Joejr14
Grand Bubble Burster
I'm after the following kind of usages. Taking pictures of the corn snake is the first: small subject, fast mover, ne'er-sit-still, close up macro type shots. I'd like to nurse my passing interest in entomology into a hobby, but would rather not deal with the corpses, so photos would be ideal: similar needs to the corn snake pictures, but smaller subjects and even more desire for detail. Someone mentioned bird watching, which was a great reminder. I've all but given up on photographing the local wildlife, particularly the avian, but the local hawks and falcons are so awesome: rather different set of needs than the first two, being much more distant subjects, but still the more detail the better. Fourth, astronomical photos would be awesome: I know it might be a bit of a stretch, but that's what this part of life is for.
The MFD on the Nikon 18-55mm kit lens is 0.9'...from the plane of the sensor. That's maybe 6" from the front of the lens. It's not a macro lens, but it's damn close. It doesn't offer true 1:1 reproduction, but it's also a $200 lens. You can also add extension tubes or close up filters for some extra 'oomph'.
Delving into avian photography is going to be considerably more expensive, even if you go off-brand. The more reach the better, but 300mm is generally accepted as the lowest you can go. Anything more than 300mm is better, but it comes with much higher costs.
There are options for $700-$1200 that'll get you to 500mm, but those are all in zooms. Image quality most always suffers with zooms over prime lenses, but again, it's a cost/benefits analysis.
Sigma/Tamron make zooms that'll get you plenty of reach and not break the bank. Sigma offers the 'Bigma' 50-500mm zoom for around $1200, Tamron offers a 200-500mm zoom for around $900, and you can get a 300mm Nikon prime for around $1200. Slap a TC on it (like I did for a while) and it turns into a 420mm f/5.6 lens that'll get you fantastic image quality with plenty of reach.
When you've then decided that 420mm is nice, but the min aperture of 5.6 is limiting your low light shots and you'd rather have a 500mm f/4, feel free to upgrade at a cost of several thousand dollars...