Beginner Lens upgrade

I have the Tamron 70-300 VC and its a very good lens, although if gets a bit soft towards the 300mm mark, the VC is the best I have come across, really stops the shake, for that point alone I would reccomend it.
 
dturbopeck said:
Agee months ago I went and bought a Nikon D5300 now am looking into upgrading my standard lens, so am just looking for some advice before I buy the wrong one, I've been looking at one of these for close ups:

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=321297460553&globalID=EBAY-GB

And one of these:

http://www.jessops.com/online.store/products/77949/show.html

Advice on both lenses wud be appreciated thanks
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Presumably you have the standard kit zoom? If you want an upgrade, that usually means a replacement.

The two lenses you've linked, Tamron 90mm macro and Tamron 70-300 tele-zoom, are both very good choices but quite different - different to each-other and different to your kit zoom. What do you want to do? Budget?
 
Yeah I have the standard lens, since I am just starting out, am just really shooting anything I fancy, but main intrest is more landscape and really wanna try out working with close ups, budget can be about £500
 
If you go to mpb you could pick up a tamron 90mm macro plus either a sigma 10-20 or 17-50 ( depending on how wide you want for landscape) within your budget or if you could squeeze it a little more and trade in the kit lens you could possibly get all 3. Other vendors are available
 
dturbopeck said:
Yeah I have the standard lens, since I am just starting out, am just really shooting anything I fancy, but main intrest is more landscape and really wanna try out working with close ups, budget can be about £500
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Conventional wisdom suggests a wide-angle for landscapes, something in the 10-20mm range. It's hard to go wrong with any macro lens for close-ups, they're all very high quality, prolly something in the 90-105mm range, but there are also other cheaper routes such as extension tubes or a close-up attachment lens to go on your kit zoom.
 
I think we all go down this route of another lens for wide angle and one for close ups (I know I did).
When I tried close ups I found it very difficult, particularly with getting enough light on the subject and if really close holding the camera steady enough to focus (usually manually).
I used a 100mm focal length macro lens which wasn't much use for walkabout photography as that was on a crop-body camera.
I ended up selling it and now use either a telephoto lens or my walkabout zoom lens.
My experience for what it's worth.
 
If you're after a telephoto zoom the 70-300 AFs VR is the one I'd pick , I've had 3 over the years and all have been good
 
I am on my third Tamron 70-300VC and its a good performer even on FF now. I had the Nikon 70-300 VR and for me I prefered the Tamron for output and VC, although the Nikon was probably slightly better built.

I have recently bought my first 1:1 AF Macro lens, the Sigma 105mm and I am very pleased with it. Previously had the Fuji 60mm 1:2 and the legendery Vivitar 55mm f2.8 1:1 manual focus lens. Macro is a fun way to photograph and the lens is also good for portraits.

As mentioned, to me your not updating your kit your adding to it, you have the wide angle of your kit lens, but even wider maybe more useful if your finding your kit lens limiting??............Also, depending on your subject you can take landscape photos on your tele lens, I have recently been using my 70-300mm for this.
 
Thanks for the advice, there seems so much choice out there, it seems like the 70-300 is a popular choice of lens, is it possible to use it as well for a macro lens?
 
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dturbopeck said:
Thanks for the advice, there seems so much choice out there, it seems like the 70-300 is a popular choice of lens, is it possible to use it as well for a macro lens?
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Tamron 70-300 VC is a very good choice, and would work well with a Raynox DCR-250 for macro (or DCR-150, less powerful). There's a lot of versatility in a combo like that, if not for landscapes. If that route appeals, go for it and see how you get on before getting a wider lens for landscaping.

A few examples with the Raynox I prepared earlier :) https://www.flickr.com/groups/raynoxdcr250/
 
HoppyUK said:
Tamron 70-300 VC is a very good choice, and would work well with a Raynox DCR-250 for macro (or DCR-150, less powerful). There's a lot of versatility in a combo like that, if not for landscapes. If that route appeals, go for it and see how you get on before getting a wider lens for landscaping.

A few examples with the Raynox I prepared earlier :) https://www.flickr.com/groups/raynoxdcr250/
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I've been having a look through the Raynox link you gave me and looking through the gallery them pics are amazing I would love to be able to have and out come like them, and this combo saves me money too, now I'll sweet talk my mrs's for a loan :)
 
HoppyUK said:
Tamron 70-300 VC is a very good choice, and would work well with a Raynox DCR-250 for macro (or DCR-150, less powerful). There's a lot of versatility in a combo like that, if not for landscapes. If that route appeals, go for it and see how you get on before getting a wider lens for landscaping.

A few examples with the Raynox I prepared earlier :) https://www.flickr.com/groups/raynoxdcr250/
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Watch out for lens size won't fit a 77mm lens apparently
 
After living with just a kit lens for the last few months, after buying my first dslr, i thought it time to invest the limited amount of spare money i have on a zoom lens (Canon for me). I've bought the Tamrom sp 70-300 DI VC usm lens last weekend. After reading many, many reviews and watching many youtube vids of various zoom lenses, this seemed to be the best for my budget. At £249 it's a bargin, yes it's a bit soft on the focus at the full 300mm, but to be honest i'm no pro photographer, i'm not publishing my photos, so does it really matter. I haven't used it much as the weather has been pretty rubbish so far, but from the little use it has had it seems to be a very good budget zoom lens. The build quality over the kit lens is quite noticeable and so is the weight.
 
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