Chapter One: Everything you need to know About Nikon D3400 DX lenses
When you look at your DSLR camera, the first two parts that you will notice are your body and your lens. Now when you compare the entirety of your camera to that of a professional’s you may see one significant difference, the professional’s camera has a more elegant lens that probably performs much better too.
The lens is perhaps the most important exchangeable part of your camera. It serves as your camera’s eyes and without it, taking pictures is just impossible. Your lens can determine the quality of your photo and basically everything that you have to take note off when taking a picture. Your lenses set how far you can shoot, how near or how fast you can focus, how much light you can take in, how stable your image will be, and more.
They say that it’s not about the lens and it’s about the person - which is true but skill can only take you so far and lenses are there to push your limits more.
With that, learning about Nikon D3400 lenses is more than just a requirement and picking your lenses will greatly influence your limitations as a photographer.
1. Answering the Questions About the Nikon D3400 Lenses
When talking about lenses, there are a couple of questions that people frequently ask. One of which is an inquiry regarding the brand of lenses that they can buy. Due to the tight contest between Nikon and Canon, a common misconception is developed among the minds of beginners that the lens game is a two-brand race.
This one is entirely wrong because there are third-party manufacturers out there that produce lenses as well for other brands. Third-party manufacturers include Tokina, Sigma, and Tamron - brands that rival the lenses that of Canon and Nikon. These manufacturers create products that can be mounted on your camera as well and these lenses are serious choices which can give you a run for your money.
Tokina, Sigma, and Tamron are preceded by their reputation for developing high-quality lenses as well that can even put some Nikon and Canon products to shame. With that, in the question of whether Nikon D3400 lenses are the best for Nikon cameras, the answer is a NO. All manufacturers make use of the same glass and materials, more or less, and it really boils down to the design and reliability of the mechanism.
Now another question that people seem to ask a lot about is regarding the price of the lenses, particularly why these “extensions” are much expensive than the bodies themselves.
Lenses for Nikon D3400 will, more often than not, cost more than your camera body due to various reasons such as because your lenses contain a built-in focus motor and your bodies do not. Entry-level cameras do not have a built-in autofocus motor whereas thus the low prices whereas professional-caliber DSLRs are much more expensive due to the said autofocus motor being present inside.
Furthermore, as you go along the way and ditch your body for a newer one, your lens can still be used. More than being an extension, these lenses elevate your skill and you can think of it as a way of investing on yourself as well since your limitations are very well determined by your lenses.
2. The Different Types of DSLR Lenses for Nikon D3400
Lenses, much like your camera, have different types as well and different types of lenses render different results, both immediate and long-term. When talking about the type of lenses, there are two words that you have to remember: prime and zoom. Prime and Zoom lenses are the two types of cameras that you can buy on the market today and they differ in one significant way: focal length.
A. Zoom Lenses
Zoom lenses, as the name suggests, are those who have the zoom function to take you closer to your subject or widen the area you are seeing. You may be more familiar with zoom lenses because if you haven’t upgraded your lenses yet, you will still have your original kit lens - the 18-55mm.
Zoom lenses have ranges of focal length or how far your lenses can capture. For example, your 18-55mm lens will have the capabilities of an 18mm wide range, 35mm natural eye range, and your portrait close-up which is the 50mm. Basically, zoom lenses give you variety for a more all-around buddy to go with you. However, these are harder to make and perfect thus costing more and even falling away in terms of quality compared to prime lenses.
B. Prime Lenses
Speaking of Prime, these lenses, instead of having a focal length range only feature one focal length. You may think that due to this single length, it will be more inconvenient to use them, right? Well, that is not entirely false but you may want to see this in a different scope.
Prime lenses are highly specific such as a prime 400mm lens for capturing highly detailed moon shots or the 50mm for your portraits. Being highly-specific, most prime lenses are made to perfection thus offering more quality than zoom lenses. However, due to this high specificity, you may need to switch lenses depending on the occasion.
Benefits of Getting Prime Lenses
By getting a prime lenses for Nikon D3400, let’s say the 50mm, you can actually train yourself to work your way around your subject more. As a testament to this, numerous photographers even go on a “50mm for 50 days” challenge in which they go out and shoot for 50 days using nothing but their 50mm lens as a way to train.
Also, another reason to get a prime lens is due to their speed. Prime lenses are often faster than zoom lenses simply because by using a single focal length, they won’t need to go through the process of determining and calculating distance anymore. By faster, we mean that you can burst at a higher rate and focus a lot more faster than your zoom lenses.
3. How will I know if a lens is compatible with my D3400 ?
Your Nikon D3400 is arguably the best entry-level DSLR in the market today with rivals from other manufacturers one or a half-step behind it. Being an entry-level camera for the use of beginners to amateurs, the Nikon D3400, much like its DX family counterparts, does not have a built-in focus motor.
The autofocus function is a very convenient and handy thing to have and to make use of it with your Nikon D3400, you would need to get a lens with an autofocus motor in it.
Autofocus lenses will usually have the “AF” term on its name if it is manufactured by Nikon. For third-party lenses, the autofocus lenses of Tokina are “DXII” or “DX2” while Sigma’s will contain the letters “HSM” whereas the term “AF/MF” belong to Tamron autofocus lenses.
When talking about compatibility, the most important concept that you have to take note off is the mount; the door that connects your camera with the lens.
The Nikon D3400 features the F mount which means that the lenses you should choose from are those who belong in the AF series. The AF-S series, on the other hand, is a subseries of the Nikon’s AF and lenses belonging to this subseries feature a more silent, smarter, and smoother autofocus mechanism great for shooting videos. Meanwhile, the AF-P series is the more professional version of the AF-S and they come with a certain price.
Other terms to take note
AF-P DX NIKKOR 70-300mm f/4.5-6.3G ED VR - this is an example of a lens’ full name. I know this may seem intimidating so we’re gonna dissect each group of letters to find out what they exactly mean.
We discussed what AF-P means which is the specific focus type that your lens belongs to. It is often followed by the family of your lens or its specific series followed by the brand of your lens, which in this case is Nikkor - the lens brand of Nikon.
The first set of numbers you will see is the focal length or range of your lens. This lens has a focal length of 70-300mm which indicates that it is a superzoom lens which will enable you to reach further distances. Of course, if the name has a single focal length, let’s say 50mm, then you are looking at a prime lens.
The second set of numbers you will see is the f-stop or aperture capability of your lens. Just a short crash course on that: the larger the numbers, the wider your focus area or focal point will be. Should you wish to have one of those pictures with a subject standing over a blurred background, I suggest you go for smaller numbers in the range of f/1.8-3.5.
After the f/stop numbers, the following set of letters signify the different techs inside your lens. In this case, ED stands for Extra-low Dispersion Glass which is the type of glass your lens uses white VR is Vibration Reduction which is responsible for stabilizing your videos.
Now that you know the type of lenses, their importance, and how to read the labels, you now have the license to head on out and take your pick among the Nikon D3400 lenses.
Chapter two : List of the best lenses for Nikon D3400 based on photography type
With everything you just learned about lenses, you should now have sufficient skill to start the actual process of selecting it. Selecting your next lens, as mentioned, is very crucial in your growth as a photographer so be sure to be systematic about it.
1. Four Steps to Find your Next Nikon D3400 lenses
1. Find out your budget - Write on a paper how much you are willing to spend on this lens.
2. Know what you have - Take note of the focal length of the lenses you currently own and make sure not to include in your choices the lenses with similar numbers.
3. Find the purpose - Know the type of photography that you want to get into, portrait for
example, as this will greatly determine the specs of your next lens.
4. Select accordingly - Based on the notations you have done with the previous step, you may
now select accordingly the lenses that will fit your status and preferences. (Go to the type of
photography below and select from the table of lenses for Nikon D3400)
2. The Nikon D3400 Kit Lens
| Lense name | Rate | Price | Buy Now |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nikon 18-55mm Recommended* |
4.7/5 | $190 | [Free Shipping] |
The kit lens is called so because it is the lens that comes with your D3400 in usual occasions. The kit lens covers a focal length of 18-55mm making it the beginner all-around lens for any scenario.
Nikon offers an AF-S and AF-P version of the lens and as we have said, the AF-P version features a smoother and faster motor for focusing. The AF-P was made for the use of videographers so if you are that one, go for this version.
Each of these two options will have 2 versions with different techs inside them -, particularly the VR or Vibration Reduction. The Vibration Reduction is Nikon’s image stabilizing mechanism also great for videography since it prevents any unwanted sound while focusing.
All in all, you may choose from the AF-S VR, AF-S non-VR, AF-P VR, or AF-P non-VR.
3. The Beginner’s Best Friend: 35mm
| Lens Name | Rate | Price | Buy Now |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nikon 35mm Recommended* |
4.7/5 | $190 | [12% OFF- $23.00] |
The 35mm prime lens is a must-own lens in photography. The fixed 35mm focal length perfectly captures what we normally see through our eyes and practicing with this lens will train your vision for the shot. With this human-like focal length, the 35mm is great for daily photo walks.
The 35mm prime is also very compact and lightweight making it easy to carry along. Furthermore, 35mm is considerably cheap as well and is generally a great investment.
4. All in One Zoom Lenses for Nikon D3400
| Lens Name | Rate | Price | Buy Now |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tamron 18-200mm Low Price* |
4.4/5 | $190 | [33% OFF - SAVE $100.00 and Free Shipping] |
| Sigma 18-250mm | 4.5/5 | $340 | [36% OFF - SAVE $200.00 and Free Shipping] |
| Nikon 18-200mm Recommended* |
4.7/5 | $590 | [8% OFF - SAVE $53.00 and Free Shipping] |
| Nikon 18-300mm | 4.6/5 | $690 | [Free Shipping] |
If you were impressed by the variety that the kit lenses can offer you, then you will be astounded by what an all in one zoom lens can do. All in one zoom lenses feature extreme focal length ranges usually from 18mm to the telephoto range of 200mm or 300mm even.
These zoom lenses for Nikon D3400 should give you what a kit lens can do plus the capabilities of shooting far subjects with its telephoto range. Of course, these lenses are noticeably heavy as well but, at the same time, it can train your arms to shoot for long periods.
5. Going the Distance with your Telephoto Lens
| Lens Name | Rate | Price | Buy Now |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nikon 55-200mm | 4.6/5 | $140 | [43% OFF mean you SAVE $107.00 and Free Shipping] |
| Nikon 55-300mm Recommended* |
4.7/5 | $390 | [1% OFF and Free Shipping] |
| Sigma 70-300mm Low Price* |
4.4/5 | $140 | [14% OFF - SAVE $24.00 - Only 12 Left] |
Lenses like these can get you really close to far subjects and it can take you to the moon. Most people choose to get a telephoto lens after getting a kit lens since a lens with a focal length of 70-300mm will give them more range.
6. Shooting More with Wide Angle Nikon D3400 Lenses
As the name suggests, wide angle lenses will give you more of what you see. Wide angle lenses produce stunning images since it captures what we only normally see with our peripheral vision.
Instead of taking a step back to catch a larger area, wide angle lenses actually spread out the vision and background to retain the same quality for the subject. These lenses are great for large group photos, event coverage such as weddings, and of course, landscape photography.
| Lens Name | Rate | Price | Buy Now |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sigma 10-20mm Low Price* |
4.5/5 | $470 | [Free Shipping] |
| Nikon 10.24mm If u r Serious about wide angle photography |
4.7/5 | $890 | [11% OFF - SAVE $103.00] |
7. Beyond the 35mm: More of Portrait Lenses
When it comes to portrait photography, details are not to be taken lightly. Portraits put a focus on a person or a subject’s features and modern portrait photography will have these features stand out by creating a bokeh effect. The bokeh is the practice of adjusting your aperture in order to blur out the background and put emphasis on the subject.
For Nikon D3400, ideal lenses are that of the 35mm or 50mm focal length. These lenses should give you a lightweight and compact feel great for shooting portraits.
| Lens Name | Rate | Price | Buy Now |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nikon 50mm 1.8G Recommended* |
5/5 | $190 | [10% OFF - SAVE $23.00] |
| Nikon 35mm 1.8G Recommended* |
5/5 | $170 | [12% OFF - SAVE $23.00] |
8. Food Photography: An Unusual Portrait
Food photography isn’t quite like your modern day portrait photography. Although details and emphasis as still of the essence, food photography will push photographers to go out of usual portrait angles and explore more to make the subject much more appealing.
Lenses for Nikon D3400 with focal lengths of 80mm or 100mm should do well in featuring enough sharpness to squeeze out the details at the comfort of the camera.
While there is another cool art which is Fisheye photography, where you see the world as the fishs, bellow are some of the great lens for this art.
9. Others:
If you want to discover the hidden word of macro photography, bellow i list the best lenses for macro.| Lens Name | Rate | Price | Buy Now |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nikon 40mm Best for Beginner to Macro* Low Price* |
4.7/5 | $250 | [12% OFF - $33.00] |
| Nikon 85mm Recommended* |
5/5 | 520 | [Only 4 in stock - Free Shipping] |
While there is another cool art which is Fisheye photography, where you see the world as the fishs, bellow are some of the great lens for this art.
| Lens Name | Rate | Price | Buy Now |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nikon 10.5mm Recommended* |
4.6/5 | $770 | [Only 1 left - Free Shipping] |
| Rokinon 8mm Low Price* |
4.4/5 | $240 | [32% OFF - SAVE $110 and Free Shipping] |
| Opteka 6.5mm More Low Price* |
4.1/5 | $150 | [70% OFF - SAVE $350.04] |
10. Nikon D3400 Lenses - The Right One for the Right Occasion
All in all, in picking lenses for D3400, getting the right one for what you plan on doing is very crucial. If you are going out on daily routine photography, the Nikon 35mm 1.8G is the way to go while you can go for an all in one zoom Sigma 18-250mm HSM for that extra telephoto reach.
Your Nikon 35mm can also serve you well in street photography. It’s prime counterpart the Nikon 50mm, on the other hand, is great for portrait photography and street photography as well to some extent.
For telephotography, the Sigma 70-300mm offers you the largest focal length at the lowest price. If you choose to venture into more close-up photos and enter the realm of macrophotography, the Nikon 40mm renders great results.
Be sure to choose wisely and accordingly.
Chapter 3: Lens changing tips from Pro photographers
Lens Changing Tips :
As you go along the way, you will be handling more than one lens during your walks or projects. Having multiple lenses is a great sign of progress but, at the same time, calls out for more responsibility on your side.
Learning how to change from one lens to another, swiftly and carefully at the same time, is very important to avoid having any dust coming in to wreck havoc inside your camera. Furthermore, although point-and-shoot cameras and DSLRs have their own cleaning mechanisms, mirrorless cameras tend to accumulate more dust which is dangerous for the camera.
In any case, when changing your lens, be sure to keep your camera pointing down as if you are shooting the floor. Wrap your strap somewhere safe in your body like your hands or you can just simply keep your strap on your neck just for safety.
Once your camera is pointed to the ground already and is safely strapped, you can now proceed to opening up the mount. By keeping your camera pointed down throughout the process, you can ensure that dust as well as other harmful particles do not make it inside your camera.
For better camera care and performance, there are a couple more lens accessories you can invest on.
Chapter 4: You got a lens? You will need these lens accessories
Lens Accessories for Nikon D3400 :
1. Lens Pouch
Much like any form of a pouch for any form of an object, the lens pouch keeps your lens safe from dust and other particles when unused. Furthermore, most lens pouches are also shockproof to some extent and can be easily clipped on to your backpack or belt for easier access.
Buy Lens Pouch (Best selling - 5 Stars)
2. Lens and Camera Cleaning Kit
Even though you practice the cleaning tips mentioned above to protect your Nikon D3400 lenses, keeping a good lens and camera cleaning kit is still important. Cleaning your lenses by yourself regularly is a good habit for both you and your equipment and to do that you would need the cleaning basics: blowers, lens pens, microfiber cloth, etc.
Buy: Pro Cleaning Kit
3. Backpack for Nikon D3400
The DSLR backpack is something you can’t live without if you are a photographer. Your backpack contains all your equipment from Nikon D3400 lenses to your filters and even your tripod. A backpack will be your best friend on the road so be sure to buy something that is appropriate for your equipment and will last for quite some time.
Buy: Best selling backpack in amazon or read detailed article about this topic Here
5. Tripod
For night shots to group shots, the tripod is an equipment that basically helps you to stabilize your shots. If you are into videography, this equipment should be an important word in your vocabulary and invest in a good unit can make a lot of difference.
Buy Lens Pouch (Best selling - 5 Stars)
2. Lens and Camera Cleaning Kit
Even though you practice the cleaning tips mentioned above to protect your Nikon D3400 lenses, keeping a good lens and camera cleaning kit is still important. Cleaning your lenses by yourself regularly is a good habit for both you and your equipment and to do that you would need the cleaning basics: blowers, lens pens, microfiber cloth, etc.
Buy: Pro Cleaning Kit
3. Backpack for Nikon D3400
The DSLR backpack is something you can’t live without if you are a photographer. Your backpack contains all your equipment from Nikon D3400 lenses to your filters and even your tripod. A backpack will be your best friend on the road so be sure to buy something that is appropriate for your equipment and will last for quite some time.
Buy: Best selling backpack in amazon or read detailed article about this topic Here
5. Tripod
For night shots to group shots, the tripod is an equipment that basically helps you to stabilize your shots. If you are into videography, this equipment should be an important word in your vocabulary and invest in a good unit can make a lot of difference.
See: Top 9 DSLR Tripods
5. Lens Hood
The lens hood is somewhat a cap you put over your lenses in order to prevent flares or glares from ruining your photos. Each of the Nikon D3400 lenses has their own lens hood and in some occasions, they come in separately.
6. Lens Filter(s)
Finally, for both protection and performance elevation, you will need lens filters. Lens filters are glass films you screw on top of your lens in order to protect it and change the complexion of your photos as well. There are a lot of lens filters out there, like the simple UV to the much more complex polarizers, each having their own purpose.
Buy: Lens hoods
Buy: Lens hoods
Choosing a lens can be quite tasking but very fun at the same time. Picking out the lens to choose will determine your progress as a photographer and it’s just like picking out a new toy in the store - only, you have to do it smartly. Whether you want to do portraits, long shots, macros, head to the streets, or anything else, there is a right lens for you and that’s the beauty of photography.
Comment down below your favorite photography style or lens to let us know how you’re doing! If you have any question, please, comment them below and we’ll do our best to get back right at you.
Also, spread the word and share this article so your peers can also bookmark and use this article also to guide them through the process of finding the best lenses for Nikon D3400.