Hi Everyone,

I recently purchased a Nikon D50, and I'm thrilled with it thus far. I
bought it with two kit lenses, taking me from 18 mm - 200 mm. However,
these lenses have a somewhat cheap feel to them, and I'm not sure how good
they are optically. So, I would appreciate a list of lenses that I could
collect over time (Nikkor lenses). First off, at the super-long focal
length end (1500-2000 mm), I'll use a 6" or 10" maksutov-cassegrain
telescope, so I'm basically looking for lenses that would take me from
close-up macro photography out to about 400 or 500 mm. Also, I'm NOT into
VR lenses -- I typically use a tripod most of the time, and I'm not into
action photography where I have to be holding the camera to recording my
images.

One thing I enjoy is night-time photography, or low-light photography in
museums. So I'm wondering about "fast short focal length" lenses.

Also, I'm on a budget here -- I might spend $1,000 on, say, one lens in my
collection (if it were really something I needed), and a good bit less on
the others. In other words, there's no way I can afford a $3,000 or $5,000
lens...

If anyone could offer me a 3 or 4 lens collection of non-VR Nikkor lenses
that might fit my price range, that would at least be a starting point for
me. There are so many lenses out there, and I don't want to underbuy,
overbuy, or re-buy the same capabilities in multiple lenses. I'm hoping for
lenses with a good solid weight and feel to them, like the lenses I once
used on my now handed-down Nikon film SLR.

Also, I'm not acquainted with the "third party lenses" as far as optical
quality and robustness of construction are concerned. I'm open to such
lenses if they're really good, but not interested if they're not.

Thanks for any thoughts,
Scott Speck