For beginners - the very thing. And if you generally took a DSLR just for yourself, sometimes you can’t imagine better to take a picture. I don’t understand at all what disadvantages it can have for beginners. Plastic mount, is something coming off somewhere? Well, excuse me, even when I’m in the mountains, I don’t lean on lenses, like some people, and I handle equipment extremely carefully. I don't have a single scratch on my camera or lens. Although, the conditions are not always good for shooting. I don't trust anyone with my equipment. I'll put it on a tripod if needed. And equipment in cases needs to be stored and transported. When necessary, he took it out, took a picture and immediately put it back into the bag and fastened it tightly. Something like this. And further. Very comfortable focal lengths. Very suitable for reporting, travel and everyday life. In addition, this zoom helps you understand what fixes you will need in the future. The stub works very well with hands. But the same stub often SOAPS. It is quite easy to make sure: we photograph from a tripod with a slightly slower shutter speed than the focal one and the result is obvious: it is sharper without a stub. By the way, his sharpness is normal, but not ideal. Aperture is not such a big problem for rooms. The SB-700 in conjunction with the D5100 and this lens work perfectly. About HA, etc. I will not write. All this is automatically removed in Lightroom with a bang by lens correction. Doesn't matter at all. After a year and a half of use, it is absolutely not enough. Lack of light and sharpness. Therefore, it is planned to switch to FF and something like a set of fixes or 24-70 from the gold line. But, I repeat, for beginners for 100 points. If you are planning to seriously delve into photography, then immediately take a good FF camera and a couple of fixes like 50mm and 85mm. (for starters, one 50mm is enough). Or an expensive zoom like 24-70. Although, he will probably lose to fixes at some points, but not much.