Nikon D5200 Digital Field Guide

Chapter 4: Selecting and Using Lenses with the Nikon D5200

Probably the most important accessory that you can buy for your D5200 is a good lens. Your lenses have a tremendous effect on image quality, especially with the high-resolution sensors of dSLRs. The D5200 sensor resolves a high amount of detail, and therefore it’s important to put high-quality glass in front of it. The lens not only affects image sharpness, but also contrast and color. A quality lens is a valuable investment as it will likely be in your kit through a number of camera bodies.

A key feature of the D5200 is that the lenses are interchangeable. You can use lenses to achieve visual effects. You can use a wide-angle lens to distort spatial relations and lines, a telephoto to make far-off objects appear closer, or a macro lens to get close up and show detail that can’t be perceived unaided by the human eye.

A high-quality lens is an investment that should outlast many dSLR camera bodies.

Deciphering Nikon Lens Codes

One of the first things that is apparent when shopping for lenses is that there are a lot of letters in the names, such as AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR. That’s a big name for the simple kit lens that comes with the D5200. So, what do all of these letters mean? Here’s a simple list to help you decipher them:

• AI/AI-S. These are Auto Indexing lenses. They automatically adjust the aperture ...