I'm looking at expanding my lens collection; so far I've only bought Nikkor lenses. My only issue is the price point for new lenses. I was wondering, out of the third-party lenses out there, which 3rd party brands would you recommend, which ones would you avoid? I'm looking for the best quality for the least cost. Any input any of you can provide would be amazing. Camera I have is a Nikon D750
Sigma art series are top notch. My 50mm is the sharpest lens I own. Some are still a bit pricey, but often half the price of equivalent nikon/canon lenses with equal or better quality. The only downside is some of the lenses don't have weather sealing...and some do.
Have you tried any Tamron or Tokina lenses? It's hard just going off the websites star system...
I’ll 2nd the Sigma lenses. I recently invested (I say invested because you don’t just “buy” a lens unless your last name is Gates or Bezos) in a Sigma Contemporary 150-600 zoom, and it’s really sharp. As a test, I chased squirrels around the backyard... Snapped a photo of one that was about 30 ft up a tree, I was probably 30 yards from the bottom, and I could still count individual hairs.
I have used bot Tamron and Sigma. For me, the Sigma Art series are tops.