Which Lens ?

My 2c. In the Nikon community the 70-300mm is quite regarded and it's a longer lens for your bird wildlife photography. In that way better than the Tamron 70-200.

The D5000 series camera are nice, same sensor as the D7000 series. But the AF isn't as quick, prob not an issue for am amateur but worth a mention.

Some pple use a 300mm fixed lens - no zoom or even longer lol. But very expensive.

Also have the kit lens for as a tourist lens. If you do some walk about photography in lower light some pple like the 35mm Nikon DX lens which will give you a 50mm as in the full frame or film camera days. The aperture is also 1.8 much quicker and more blur than the kit lens which might be a 4.5. Basically at least 2 stops faster which means, while ISO 3200 might be ok'ish on these newer cameras, it means you can use it at 3200 even when the light is even darker as it's 12800. B/c of the faster aperture, that you can maintain the same shutter speed in a darker area.

If you're shooting seascapes and beaches you really should consider a wide angle lens. What about a Tamron 18-270 lens? It covers the wide angle and telephone needs you asked about.

I'd also considered the 35mm lens for my Nikon D90 especially for low light situations.

#2
Thanks for your reply.
Does Tamron 18-270 fit the Nikon D5200 body?
I understand there is a shutter speed igrained in the D5200 that should match up with the focal length of the telephoto lens to let shooting done without using tripod each time.
What do you think?

The Tamron I mentioned fits APS-C type cameras like the Nikon 5200.

I don't know what you mean about 'ingrained shutter speed'. You can use the camera's shutter priority setting to 'lock' a fast enough shutter speed for hand-held telephoto shots. But you'll then have to use a higher ISO which could yield more noise in your photos. No way around that.

"I understand there is a shutter speed ingrained in the D5200 that should match up with the focal length of the telephoto lens"

I'm guessing you're talking about shooting in 'Program' (P) mode, where the camera will automatically adjust the shutter speed depending on the focal length of the lens that you've set, using a faster shutter speed for longer focal lengths.

As a rough rule of thumb, for hand-held shots you should use a shutter speed equal or faster than the reciprocal of the focal length, i.e. a 50mm lens needs a shutter speed of 1/50 second or faster, and a 200mm lens needs 1/200 second. Lenses with built in stabilisation (VR for Nikon) will allow slower hand-held shutter speeds.

• Lenses with built in stabilisation (VR for Nikon) will allow slower hand-held shutter speeds.

...but will not freeze motion anymore depending on speed of subject and how low the shutter speed actually is.

By the way, the Tamron 18-270 comes with 'vibration compensation' or image stabilization; here's some on-line discussion.

I wouldn't get a 18-270....its a trying to be everything lens and they aren't always sharp.

For landscapes grab an UWA or WA. The Sigma 10-20mm is a great lens for about 400 USD. Or the Tokina 11-16mm is also great. Sharp and good for landscapes.

I would chuck in a nikkor 35mm f1.8 - brilliant low light bit of glass. Also good for portraits/street photography.

For your birds - the 70-300mm will be great. You can get some tele converters to get a bit more length. For birds you will need fast glass. So the 70-300mm will be adequate and get shots. It won't be as good as say the 70-200mm f2.8 or similar.