Advice sought on which lens to buy next

[tlbuljac]

I now have a Nikon DSLR D3100 camera with a 18-55mm VR lens that came as a kit. I'm looking for a decent lens that will help me catch those great sporting shots as well as fast action photos such as auto racing. Should you be so kind to drop me a suggestion on what would be an ideal lens to purchase, I would appreciate knowing why you have chosen the particular lens (besides ..it takes great shots). Thanks in advance for your suggestions, I look forward to hearing from you.......tlbuljac (Tom)

[Donald]

Members - I have moved part of Tom's introductory post into this new thread. Perhaps the Nikon owners can advise.

[Letrow]

Difficult question, but given your needs I would be thinking of a 70-300mm Nikkor. Not terribly fast, but good tele and not too expensive. If you want fast and very sharp (apparently) the Nikkor 70-200mm VRII is supposed to be good. Might be outside the budget though.
I don't own either of them, but have the 18-200mm Nikkor, which is a good allrounder. There will be other brands as well with good lenses, but I don't really know about those.

[Goldcoastgolfer]

I think like Peter said that you need to let us know what your budget limitations are. There are a number of lenses - Nikon and third party that go to 300mm at vary prices under $500 (depending on location as I can't see where you're from so I'm talking Australian/US prices) but they're all in the f3.5/5.6 range.

The next level after that is the $1000 mark. I think in this range the zooms go to 200mm but are f/2.8 constant aperture. There is a Nikon lens - an older variant with no VR function. I believe the Sigma lens has some sort of optical stabilisation while the Tamron doesn't, but the Tamron s the cheapest of the three.

The next step up after that is the Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 VR lens which is significantly more expensive than everything else, but is supposed to be the best. You have a crop sensor so 200mm will give you an effective zoom of 300mm however if you need a longer reach you can add a teleconverter - I think a 1.4 teleconverter wil still give you an aperture of f/4 on the 2.8 lenses.

I'm speaking from stuff I've read on the Internet rather than any personal experience but hope this helps.

[Shadowman]

A good question is how close are you going to be allowed to the track and what field of vision are you going to have? If you have a very heavy lens are you going to be allowed to have a monopod in your area? I would think with the numerous crashes at auto races you won't be allowed to close, also if you have a lens with very large focal length you might be overwhelmed with the action and not get very many good shots.

[MattNQ]

Just a thought - VR is probably not essential if you are looking at sports & action - you will already be at a high shutter speed anyway.
I have been eying off the Nikon 80-200/2.8 ED for sports - At under $1100 USD, this lens is probably best bang for your buck if you want to stick with Nikon glass - professional build quality & 2.8 aperture...but note that it won't autofocus with the D3100.