Recommendation on lens for Nikon D800

[Snoopdog]

I have a Nikon D800 that suits my needs fine, older camera but still takes great pictures. So far the only lens I have purchased is a Tamron macro lens. I need a lens for shots that are further away. Since I am rather lacking on my knowledge of lenses, really lacking to be honest what do I need to buy? Will I need a multiple lenses for distant shots? I need something to get the entire tank in view from maybe 3-5 foot away and also the ability to take top down pictures of my frags in my sump so I can sell them.

I really need help here, I found information on here easier to find for taking macros than what I need now.

 

[maroun.c]

What tamron macro lense did u get the 90mm?
you have any plan to upgrade body to a mirorless camera I would suggest you do it now and get yourself some mirrorless lenses as resale value on the F mount lenses is dropping, yet the D800 is a very capable camera for tank shots.
Assuming you only have the 90 mm I would invest in the following for the type of shots you mentioned.
50mm 1.8 a very good lense for the price. Its a prime lense at 1.8 max aperture which will allow faster shutter speeds under aquarium lights. It's a good lense for coral closeups and for fish shots with an inconvenience of lack of zoom so a bit tricky to get the fish in the available frame.
It alsonis a great macro lense if u add extension tubes for corals that are close enough.
24-120 f4 a great lense for the price and at the 24 mm or the wode side great for full tank shots as well as a flexibility due to the nice 24-120 zoom range. Focus isn't as good as the other faster le ses bit not a huge deal. Image quality is very good, I find it a bit soft compared to the 24-70 2.8 but at 1/3rd of the price its a great lense.

 

[Snoopdog]

What tamron macro lense did u get the 90mm?
you have any plan to upgrade body to a mirorless camera I would suggest you do it now and get yourself some mirrorless lenses as resale value on the F mount lenses is dropping, yet the D800 is a very capable camera for tank shots.
Assuming you only have the 90 mm I would invest in the following for the type of shots you mentioned.
50mm 1.8 a very good lense for the price. Its a prime lense at 1.8 max aperture which will allow faster shutter speeds under aquarium lights. It's a good lense for coral closeups and for fish shots with an inconvenience of lack of zoom so a bit tricky to get the fish in the available frame.
It alsonis a great macro lense if u add extension tubes for corals that are close enough.
24-120 f4 a great lense for the price and at the 24 mm or the wode side great for full tank shots as well as a flexibility due to the nice 24-120 zoom range. Focus isn't as good as the other faster le ses bit not a huge deal. Image quality is very good, I find it a bit soft compared to the 24-70 2.8 but at 1/3rd of the price its a great lense.

I just bought the body months ago, I was told not to spend a lot and the D800 was perfectly capable for anything I will ever need.

The tamron I got was listed as a Tamron AF 90mm f/2.8 Di SP AF/MF .

 

[maroun.c]

I just bought the body months ago, I was told not to spend a lot and the D800 was perfectly capable for anything I will ever need.

The tamron I got was listed as a Tamron AF 90mm f/2.8 Di SP AF/MF .

Indeed the D800 is a very capable camera and will be capable enough.
The tamron 90 is great for macros and vcoseup shots of fish.
The 2 lenses I mentioned should complement the 90 mm macro very nicely as explained in my post above

 

[Snoopdog]

Indeed the D800 is a very capable camera and will be capable enough.
The tamron 90 is great for macros and vcoseup shots of fish.
The 2 lenses I mentioned should complement the 90 mm macro very nicely as explained in my post above

The 24-120 would be more flexible no?

 

[maroun.c]

Yes but it depends if u need that reach:
How deep is your tank and how far from glass are you shooting and how close to your subject do u want to be without having to digitally crop your image in post processing....
of course the 24-120 would be more flexible, another even better option (coverage wise at least) would be the 18-135. yet other factors comes into play like which makes it more tricky.

aperture
24-120 is fixed F4 vs 50 mm 1.8 which is much faster glass fully opened and sharper at f4 than the 24-120

Price
at least 3 times the price for the 24-120 vs 50mm 1.8

image quality
50mm being a prime lense has better image quality

convenience as mentioned goes for the 24-20 F4

build quality
24-120 is a but better built thatn the 50 1.8 mm

another example is the 18-135 f3.5-5.6 which for example would give you more reach than the 24-120 yet being a non fixed max aperture image quality would be a bit worse than the 24-120 f4 and even worse than the 50mm m1.8 build quality would be worse price would be better even at a more convenient reach. another option is the 18-200 wich is 3.5 -5.6 and a DX (cropped sensor lense where image quality isn't as good as the 24-120 bild quality similar to the 24-120 convenience better than all the lenses price better than most but the bigger disadvantage is it being a DX or cropped sensor which means you will get some dark edges when used on the full fram camera D800 or camera can also automatically crop the picture to avoid the black edges but hten you lose halff your pixel count.

so its about checking all the above against your need from the lense so you make an informed choice.

 

[Snoopdog]

Yes but it depends if u need that reach:
How deep is your tank and how far from glass are you shooting and how close to your subject do u want to be without having to digitally crop your image in post processing....
of course the 24-120 would be more flexible, another even better option (coverage wise at least) would be the 18-135. yet other factors comes into play like which makes it more tricky.

aperture
24-120 is fixed F4 vs 50 mm 1.8 which is much faster glass fully opened and sharper at f4 than the 24-120

Price
at least 3 times the price for the 24-120 vs 50mm 1.8

image quality
50mm being a prime lense has better image quality

convenience as mentioned goes for the 24-20 F4

build quality
24-120 is a but better built thatn the 50 1.8 mm

another example is the 18-135 f3.5-5.6 which for example would give you more reach than the 24-120 yet being a non fixed max aperture image quality would be a bit worse than the 24-120 f4 and even worse than the 50mm m1.8 build quality would be worse price would be better even at a more convenient reach. another option is the 18-200 wich is 3.5 -5.6 and a DX (cropped sensor lense where image quality isn't as good as the 24-120 bild quality similar to the 24-120 convenience better than all the lenses price better than most but the bigger disadvantage is it being a DX or cropped sensor which means you will get some dark edges when used on the full fram camera D800 or camera can also automatically crop the picture to avoid the black edges but hten you lose halff your pixel count.

so its about checking all the above against your need from the lense so you make an informed choice.

I think I will do the 50 then.