It is possible that during the summer I might again have the option of adding another lens to my camera kit.

At present I am looking at two major options: a long-throw telephoto zoom, or a micro/macro lens.

Lens	Tamron 18-270mm	Nikkor 60mm MICRO	Nikkor 85mm MICRO
Max Aperture	4-6.3	2.8	3.5
Min Distance	19.3 inches	7 inches	11 inches
Form Factor	DX	FX	DX
Front Filter	72mm	62mm	52mm
Price	$630	$540	$510

 

For aperture, lower numbers are bigger aperture, meaning faster lens.

Minimum focusing distance is how far I have to be from the subject to focus a shot.

Form factor is the size of image projected by the lens. DX is fine for my DSLRs, but wouldn’t fully cover on the 35mm camera, leaving it with still just 2 lenses available (50mm, 70-300mm).

Front filter size is just that, the size of the front threads that take a filter. I already have kits for 52mm as well as 67mm, but not 62mm or 72mm. I would likely purchase an adapter if I were to obtain a 62mm lens.

With the numbers laid out here, I still have to take into account that I so far use only Nikon lenses, and prefer it that way because of the high quality optics. I know that the Tamron would have slightly less optical precision than a Nikon lens, but for the incredible flexibility of that lens, I would be willing to accept it. The Tamron and the 85mm Nikkor have the flaw of being DX, meaning I can use them on my DSLRs without a problem, but that my 35mm wouldn’t use it at full coverage.

I would very much like to have a lens that internally can do macro and not rely on external filters to allow it, but at the same time, the idea of having 15x range on a single lens totally rocks. I am at the moment completely undecided, and unfortunately, I can’t afford another summer like last summer, where I couldn’t pick between lenses so I bought both ($199 and $450 is easier to swallow than $600 and $500).