Lenses

[Flaviow49]

I have Nikon D7000 and I'd like to know which lenses must I buy to make good pictures of landscape and portrait. The default lens that came with my camera is AF-S nikkor 18-105mm 1:3.5-5.6G ED. I'm going to Las Vegas in May, if someone could indicate me a good shop in Vegas I'll be very grateful. Thanks in advance. Flaviow49

[Donald]

Hello and welcome to CiC.

The first thing anyone seeking to answer your question will need to know is - What is your budget allowance? It is pointless people trying to make suggestions if what they suggest is way out of your territory.

And can you tell us why you think your kit lens is not good enough?

[jprzybyla]

I shoot with a Nikon D7000, the lens you say you have is a very good lens. The optics of the Nikone kit lenses is excellent. The only negative for some is the plastic mount and build, although I am not bothered by it because I do not abuse my equipment. With the D7000 that lens will cover focal lengths from 27mm to 157.5mm, certainly in the range for landscape and portraits. Do not discount the quality of the lens you have. I only use kit lenses and get excellent results.

[Manfred M]

I would agree with what has already been written; your existing lens will do quite nicely for both landscapes and portraiture. Landscapes tend to be taken with a wide angle; so the short end of the kit lens will work and portraits, depending on a lot of factors, will be taken with a short through to a long telephoto. Indoor and "studio" type shots would be fine with the lens you have going from around 50mm through to the 105mm setting.

You could go wider for landscapes and get a lens that is a bit wider than what you have. I often use my Tokina 11mm - 16mm for that type of work. If you want to go longer; getting a lens that gets into the 200mm - 300mm range at the long end would work too. That being said, for portraiture, I prefer a fast (f/2 or f/2.8) lens so I can shoot with a very narrow depth of field. These lenses get to be quite expensive.