On another site I am always hearing this or that after market lens being trashed. Then I come over here and see the photo's Tamron Rep post's and i am absolutely certain most of us don't shoot as well as he does! I suspect that the guy could take photo's as good with a brand name lens, a sigma or a Tamron and you'll never be able to tell the difference by looking at the photo's.
When I got my D5000 years ago, I turned down the 18-55 kit lens with it, didn't have enough range for me. Instead I got the 18-105 and it worked for most of what I wanted. then along the line, when I had the money, I got the 55-300 and it is now my most used lens. The 18-105 was sold and replaced with the 18-140, really like this lens as a walk around lens.
If my pocket can ever afford it, I,m gonna get something in the range of an 18-300. I don't think the 16-300 has much advantage for what I do to spend the extra money.Your first lens I would think you'd want some range with till you know what you really want. I would not stop at anything under 300mm on the high side or under about 50mm on the low side.
