Camera Lenses

[ck1]

I've recently bought a Nikon D3300 which came with a AF-S NIKKOR 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6GII lens which, after doing a very small amount of research, doesn't appear to be a zoom lens (I thought all lenses were zoomable..). So now I need to look for a new lens which has a decent zoom but have no idea where to start so appreciate any help / suggestions.

[shoota]

If it is an 18-55mm it is a zoom lens which zooms between 18mm focal length and 55mm focal length.
Why do you think it isn't?

[shoota]

Perhaps you are trying to pull the lens barrel back and forth? T model zooms by twisting the lens barrel cover that is ridged.
http://imaging.nikon.com/lineup/lens/zoom/normalzoom/af-s_dx_18-55mmf_35-56g_vr/

[shoota]

This model ^^^

[ck1]

Shoota, I've never used a 'manual' lens before, so I'm used to pressing the zoom in / out button and it brings something in the far distance into view With this lens, if I point it at something relatively close (like in the same room) then it does zoom in but not to the extent I was expecting - seems good for portraits but not distance shots. I guess I'm looking for something with 50x optical zoom?

[Ellipsis]

Maybe by "zoom" you mean "telephoto"?

If you want a longer zoom I would recommend this one:

http://www.nikonusa.com/en/nikon-products/product/camera-lenses/af-s-dx-nikkor-55-200mm-f%252f4-5.6g-ed-vr-ii.html

Make sure you get a Nikon "VR" lens as VR stands for vibration reduction, which can make a big difference on longer lenses.

[shoota]

Is this your first SLR?
All the SLR zoom lenses I know work manually, it is usually the lenses on compact and bridge cameras that work by pressing a button.
I don't know if Nikon do a 50x SLR zoom lens but if they do I anticipate that you'll need a second mortgage.

[ImLostAgain]

I've got a Nikon D3200 and I was looking at lenses only yesterday. The Tamron AF 70-300mm looks like it may do the job for you.

[ck1]

Yes this is my first SLR and am still in the mindset of using a compact with buttons!

[Fitzer]

You won't get a 50x zoom for your camera, such things don't exist in the SLR world. They're a bit of a con in the compact world as well to be honest, the designation of 50x simply means that the long focal length is 50 times the short, so on a compact where the short might be 3mm so 50 times that is the respectable (but not amazing) 150mm. What you need is something longer than the 55mm you have at the moment, there are many 50-200/250 lenses on the market, anything with a greater variation between short and long focal lengths will be pretty poor unless you spend a lot of money. You can of course get lenses which have longer short and long such as 100-400 lenses but again they are more expensive and as focal length increases they get larger and heavier as well. This is why photographers always seem to be carrying so much kit as one lens is never enough :-(

[shoota]

Once you get into the habit of twisting instead of pressing ck their won't be a problem.
As ellipsis and fitzer have said, a second lens that takes over where your current lens leaves off is what you need so something in the region of 55-200 or 55-300 should give you the magnification you need. The recommendation to get a VR lens is a good one as it gets difficult to hold the lens steady at the lerger end of these lenses.
I can recommend Gray's of Westminster as a source of everything Nikon including 1st rate second hand gear. They also dispense good advice for free.
http://www.graysofwestminster.co.uk/welcome.php

[shoota]

Gray's currently have three 55-300 s/h lenses for around £200.
http://www.graysofwestminster.co.uk/products/secondhand.php

[shoota]

Or, with 24,2 megapixels in your camera you can do your zooming on the computer.....

[Ellipsis]

They also have:

55-200mm f/4-5.6G AF-S VR DX Zoom-Nikkor
BOXED AND COMPLETE, with hood, pouch and manual. EXC++ £179.00

But, sad to say, you can get this new on Amazon for only £115:

Amazon.co.uk User Recommendation

[ck1]

Great, that all makes sense (well kind of anyway!), thanks for the help!

[shoota]

Welcome, bon voyage....

[Buenchico]

A quick guide to focal lengths:
(Note: The figures I'm quoting aren't actually 'true' focal lengths but '35mm equivalent ones, as if you were using an old-fashioned film camera. However they're the ones which you'll normally see quoted anyway).

A cheap 'point and shoot' camera, with no zoom facility, typically has a lens with a focal length of between 40mm and 50mm. (So you can think of such figures as 'normal').

A 'wide angle' lens might have a focal length of 20 to 30mm.

An 'ultra-wide' (or 'fish eye') lens has a focal length of perhaps 12mm.

Going the other way, a 'short telephoto' lens, typically used by portrait photographers, might have a focal length of around 135mm.

A 'medium telephoto' lens, used (say) for picking out architectural details on a building, might have a focal length of 300mm.

A 'long telephoto' lens, used by sports photographers for capturing the action at Lord's (for example) will have a focal length of 500mm or more. [NB: Such lenses can cost thousands of pounds!]

Any lens that doesn't have a fixed focal length is a 'zoom' lens. The lens on your camera is a 3x zoom (since 55mm is about three times 18mm), going between 'wide angle' and 'normal'. [Note, though, that the 'zoom' figure alone doesn't tell you anything about focal lengths; a 50mm-150mm lens would also be a '3x' zoom lens but go between 'normal' and 'short telephoto'].

The rule which applied to 35mm (film) SLR cameras still seems to apply to digital ones: i.e. there's little point buying an SLR camera unless you're prepared to spend at least twice what you paid for the camera on additional lenses (and, particularly if you require 'long telephoto' facilities, often much, much more). For example, Jessops sell your camera for around £280 but an 18mm to 300mm lens (16x zoom, from 'wide-angle' to 'medium telephoto') costs around £500. A professional-quality (non-zoomable) 500mm lens will cost you over £8000!