[Inspired]

I currently have the Nikon D90 with Nikon 12-24mm wide angle lens. I am currently in the market for a new lens but can't decide what lens is best for my personal use.

I primarily shoot cars and landscape. Once in a while I shoot human portraits but barely.

My coworker recommends me getting a prime lens for the DOF.

Any thoughts?

[scollins]

There are so many factors, it really does boil down to a personal choice, and what you think is lacking in your range.

With the 12-24, do you find that you would like just a little bit more reach, or a lot more reach? Or no more reach at all? If you want just a bit more reach and want to spend some serious coin on a professional grade lens, the 24-70 f2.8 is the hot ticket. But it also needs a ton of Benjamins (well, $1,400-$1,600 used, $2k new.)

You could also snag a prime. The 50mm f1.8 is a bargain and a half at $125-$150. That gives you an effective 75mm f1.8 lens in Full Frame parlance, which is nearly the same focal length as a "portrait" lens (85mm f1.4 or f1.8.) It is significantly faster than your 12-24, and your D90 will autofocus it (not an AF-S lens.)

But as I said in the beginning, it depends on what you feel you need, and how much money you want to spend. When I had the 18-200, I did some analysis of my shots, and they tended to group at the ends of the zoom range. I was either shooting 18mm or 200mm, with just a few focal lengths scattered in between. When I upgraded to better glass, I went with the 17-35 f2.8, 50mm f1.8 and the 70-200 f2.8 VR. The 50mm doesn't get used that often, and the 17-35 is my "walk around lens.) The 70-200 is my sports lens.

Hope that helps.

[E92Fan]

You have one of the better wide angle zoom lenses for the D90 already, and that I would expect is still going to be the main lens you use for the images that you take.

If you want something to extend the reach and give you a new perspective, personally I'd avoid the 24-70mm f/2.8, even though it's a damn good lens and I have one myself. The range it covers is not the most useful to be honest and you'll probably find you either use it at 24mm or at 70mm, but not much in between. The reason is that the field of view around 35mm and 50mm is very easy to achieve just by taking a step forward or backwards. The 24-70mm is also a lot of money, good as it is.

I think you'd be better off with the 85mm f/1.8 - the quality is utterly amazing, bettered only by the f/1.4 version which has a teeny bit better bokeh quality (blurring of the background). On the D90 with the 1.5x crop factor, that'll give you a 127.5mm f/1.8 lens, which is absolutely perfect for portraits and also good for narrow-field view when needed (for example taking close-ups of car parts or individual elements in landscapes)

The 85mm is also great value - not a huge amount of money, but one of the very best lenses Nikon has ever made.

The link below gives a review of the 85mm f/1.4, but crucially it compares the f/1.4 to the less costly f/1.8 version and at the end recommends the f/1.8 as better value

http://www.bythom.com/Nikkor-85mm-lensreview.htm

[BillLee]

get the 70-200mm and call it a day. pretty expensive though

[Sylon]

I really like my 18-135mm D80 kit lens that I got for my D200. Its a decent general purpose lens. Not too expensive either.


For great DOF, I would recommend the Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 lens. Very inexpensive (can pick one up for less than $120), its great in low light and has some very crisp shots.