18-55mm lens vs. 55-200mm lens

Holli20

I recently received a Nikon D3200 as a gift. I have no experience with photography but I've always wanted to get into it.

Can somebody please explain the difference between the 18-55mm DX lens and the 55-200mm DX lens, other than the fact that one zooms in closer than the other? Does it affect lighting or shutter speed, and when should I use one over the other?

Thanks!

bruto

Ideal shutter speed will vary because a longer focal length is harder to hold steady than a short one. At 18mm you can use even fairly slow shutter speeds, but at 200mm you will need a fairly fast one to avoid motion blur.

Exposure in general will depend on what is in the picture. As a rule, a wide angle shot (e.g. 18mm) will tend to be pretty bright, because there is a lot of sky and such in it, while a telephoto shot (e.g. 200mm) will often be much darker, because there's little in the frame except the main subject. The camera's meter will tell you what is needed most of the time pretty accurately.

Which lens you should use is entirely a matter of what you want to put in your picture and where you can be when you take it. The widest angles will be what you usually want for scenery, and the longest telephoto for sports, animals, and things that are far away. If you're indoors, the longer lens will probably not be useful because you can't get far enough away from people. If you're bird watching, the short lens will probably not be useful because the birds will be tiny little dots in a big picture of sky.

The two lenses mentioned are rather similar in their behavior, but what they include or exclude in the picture will vary greatly.

The best way to find out what lengths work best for you and for what you like to photograph is to get out there and shoot, shoot, shoot. It's a digital camera. You can make thousands of mistakes and erase them all.

Do not be afraid to try things. Wonder what changes when you change some setting? Try it. If it doesn't do what you want it to, erase it.

Read the instructions, keep the file handy, and make sure that you get the instructions that are on the accompanying disk because the printed manual is not as complete.

Read up as much as you can, and try everything. Consider the cheat sheets sold here, which are designed for people who want to take control of the camera, but are not sure what settings to start with. Once you are out of point and shoot mode, with a starting point you can start playing with variations and get familiar with what changes when.

I reiterate: A D3200 is designed to be reliable for something like 150 thousand pictures. You will probably never wear it out. Do not be afraid to try things.

Holli20

Thank you Bruto! That's very helpful. I probably should have stated in the original post that I will be using the camera mostly for shooting people (mostly my toddler) outdoors. The information about how much light will come into the lens is very helpful! I'll start practicing more too.

bruto

If you browse a little more on this site, you will find, I think, a sample of Moose's approach to things, which just happens to be a tutorial on shooting a toddler outdoors. Check out the tips and tricks. I think it's there somewhere.