A new lens?

[Eddy O]

Hi folks. First time poster here so please excuse me if i've overlooked some glaringly obvious route to some faq's that would take care of my wondering's.

Last Christmas, the wife got me a Nikon D40x with the standard issue 18-55mm lens which i've been using as and when while trying to make sense of the world beyond happy snappers.
I'm still a novice in terms of understanding the complexities of the subject but i get some nice results. So, now with Christmas almost here again, er indoors would like to get me something to expand and perhaps improve with and i'm thinking maybe a lens such as the relatively inexpensive Nikon 55-200mm F4.5-5.6G AF-S VR DX . A good next step?

[Franglais]

Yes. The 55-200mm F4-5.6G AF-S VR DX (not f4.5-5.6) is perfectly suited to the D40x. It even comes in a kit with some of your camera's descendants (D5000).

[AtominoRewiev]

Yes it is. I had it too. My feeling is: the Sigma 50-200 HSM OS works well and has a solid quality (metalic bajonet). I sold the Nikon and use the Sigma http://joergvetter.oyla.de/cgi-bin/hpm_homepage.cgi However the advantage for you if you take the 55-200: both the 55-200 and 18-55 takes 52 filters. BR Joerg

[Eddy O]

Thanks guys, appreciation for responding.

[Franglais]

Yes it is. I had it too. My feeling is: the Sigma 50-200 HSM OS works well and has a solid quality (metalic bajonet). I sold the Nikon and use the Sigma http://joergvetter.oyla.de/cgi-bin/hpm_homepage.cgi However the advantage for you if you take the 55-200: both the 55-200 and 18-55 takes 52 filters. BR Joerg

I have the Sigma 55-200 HSM (bought on holiday when I had a problem with my 18-200). It's cheap, very small, focusses with the D40x/D60 (make sure its the HSM version), image quality quite satisfactory. The only thing I don't like about it is the feel of the zoom ring.