New lens

swells

I have AF-S 18-55mm and 55-300mm lens. What would be another lens that I could purchase. I love to take pictures of wild life (birds) and nature.

bruto

Hard to say, but the first two things you need to look at are your budget, and an honest view of what in the current lenses is preventing you from getting.

I have found both those lenses pretty good for general traveling and wild life, though now (after wearing my 18-55's focusing rollers out) I have the 16-85, and enjoy the wider view.

If you can afford the hit, consider one of the long zooms offered by Tamron, Sigma and Nikon. Many have good reviews. I have the Nikon 200-500/5.6 and like it a lot. If you want a bargain priced lens that is sharp and well behaved, consider the 35/1.8 DX or the 50/1.8 AFS. Small and sharp and contrasty, a good prime can provide superb pictures, and the single focal length, at first limiting, can force you to rethink your habits some, and turns out not to be so limiting.

Edmund

I am also considering to purchase the 200- 500/5.6 but is a bit worried about the fixed opening. Any comments

bruto

I think you're mixing up terminology here. The 200-500 is a "constant aperture," rather than a "variable aperture" zoom, but this refers to how it behaves when it is zoomed.

Many zoom lenses change their maximum aperture when they zoom. The 18-55 kit lens, for example, has a maximum of F3.5 at the wide end which gradually decreases to F5.6 at the narrow end. That's all right usually, but must be accounted for if you're shooting in manual mode. Intermediate focal lengths will be at intermediate apertures.

The 200-500 has a range of apertures from F5.6 to F32, but the aperture does not vary with focal length. If you set it at F5.6 at 200 mm, it will stay at 5.6 at 500. In long telephotos which tend to be a little slow anyway, this can be important even though the difference is not terribly large.