Nikon Crop Sensor Lens - Walkabout / Jack of All Trades

[bony_13]

I'm looking for any advise or maybe confirmation on my next lens purchase. So far I have:
Nikon D3200
Kit 18-55mm Lens (ok, nothing special. Will sell on)
Prime 35mm f1.8 lens (great lens, that I'm learning to make more use of)
Sigma 18-250mm f3.5-6.5 (bit of a disappointment for anything other than macro work, original purchased as a walkabout lens).

Off to Florida in two weeks and looking to buy a second hand Sigma 17-50mm f2.8 or Sigma 17-70mm f2.8-4.5 - both available around £150-£200. I've done a bit of research and the 17-50mm especially seems highly praised as a great day-to-day walkabout lens and about as good as it gets for the crop sensor cameras. What's the PH view on these lenses? Or are there better alternatives for the money? Not wanting to spend more than £200-300 at this stage.

Any suggestions welcome

[Turn7]

I use the Nikon 16/80 as my walkabout,it's fine .
Bang in budget too . There is a newer 2.8 version out now but around 500 ish...

[conkerman]

I have a 17-50, it is a decent lens I like mine a lot, although personally I'd want something with more reach.

We went to Australia last year and I only took my 18-200VR which now never gets used. Fantastic for holidays though.

[Simpo Two]

My general purpose lens is a Nikon 17-55mm f2.8. Horribly expensive when new (bought for weddings) but about £400 s/h I think.

Nikon or not, I find 17-55 a very good range and f2.8 can be useful at times either for shallow DOF or low light. I find the quality very good and people think my camera is expensive because of it...

NB: If you save by buying the Sigma don't expect the IQ to be as good.

[andy-xr]

Sigma 24-70 is alright, it's not going to stand up against the Nikon version, but for the few hundred quid they go for, they do the job fine. I guess you'd need the HSM version if there is one with a D3200

[steveatesh]

Is the 2.8 essential?

My walkabout lens is the Nikon 18-140, very sharp and covers a wide variety of situations.

Within or about budget new from HDEW I would have thought, I paid £205 for mine a couple year ago.

Whatever you pick enjoy the holiday!

[Simpo Two]

andy-xr said:

Sigma 24-70 is alright, it's not going to stand up against the Nikon version, but for the few hundred quid they go for, they do the job fine. I guess you'd need the HSM version if there is one with a D3200

Not much wide angle on a crop sensor though. If the OP uses the wide end of his current lenses then those mm between 18 and 24 make a big difference.

[bony_13]

Thanks for all the input so far! Should have guessed asking the question on here would make my decision harder! To respond to a few things:-
- 24mm would be a struggle at the low end, I often find myself at the wide end of the range.
- F2.8 is by no means essential, I'm mainly interested in better image quality over my current zoom lenses.
- Nikon 18-140mm looks like a good option and is priced lower than I expected. At this point I dont want to go over £250, new or used.

[bony_13]

Thanks for all the help, I've decided to go for a Nikon 18-140mm as recommended here. Will be ordering tonight

Thanks again

[Richjam]

I have the 18-140 on a d3300 it is great for covering a lot of options. If I have a criticism it's that distortion can be a problem on architecture shots you can correct most of it in LR but most of these super zooms are going to be similar.

[bony_13]

Thanks Richjam, good to know you have got on well with it.

I think I am realistic in what I expect from a zoom lens like this. What I couldn't tolerate with my sigma was that it was soft in nearly all situations and I was only happy with macro shots.

I tend to photograph nature and people more that I do buildings and architecture. So happy to trade sharpness for distortion and make any balances in Lightroom to suit.