# Buying a D3100; which lens to buy?



## sanpan (Dec 19, 2010)

Hello All,
After many deliberations and reading reviews and forums, I have decided to buy a Nikon D3100. I am graduating from a Canon P&S and want a good DSLR and the D3100 seems a good one. My question to you is " Which lenses do I buy?
I mostly click my wife and son at home. I am planning to do some walk-around photography. The longer zooms are out of my budget.
I was planning for a 35 mm f1.8 (walk around) and a 50 mm f1.8 (portrait) along with the 18-55 kit lens.
The problem is the 50 mm will not auto-focus on the D3100. 

Will the 35mm f1.8 be ok for indoor portraits?
Will the kit lens be ok for indoor portraits?
Will it be too difficult to manually focus with a 50mm(if I buy it despite the incompatibility)?
Need your advice. Thanks in advance.


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## Ken Rockwell Fan (Dec 19, 2010)

35mm f/1.8 is a awesome lens. I love mine.


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## impulsive1 (Dec 19, 2010)

I bought the 35mm f/1.8 for my d5000 and love it. I went with that over the 50mm 1.8 because of the af. I shoot at alot of indoor cheerleading competitions of my daughter and her team so lighting is very poor.  The 35mm does great for team portraits.  I also use it to take candids and individual portraits as the girls are getting their hair and make up put on. The kit lens is alright indoors if the lighting is good or you're using a flash.  I would say if you don't mind manually focusing all the time get the 50mm. Or if its in your budget get the d90.


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## Vinny (Dec 19, 2010)

Manual focus is not "easy" but is not difficult either and the more you practice the better you'll get. When you look inside the viewfinder you'll see a blurry image until you get to focus then it becomes sharp and if you go too far becomes blurry again. You may need to fiddle with the focus back and forth to get the most sharp image.

IMO, if you choose the 35mm and the kit lens I wouldn't go for the 50mm. You'll have too many lenses in the same focal range even though the primes would be better than the zoom. Rather than buying the 50mm and 18-55 maybe look at the kit lens for the D90 which is 18-105mm - it'll give you some extra zoom range to get in tight if need be.


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## sanpan (Dec 19, 2010)

Thanks guys, the situation is a bit clearer to me now.... The consensus seems to be that the 35mm is a good lens. I also liked the suggestion to get the 18-105 mm instead of the kit lens.
Having said that, I have heard a lot of good things about the 50 mm. I wouldn't mind the manual focussing. Even thinking of buying a used D90 (If any one is willing to sell it):blushing:


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## KmH (Dec 19, 2010)

The 50 mm f/1.8D is a CPU lens. It sends distance information to the camera, and the camera will turn on the in-focus indicator in the viewfinder when focus has been achieved at the selected focus point by you rotating the focus ring on the lens.

As mentioned it will take a little practice, but remember that photographers focused manually for every photo before auto focus was invented.


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## mrpink (Dec 19, 2010)

Manual focus with a prime lens is very simple.  And as KmH stated, you will get the focus indicator light in your view finder... simply twist the ring untill you see the green light, tweak it a bit if time and your eye sight allows, then shoot away.

Someone else said to upgrade to the D90, this is also a good suggestion if you plan on growing in photography.








p!nK


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## PavementPilot (Dec 19, 2010)

I only have the 18-55 kit lens for my D3100 right now. It does well indoors if you bump up the ISO to 800. I would also suggest getting the Gary Fong Puffer, a flash diffuser, that sells for about $30 CAD locally here. It slides into the hot shoe and holds a diffuser infront of the popup flash. Makes a world of difference in your in door flash shots. Also check out Ken Rockwell's Nikon D3100 User's Guide for some settings that help with color. They are big help for indoor shots too.


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## Vinny (Dec 19, 2010)

The 18-105 is a kit lens also, it is just the kit lens for the D90 and the D7000. The D90 has a focus indicator in it as well but I find that I tend to not use the indicator and just use the sharp/fuzzy method in the viewfinder. As was said we all used to focus manually but back in the days of film we had a different focusing screen to assist us in the focusing; I do try to focus manually whenever I can but tend to use autofocus on snapshots because I have the capability.



sanpan said:


> Thanks guys, the situation is a bit clearer to me now.... The consensus seems to be that the 35mm is a good lens. I also liked the suggestion to get the 18-105 mm instead of the kit lens.
> Having said that, I have heard a lot of good things about the 50 mm. I wouldn't mind the manual focussing. Even thinking of buying a used D90 (If any one is willing to sell it):blushing:


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## Jcampbelll (Dec 19, 2010)

Nikon 35mm 1.8, it's cheap and fun to use.


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## owlxxx (Dec 19, 2010)

35mm 1.8 nikon, i love it.  I use it indoors and at night all the time.


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## flatflip (Dec 19, 2010)

I have a 35mm 1.8 and a kit 18-55. I love both but the 35 is very fun. It works so well in low light that I don't even consider that it overlaps focal range with the 18-55.


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## Geaux (Dec 19, 2010)

35mm 1.8 .... hasn't left my d3000 since I bought it   (hoping that changes if I get my Sigma 10-20 for Christmas lol)

Suggestion, since it's your first dslr, play around with the kit lens for a bit.  Get a feel for the camera and then make your decisions off of what you wish your kit lense did.


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## sanpan (Dec 27, 2010)

Hello All,

Thanks all for the suggestions.
For a fleeting moment, I did think of buying the D90 and the 50 mm f1.8.
But budgetary constraints pushed me back a bit.
I decided on buying a D3100 with the kit lens and a 35mm f1.8(for my indoor pics of my family). Considering I am a hobbyist with no plans of going pro, this should be a good start.
Unfortunately, I have run into another roadblock. My Camera fund has been used up for some other essentials and I suppose my Camera will have to wait some more time.
Once I buy it, I will definitely upload the pics for your C&C. Wish me luck.


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## rateeg (Dec 27, 2010)

50mm for study of manual focus.
get it!


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## sanpan (Dec 27, 2010)

I wouldn't mind it considering its inexpensive but it would be two primes in my kit lens range 18-55.


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## heyjoe (Dec 27, 2010)

You are right that it'd be two primes vs. the one 18-55mm kit.  But, you have to take into consideration that those two lenses (35 f/1.8 and 50 f/1.8) both blow away the kit lens in terms of quality.  With the kit lens, you are sacrificing image quality for the ability to have more focal length choices in one lens.  That's the trade-off.

It all depends what and where you're going to shoot.  If you shoot outside with good light you may not have many problems.  But if you like shooting indoors with limited light, the 1.8 aperture is going to come in handy.

The 50mm f/1.8 is a great lens at a great price ($140 new, around $100 used).


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## sanpan (May 3, 2011)

Thanks for your suggestions. I managed to arrange for enough funds to buy a D3100 with kit lens and a bundled 55-200. I went ahead and bought the 35mm f1.8.
I am loving it.
I know this is an old thread but I wanted to thank everyone for their advices.


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## calc (May 4, 2011)

Ken Rockwell Fan said:


> 35mm f/1.8 is a awesome lens. I love mine.



35mm f/1.8*D or G?*


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## Dao (May 4, 2011)

sanpan said:


> Thanks for your suggestions. I managed to arrange for enough funds to buy a D3100 with kit lens and a bundled 55-200. I went ahead and bought the 35mm f1.8.
> I am loving it.
> I know this is an old thread but I wanted to thank everyone for their advices.



Congrats for the purchase. Just FYI, a new AF-S 50mm f/1.8G lens is coming soon.  And that lens will AF with your camera.

Nikon formally announces AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G lens: Digital Photography Review


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## Geaux (May 4, 2011)

^ dang, beat me to it lol

June 11, 2011 and $219ish


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