Opinions on lenses

[Major Nikon]

12. The 55-200 is a good value

200mm is really the entry point for taking pictures of small animals at decent working distances, but even at that you need to be pretty close. The closer you are the less cropping you'll need to do and cropping robs you of effective sharpness pretty quickly.

The first thing I need to know is what Nikon body you have. The D3XXX and D5XXX series bodies will not autofocus with many Nikon lenses, particularly the older ones available on the used market. So if autofocus is important to you, look for AFS designated lenses in Nikon with either of those series bodies. 3rd party lens manufacturers have different designators, so you'll need to look for lenses with internal focusing motors.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/62788945@N08/sets/72157626572470855/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/62788945@N08/sets/72157626765431732/

The purposes of those tests is to show that at normal screen resolutions and no cropping, you're not going to notice much difference in sharpness between cheaper lenses and much more expensive ones. Where you really start to notice the difference is with very large prints or when you start cropping significantly.