Nikon 55-200mm lens

shannonme81

Hi Moose,

First, thank you for helping me with my 50mm. The aperture settings that you provided are capturing beautiful pictures, thank you. I am wondering if you can help me with my 55-200mm lens and what settings you suggest. Do you have a cheat sheet for this lens? Any hints or tips would be greatly appreciated. I'm taking pictures of my friends little boy in a few weeks. Thank you so much. :)

ohyeahar

Moose mentioned recently in another post that he’s releasing his cheat cards for the D3200 and 55-200mm soon. You should be able to take advantage of those on the D5100 as well.

In the meantime, just treat it like your 50mm. The only difference is that the 55-200mm is a variable aperture zoom. You sacrifice a large maximum aperture for more reach. Use it outdoors in daylight for best results. If you want a shallow depth of field, shoot at the long end of the lens (i.e., towards 200mm), have your subject relatively close, and maximize the distance between subject and background.
I wouldn’t mount this lens when indoors. Stick with your 50mm when you move away from daylight.

Moose

Hey @shannonme81 - I'll be releasing a set of cheat cards for the D5100 and 55-200mm lens very soon. This particular set will have a different assortment of scenarios compared to the 18-55mm set.

For portraits, I'd stick with your 50mm lens. The 55-200mm lens is good for capturing outdoor action, so if you plan on photographing the boy running around outside, then the 55-200mm would be a good choice. As @ohyeahar mentioned, I wouldn't use this lens indoors or in low light. In those situations, I would switch over to your 50mm lens. All the best!

shannonme81

Thank you! Sorry, I didn't read your comments before submitting my most recent question (today) regarding the 55-200mm lens. Looking forward to cheat card for 55-200mm!

Thank you,
Shannon