Lenses for D40X

[anna_priest]

<p>Hello group,<br>

I am new to this forum and not all that experienced with photography. I have a D40X camera with the standard lense that came with the camera, and and add off 200mm (75-200 if I remember right?)<br>

I use my nikon at the race track and would like a lense with a better zoom on it. I am having a hard time trying to find a list of what lenses will work with this camera.<br>

I would appreciate any listings on what lenses I can look into buying (no pun intended!)<br>

Thanks!</p>

[richardsnow]

<p>Anna - </p>

<p>You likely have the 18-55mm and 55-200mm kit lenses that were typically packaged together to get a nice focal length range for that camera.</p>

<p>To get more length you will likely have to look to a Nikkor 70-300mm VR ($519).</p>

<p>Sigma and Tamron also make zoom lenses in this range and are more budget conscious:</p>

<p>Tamron 70-300mm OS (currently $399 after mail-in rebate)<br>

Sigma 70-300mm OS ($349)</p>

<p>I can't vouch for the optical quality of the Sigma or the Tamron, but the Nikon is well worth the money. You can't get better optical quality from Nikon in that range without spending thousands of dollars. </p>

<p>RS</p>

[raczoliver]

<p>200mm on a DX camera sounds like plenty of reach for me, but then I don't take pictures on racetracks. However, I would suggest that you first try to get better results with your existing setup. Once you go longer than 200mm, you'll start running into problems with camera shake, and then you'll want a faster lens that costs thousands of dollars at that focal length.</p>

[eric_arnold]

<p>right. first question is budget. if it's under $500, look at the tamron 70-300 VC--it's better, optically, than the nikkor version. the sigma 70-300 doesn't have a high-speed motor for focusing, unlike the nikkor and the tamron, so it wont even AF on a D40x.</p>

<p>if you have more $$ to play around with, a 300/4 AF-S would be a dream lens for racetrack. you might want to look around for a used copy. a nikon 80-400 AF-S doesn't exist, sadly. and anything longer than 300mm is going to be exorbitantly expensive.</p>

[mark_drutz]

<p>The D40x is a small lightweight camera. The Nikon 55-300 VR may be a better choice than the 70-300 VR and the Sigma or Tamron which are all much bigger and heavier. I have the 70-300 VR and when I tied the 55-300 VR on my D3100, which is the same size and weight as your D40x, the 55-300 VR balanced much better.</p>

[Ray House]

<p>You can get a Nikon 70-300 VR lens refurbished at the Nikon store for $399. They are in stock now.</p>

[anna_priest]

<p>Thank you all very much for all your replies.<br>

Yes, you are correct with the 55-200mm (had to go by memory at work!) I've been using this for a couple of years, and enjoy it, but still find myself needing to crop the photos for printing. I am hoping with a better zoom, I wont need to do this as often.<br>

I will start looking into the Nikkor 70-300mm VR<br>

Cheers!</p>

[dennis_george_miller]

<p>I got a d40 several years ago because the camera would work with the older lenses. It is then manual focus and manual setting can be adjusted using the histograms. This turns out to be very easy to do, and I really enjoy using this camera with the older 300 ed if, and 400 ed if with 2x. Amazing results for bird photograph. You may try a search to help you with this, d40 and histograms, as several good easy articles are out there. good luck ! </p>

[anna_priest]

<p>Just out of curiosity... is the 500 a AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/4G ED VR???<br>

That is pricey, 8 grand!!! does that fit the d40x? </p>