I just bought my Nikon D40 the other day for a great price. I went to the washington auto show the other day and saw alot of D40's but with different lenses. I am being completly honest when i say i have no DSLR experiance so when replying please be kind. Which lens should be my next? and why a new lens i really dont get it? thanks to anyone who takes the time to view and answer this
Upgrading lens offers you better image quality, and better performance with auto-focusing or faster shutter speeds (wider apertures).
Do you NEED to upgrade? Not a necessity if you are happy with your current setup. But if you feel it is lacking, such as you're having problems focusing in low-light situations or you're not able to achieve fast enough shutter speeds, or even if you are looking for better color, details, then perhaps a new lens is in order.
The first thing you should ask yourself is which area in your current lens selection are you shooting mostly in (i.e. wide angle or telephoto, exact focal length such as 24mm to 85mm, etc)?
That will be the first step in finding what lens you want to/should upgrade to.
Once you get an idea of where (focal range) you like to shoot in, then ask yourself if you would like to have the flexibility of zooming in and out of that range or do you stay in the fixed length? Generally, most people prefer zoom lenses for their flexibility, as opposed to fixed lense (primes). Advantage to primes, however, is their optical quality in comparison to zoom lenses. This is not to say that zoom lenses aren't sharp, but just something to take into consideration. Most of today's zooms, though, are pretty good in rendering details and colors.
So you've answered both questions. Now go out and see what manufacturers have to offer. I like to stay with "OEM", if you could say that, meaning Canon (for me) or Nikon. But there are a handful of third-party manufacturers who have built good quality lenses for a fraction of the price of Canon and Nikon. Check them out (Sigma, Tokina, Tamron) and see what they have to offer.
Hope that helps!
