Which lens to buy: 50mm f/1.8G or 10-20mm as first extra lens for travel to Japan?

Question

I have recently bought a Nikon D5100 with a 18-55mm and a 55-200mm lenses kit. Now I am planning a travel to Japan (next April) and I would like to buy a new lens in order to make some practice before leaving for the trip.

Some of my collegues suggest me for a Wideagle others for the 50mm. I would also be more oriented for the Nikon 50mm 1:1.8G since it can shot great photos with low light conditions and make also very good Portrait with blur background.

In Japan I would like to shot a lot of details on the streets and people, more that portraits however.

Is the 50mm a good lens for this kind of photos or would you suggest something else? I have seen the 50mm 1:1.8G is out of stock in many shops (Amazon, Pixmania, ...). I live in Switzerland, does anyone know other reliable web sites for photo lenses? Thanks.

Answer

If you want to take pictures of the buildings - go with your kit lenses (18-55) and don't worry ;) Grab polarizing filter and you will have good pictures when it will be sunny (do not forget to unmount it when it is cloudy). 18-55 is perfect for the traveling and taking pictures of the buildings. Use F/5.6 and more for details.

If you want to shoot in low light, then get small tripod. 50mm F/1.8 will not help also if it is really dark.

If you want to take portraits, then 50mm is the best thing you can have (or 70mm), but you will feel not comfortable if you want to take picture of bigger building, you will simply fail.

10-20 will give you freedom, but you will not enjoy it for portraits...

Kit lenses are added with your camera just because you will be able to determine what you need next, but it doesn't mean that they are always bad and you need to invest more and more to get better ones ;)

In switzerland you can use www.toppreise.ch page and see the prices there.

Hope that helped at least a bit...

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