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Hi everyone,

I am going for a trip to Tibet and Central Australia soon and looking for some advice for lens choice. I am currently using a D300 with the Nikkor 18-200VR. The range of focal length of the 18-200VR is great but I find it limiting in terms of sharpness especially indoor or when lighting is not as good (outdoor). I am considering replacing the 18-200VR with other lenses with a budget of $2k-$2.5k. Would greatly appreciate your advices. Thanks.

My choices? A Tokina 11-16 f/4 , a Nikkor 16-85 f/3.5/5.6, and a Nikkor 70-200 f/2.8. The first two are DX for small sensors, and the 70-200 is probably one of the finest mid range tele zooms out there.. Off the top of my head you'll hit the top end of your budget, the Tokina runs 500ish, the 16-85 600ish and the 70-200 1500 online. B&H Photo and Adorama are solid online vendors out of NYC and usually have all three. I feel its a good mix of focal length and speed. None are prohibitively heavy. My basic setup is everything except the Tokina 11-16. I haul a Nikkor 300 f/4 in it's place. The 11-16s are hard to come by because they are popular. I would also look into a Think Tank belt rig to haul them. I use a Speed Freak belt with a lightspeed pouch for my flash. I added a waterbottle holder and a small utility pouch for my cell. Think Tank is here.

Oh afterthought, have both B&H and Adorama, if you choose that route, quote you a price for the 18-200, they seem to hold their value on the used market.

My advice would be to go ahead with Sigma 10-20 wide angle, Nikkor 16-85 walkaround and then spend the rest of cash on decent 80-300 or 120-400 mm zoom lens. 200 mm is not long enough from my personal experience especially if you want to shoot some wild life from remote location. Don't be worried with lack of fast zoom such as 2.8 constant apperture, it is stupid marketing gimmik anyways. So will be just fine with zooms like 3.5-5.6 because most lenses need to operate at 5.6 to 8 f apperture to deliver decent image qulaity at anywhere between 200 to 400 mm. Share pictures after trip , though

dark light choice: Nikkor 50 F1.4D
wide zoom choice: Nikkor 14-24 F2.8G
these two lens plus your 18-200VR will suit for your trip.
BTW, have a nice trip.

Get the 300MM F4 AF-S and an extender


(disneyland Paris 300MM F4 nikkor with D50)
I love this lens

This year i will have a 17-55 2,8 and a 80-200 AF-D after it now everybody is going for FX these lenses are affordable and deliver the best results.

Just like the 300 F4

For the dark stuff i also have a 50 MM wich i prefer over my 18-55 wich is so crap that i leve it in the bag constantly.
A 35MM f1,8 DX wich are available these days would be better usable as the 50MM.

With an extender i have a kenko 1,4 pro version u can do this.


(420MM )

Its sharp at F4 wide open and has great color and bokeh.

The first photo i have printed it on 30X40 the maximum for a 6MP D50 but nothings wrong all is sharp.

My point is once u tried a nikkor pro build lens u never want something else.

Many thanks for sharing your experiences. I went with my Nikkor 18-200VR, 50mm f/1.8 and Tokina 11-16 ultimately so that I can travel light. I have got my pictures put up on my site @ http://photobugg.multiply.com. Appreciate if could leave some comments.