Need budget replacement for broken kit lens - am I missing something?

Hey everyone!

So, my toddler yanked my D60 off of the counter and the plastic connections on my 18-55 kit lens snapped off.

I have been using my point and shoot canon and my phone camera for nearly a year trying to decide on a replacement. I am so sick of the poor photos. My subjects are constantly on the move. I need to get a new lens NOW! My budget is tight. I want to spend around 200$. I will be taking some travel photos, but mostly want a fast lens for catching indoor and outdoor shots of my three girls under 6 years old. Portraits, family group shots, playing outside, etc.

My research has lead me to the Nikkor 35mm 1.8 AF-S. I'm just worried that I will miss the zoom option. Should I be looking at a budget non-nikkor zoom lens instead, and then get the prime later? Is there a lens that I should be saving up a little more for? I can bump the budget up to 400-500 in a few months. I think that I will enjoy the lowlight capabilities of a prime lens more than anything else, but I've never shot with a fixed focal length before and I'm nervous!

Advice?? I just want to start taking real pictures again! Thanks so much in advance! ~ Jen

Was your 18-55 the VR version?

The 18-55 VR is a great little lens, and can be had for cheap, particularly used.  If that focal range is enough for you, I'd just grab another used one.  The 35 G is pretty good, but personally, if I could only have one lens, I'd want a zoom, not a prime.

I don't think the D60 came with VR lens. I would grab an 18-55 VR or an 18-105 VR as replacement. If you want small go with the 18-55. Both are pretty good.

Buy another 18-55 kit lens. Forget the VR . . . .  it may reduce camera shake but it's not going to stop your subjects from moving.

You can get one for about $100 at BHphoto.

As other stated, another 18-55 lens is probably your most sensible choice. Otherwise you really need to up the budget at about $600 for an upgrade.

If you are willing to give up zoom, the 35mm 1.8 is also a budget lens that is better for low light shooting, and has considerably faster focus than the 18-55. However I would not choose it as an only lens.

Yes, it was the VR. I have considered just replacing it. I was happy with it, for the most part, but there were situations where the lens just wouldn't focus fast enough. This was especially true indoors.

Also, I am a beginning photographer who really wants to understand more about composition, lighting, exposure, etc. I'm wondering if a prime lens will help me in that arena?

You can learn all that stuff with a nice inexpensive lens and a good few books from the library. Buying stuff is tons of fun, but it won't teach you a thing about making pictures.

But . . . . If you really need to spend money, the 35mm/f1.8 is beautiful (I have one), so is the 50mm/f1.8 (I have 3! ).

But again, for the versatility and the bang/$ , that 18-55 is a steal.

I vote for 18-105 VR refurb. i just got one for $189. if its not perfect return it for another one. The first one I got was complete garbage. called cameta up and they rma'ed me a new one. they paid for shipping too. 2nd one i got is perfect.

the 18-105 is much more heavy IMO though

Make a leap of faith and get the prime!

I can't make the decision for you - nobody can but you - but as someone with many years experience in photography (including professionally) I can tell you that having only a 35mm f/1.8 lens for a few months will do ​wonders ​for your creativity. It will almost certainly teach you ​a lot ​of things about composition and photography.

See it as an opportunity, not as a set-back! You had the 18-55 before, 35mm is really in the middle. You will miss just a bit on the long end, somewhat on the wide end, but the much wider max. aperture, the jump in the image quality, and the need to start seeing the world through a specific focal length will really make a difference for you, I think.

After a few months then, you can complement it with a zoom - the 18-105VR or (bit more expensive option) the 16-85 VR

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Sorry, but the way I see it, that is SUCH an old and tired excuse for an argument about "creativity".  Take the 18-55, set it to 35mm, and walk around with it.  Same thing.

A prime does not make one more "creative", it just limits options.

Unfortunately your budget is very low so the only viable options are the 18-55 mm VR and 35 mm f/1.8. 35 mm f/1.8 is a specialized lens so I would not recommend it as only lens. I like it very much but I have other lenses.

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We are all entitled to our opinion. I respect yours, but mine is that this is not the case.

Setting the zoom at 35mm and walk around with it is not the same. Because people (us all, I'm not excluding myself) are lazy. They use the zoom not for perspective, but as a substitute of their legs. You ​will ​be tempted to use the zoom in the end.

In addition, 35mm on the 18-55 is about f/5 I think? Way, way different photography than f/1.8.

As for the last phrase... I think it's part of the human condition to become more creative when you are limited. Yes, the 35mm limits your focal length options. And so, I believe, forces you to become more creative.

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1.8 will not work miracles indoors, maybe it will make a difference during daylight indoors, but evening/night you are usually talking high ISO and fast lens and I'm not familiar with ISO limits on D60, you would be better off using flash IMO and either replace the 18-55 vr or 18-105 would be good choices overall.

I really don't mean to be argumentative about this, and I do understand your opinion. But talking about an inexperienced person shooting at f1.8 or f2.0 is pushing it IMO. That person will be back here posting OOF pictures asking "what went wrong" or "my camera doesn't focus correctly" (because the DOF is so shallow and it takes lots of time to master that).

For the record . . . I am a prime lens shooter, mostly I use old manual focus primes on my D5100. However, a prime f1.8 would not be my best recommendation as the only lens that an inexperienced person owns. As the 2nd lens - definitely.

It would actually be a difference from 1.8 to 3.5 (or 5 at 35mm), which I think (although I am certainly an amateur) would make a pretty big difference in mostly daytime indoor and outdoor photos. No?

Well, of course we all have our individual limitations. You do have a point there. That's why I said it's a learning experience. And that's why we can't make the decision on behalf of someone else. In the end, it's on the OP's hand to decide whether to take the safe way out or the potentially more challenging (but also potentially more rewarding)

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f/5 compared to f/1.8 is 3 stops difference. Which means, for example:

You can have 1/60 instead of 1/8 at the same ISO

or for the same shutter speed, 200 ISO instead of 1600

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So maybe grab the 35mm now, so I can get shooting again, and then get a zoom in a few months? That way I can play with fixed focal length shooting and see if the faster lens makes a big difference in my photo quality. If it does, I would probably wait longer and invest more money in a faster zoom for my kit. I don't plan on upgrading the D60 anytime soon.

Thanks for all of your thoughts!

I was actually thinking, within a reasonable budget, the OP could pick up an 18-55 ($100, gray market?) and a 35mm/f1.8 ($200 ?) and have the best of all worlds for like $300.

Yes, I do have a lot to learn about DOF, but thinking a prime will actually help me learn that in the long run? Like I am sure I will quickly see that stopping down all the way will give me lots of out of focus noses, but even opened up a little bit, the prime will give me a lot more speed then any zoom I can afford.