cj_eds said:
I got a 18-55 kit lens with my Canon 500D which I replaced with a Tamron 18-270 AF/IS zoom. At big zooms it suffers from vignetting but from what I'd consider a budget lens it does a pretty decent job. An equivalent Canon EF-S lens would've been close to 4 figures which I couldn't afford. I hunted around for prices and was fairly surprised that Jessops were within a tenner or so of the best on-line price. Sorry can't be more helpful and recommend any on-line sites!
Check out reviews and tests thoroughly because there are some poor ones, but there's some fairly good Tamron and Sigma ones.
At a guess it will also be very soft, super teles are always poor at the wide and long end, vinetting chromatic aberration and distortion even if you step them down to F8. Your better off buying a lens that is designed by the camera maker. A lot of 3rd party brands are prone to poor manufacturing with some lenses being very sharp and some being extremely poor. Tameron and Sigma are especially know for this, when they make the same lenses for multiple lens mounts (Nikon, Canon etc). You will also find that the nikon lenses will be much better built. But if you are on a budget and not really too worried and are not blowing images bigger than A4 then you wont have any problems with a basic kit lens most come with image stabilisation or as nikon calls in vibration reduction (VR). In my opinion I would never touch any third party brand, I bought one sigma when I first started which was a super tele 70-300mm and the end lens element fell out... it was so soft it was nearly unusable.
It depends what you want out of your camera and how much you use it. Buying good lenses will never loose money its like buying some good CSLs you will sell them for what you paid for them. But good glass is expensive. Mid range lenses are always a good thing but Nikon doesn't really produce them, either basic or pro really.
But my camera earns me a living so all my lenses re expensive. Lenses are much more important than the camera body and I may be slightly biased.... Because I have a thing called the L bug :wink:
Which is canons pro lens range 90% of which are outstanding quality. You pay for how fast a lens is, the lower the number the better so a zoom at F2.8 throughout its range will be the best you can buy or a various aperture lens which will be different from its minimum and maximum focal length so 3.5-5.6 is probably norm. Primes are always nice too and offer a very small depth of field which is nice many budget lenses are F1.8 or F2. Will give you this kind of effect:
Aston Martin by
tom_scott88, on Flickr
This was shot with a 50mm prime at F1.8. These lenses are also great for low light as they are so fast.
Best places for gear are:
London camera exchange: http://www.lcegroup.co.uk/
Cameraworld: http://www.cameraworld.co.uk/
DigitalREV: http://www.digitalrev.com/
Jessops: http://www.jessops.com/
Wilkinson cameras: http://www.wilkinson.co.uk/
You wont be able to beat DigitalRev for price tho.
If I were to recommend you a lens...
This is your basic kit lens (if you dont want to spend any money)
http://www.cameraworld.co.uk/ViewProdDetails.asp?prod_code=PON07L000031&Prod_name=Nikon+18%2D55mm+f3%2E5%2D5%2E6G+AF%2DS+VR+DX&CAT_CODE=2&SUBCAT_CODE=203
Looking for a prime:
http://www.cameraworld.co.uk/ViewProdDetails.asp?prod_code=PON11F000134&Prod_name=Nikon+50mm+f1%2E8G+NIKKOR+AF%2Ds&CAT_CODE=2&SUBCAT_CODE=33
The canon equivalent is only £75 :roll:
If you want an upgrade and more focal length then
http://www.cameraworld.co.uk/ViewProdDetails.asp?prod_code=PON08H000075&Prod_name=Nikon+18%2D105mm+f3%2E5%2D5%2E6G+ED+VR+AF%2DS+DX&CAT_CODE=2&SUBCAT_CODE=203
Or if money is no issue I would buy this
http://www.cameraworld.co.uk/ViewProdDetails.asp?prod_code=50474&Prod_name=Nikon+17%2D55mm+F2%2E8+G+AF%2DS+DX+&CAT_CODE=2&SUBCAT_CODE=203
only one it came with so replace needed 
