the best advice given to me by someone i respect is.. buy the best glass you can afford. a 2.8 lenses is fast, allowing you to shoot in lower light, but it is heavy and costly. what focal length you choose depends on what you have already and what you want to do. i have a 70-200mm f4, a 24-70m 2.8, and i have hopes of getting something around a 16-24mm. if you shoot off of a tripod, or shoot with plenty of light you can forego a fast lense. but, it is nice to get pics hand held when others cant. i dont know much about nikon, but hopefully others will give input, good luck and good shooting

i looked at my lense.. the 24-70mm... Canon calls it a macro, go figure.... i shot this with it... macro?. I cant speak as intelligently on the subject.. but.. many lenses are capable of shooting close up. this was done on a cloudy and windy day, hand held. good luck on the lenses.