Verified answer

You are "branded" if you already paid too much for a certain camera brand and their lenses.

Tokina makes great lenses that are more affordable than other brands.

Visit these sites.

Tokina lens review http://www.kenrockwell.com/tokina/11-16mm.htm

Tokina website http://www.tokinalens.com/

Price them http://www.tristatecamera.com/

Just like cars made by one big corporation.

All lens manufacturers regardless of brand offer different levels of quality.

You do get what you pay for regardless of brand.

Be aware that a few lens brands can be toal junk at any price. Read the reviews.

Entry level low priced

Advanced photographer medium priced

Pro photographer high priced

I have both cameras so I can give you an answer from having used both and not just looking at the specifications on a piece of paperp.People make the assumption that just because a newer camera has more megapixels then it must obviously be better. Not true. Both these camera have the same size sensors. There is only so much megapixels that can be squeezed into a sensor size before having diminishing returns and I must stay that is what these newer cameras are suffering from.the more features and more mp's that are crammed in, then the harder the processor has to work. My D50, which incidentally can not only use the older lenses but the new dx vr ones too, works great and consistently outperforms the d3100 every time, especially in low light. Don't be fooled by the megapixel count on a camera. I would choose a used D50 over a newer d3000 range Nikon every time. For all intents and purposes, these cameras are more than adequate and even better than most new ones.

Congratulations on your new D3100. It's a great entry-level dslr.

Since it doesn't have an internal autofocus motor, you'll need AF-S Nikon lenses (don't worry, almost every new lens Nikon puts out has been AF-S). But you can go 3rd party if you look for lenses with BIM (Built In Motors). I've successfully used Sigma HSM and Tamron lenses. Tokina and other makers also have optics that will work perfectly with your D3100.

Read the specs carefully. On Sigmas, look for the HSM designation. On others, read the specs.

Here's a list from 2010 that contains a partial list of lenses for your camera. The list keeps growing each year!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nikon_compati...

Hope this helps.

Have a look at Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G AF-S ED VR II Nikkor Telephoto Zoom Lens for Nikon DX-Format Digital SLR Cameras

One-lens solution adept in a wide variety of situations

Nikon VR II (Vibration Reduction) image stabilization

Two Extra-low Dispersion (ED) elements; three aspherical lens elements

Exclusive Nikon Silent Wave Motor (SWM)

Focus to 20 inches for extended versatility

Nikon Super Integrated Coating (SIC)

The major problem is less money means less quality. Nikon lenses are expensive because they use quality glass and over all lens quality is much higher than any of the off brands.

I recommend against the off brands because of not only my own experience but so many others who write here about problems they've had with cheap lenses.

Always remember you can judge the quality of any lens or camera by it's price. Quality is never cheap and cheap will always disappoint you.