Lens Recommendations

CompanyLovesMisery

For Christmas, I was wanting to get my wife a new camera lens for her Nikon D3100. She only has the one that it came with when she bought it, and is wanting to upgrade. Problem is, I know absolutely nothing about cameras, and I feel like if I pick out something at random, I'll pick out something lame. From what I've seen, these things are not cheap either. My budget is around $200, which I'm guessing is pretty low, but if I find something I know she'd love and use all the time, I guess I'm willing to go a little higher. Any tips or recommendations?

kravattisolmu

With a budget around there, I would recommend 2 options.

1) Pair your kit lens with the Nikon 50-200mm VR zoom lens for more range (more range but nothing special).

2) Budget higher and get a fast f/2.8 zoom. Sigma and Tamron make great 17-50mm f/2.8 zooms. These can blur out the background of your subject for portraits and are excellent in low light. I just bought a Sigma 17-50mm os hsm. I can hand held 1/10 shutterspeed photos because of image stabilization. I'm now selling my good old Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 prime.

Sigma was $800, but now the price collapsed and it's around $400. It is the best lens, in my opinion, for amateur cameras.

kravattisolmu

On Amazon, the Nikkor 55-200mm vr goes used for $130. I mostly buy used from camera stores.