# Nikon D5000 Zoom Lens



## hopkins1512 (Apr 20, 2010)

I have the Nikon D5000 and I want to get a zoom lens to take pictures of my brother playing baseball (sometimes at night).  I am new to SLR, but love taking pictures!  I don't want to spend too much money, but I want something that will be worth it and last me a while.  Also are there any places that have GREAT prices on lenses?


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## table1349 (Apr 20, 2010)

hopkins1512 said:


> I have the Nikon D5000 and I want to get a zoom lens to take pictures of my brother playing baseball (sometimes at night).  I am new to SLR, but love taking pictures!  I don't want to spend too much money, but I want something that will be worth it and last me a while.  Also are there any places that have GREAT prices on lenses?




Well I hate to be the first poster for this one, but since no one has jumped in and since I shoot sports here goes.  

What you are looking for in a lens and what it sounds like you want to spend really don't go together.  Sports photography takes fast shutter speed.  1/250th at the bare minimum to freeze action.  This is pretty easy outdoors in the daylight.  

At night it is another story.  That is were you have to have fast glass combined with higher ISO to get a fast enough shutter speed.  An F2.8 lens at a minimum for poor light conditions.  I do not know of any f2.8 zooms that are cheap.  My 70-200 f2.8 was $1200.00.  My 24-70 f2.8 was even more.  

That is not to say you can't accomplish your goal.  Instead of a zoom, look at a decent prime lens in the length you need.  The length you need will depend on where you are shooting from. 

*Sorry had to edit this*.  My eyes were seeing baseball and my brain was reading basketball. 

It would help to know how much you want to/can spend to be able to provide you with some choices.  I'm a Canon shooter so hopefully someone will jump in with some Nikon lens suggestions.  My most common baseball lenses are a 70-200 f2.8  300 f2.8 and 400 f2.8.  None of them cheap.  Canon makes a nice 200mm f2.8 that is reasonably priced.  I don't know if there is a Nikon in the same range.  Their 200 f2 is a very expensive lens as is Canons 200 f2.


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## cnutco (Apr 20, 2010)

^true that!

Unfortunatly, I believe Nikon lenses are more expensive than Cannon.  Although, I have heard that there are more used Nikon lenses out there forsale.  

The lenses that gryphonslair99 talked about above for Canon are the same ranges for Nikon.  The 70 - 200 2.8 starts at about $2k and the 400 is over $9k.

Good luck!


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## KmH (Apr 20, 2010)

That means you need to look at 3rd party lenses. Sigma and Tamron both make lenses that will work on your D5000. Just be sure they have a focus motor in them.

Part of the problem is that like all Canon cameras the D5000 doesn't have a focus motor in the camera body but every Nikon from the D90 up, does.

That means they can auto focus with the AF series of Nikon lenses.

Nikon makes the AF 80-200 mm f/2.8D and a good used one can be found used for as little as $800. New they are $1100, *but* you would have to manually focus the lens.

The next option for you then is AF-S 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G VR ($525, new) but it is a daylight only lens because of it's smaller maximum aperture.

You could go max on the D5000 ISO setting and just live with the image noise to accomodate the 70-300.

I can't recommend the 3rd party lenses because their resale value makes them more expensive in the long run and the way they make them cost less is by having less build quality.

As it happens I use a Sigma APO 150-500 mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM ($999, new) to shoot a daytime adult soccer league. It works for me.


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