Selecting a Nikon DX (APS-C) Lens

What lens shall I buy for my new camera?

This is a very commonly asked question and to assist in selecting a Nikon DX lens I will briefly summarize the range available, together with a brief summary of the main differences.

DX format (also known as APS-C or cropped format) cameras have a  16 x 24mm sensor size. Both the FX and DX lenses can be used with DX cameras. These cameras have a crop factor compared to the FX sensor cameras. Due to the crop factor these cameras give an effective extension factor to lenses of 1.5 times, thus a 300mm lens becomes effectively a 450mm lens which can be a big advantage for photography of distant and small subjects such as birds.

DX lenses are generally smaller and cheaper than the equivalent FX lenses.

The lenses are generally categorized into the following types, fixed focal length lenses and zoom lenses.

Remember also that the full range of full frame or FX lenses can also be used on the DX cameras, see the full range of FX and DX here together with detailed reviews.