 posts
459 upvotes
london

Nikon D5300 - What single lens to get?

I just purchased a D5300 camercamera (body only). If I was to purchase only one lens for this camera what would your recommendations be? BTW I'm fairly new to photography so I'm interested in dabbling in a bit of everything (portrait, landscape etc.) Thanks ahead of time for your input
8 replies
Jr. Member
Feb 6, 2008
186 posts
20 upvotes
North York
If you need one lens to do it all, it'll have to be the 18-200 or 18-300.... But it wont be particularly good at anything. If you want a second lens, my personal favorite is the 35mm f1.8g. At $200, you can't go wrong as far as value goes, but it will be too narrow for landscapes
Jr. Member
User avatar
Oct 27, 2014
120 posts
192 upvotes
Calgary, AB
The 35mm is definetly great.
I would say get 18-105mm from kijiji. I do not believe in huge zoom because without tripod it gets shaky and the image qulitu drops because of motion blur. Also the more zoom the less sharpness you get. The 18-105 still offers decent sharpness and decent zoom.
That being said I live and breath 28-70mm f/2.8.
Deal Fanatic
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Mar 24, 2004
8683 posts
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Toronto
Tamon 17-50mm f2.8
Deal Expert
Jan 27, 2006
21844 posts
15620 upvotes
Vancouver, BC
Go with the 18-200. I've owned one for years - it's a great lens for travel and just general purpose shooting.

While it's true that there are many lenses out there with a better image quality than the 18-200, most people would be hard pressed to tell the difference in a 4" x 6" photo or shared on the 'net.
Deal Addict
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Jun 17, 2012
2338 posts
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In another world
Many beginners usually get the camera with the kit lens. It's good for a starting point as it covers a good range that allows users to experiment, and determine what they want to accomplish more (portraits, landscapes, etc).
Kit lenses are very cheap and they can be sold later on the road.
As a replacement for the kit lens I second the choice for the Tamron 17-50mm 2.8. It's a very good overall lens, although too short to be a telephoto.
Later on the road you can get a second lens to cover the range you need the most.
Deal Expert
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Mar 7, 2005
18841 posts
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Elmira
This is the camera me and the wife just got, and like you, we only have one lens at this point as well - I believe its the 18-200 Nikkor lens (It's not in front of me)

It's pretty good, not great, and it's terrible at up-close shots. Even trying to manual focus will not work for a really close macro shot, I'm guessing I need an actual macro lens for it
Deal Addict
May 6, 2007
1413 posts
377 upvotes
Ottawa, On
KevC wrote: Tamon 17-50mm f2.8
+1 for first lens. Lens #2 would be a 35mm or 50mm prime.

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