Do you mean a telephoto lens (take photos of stuff far away) or something that has a wide focal range (true definition of a zoom lens, in a roundabout way)? Sometimes that just needs to be cleared up for us that associate zoom with a lens that doesn't have a fixed length, and telephoto being, well, telephoto.
I like the Nikkor 18-200mm VR personally. Very versatile, eliminates the need to carry a zillion lenses. The 200mm will be an actual 300mm in the D3100, so great telephoto reach, but still wide at the lower end.
If you're talking about a dedicated telephoto... the 70-300mm VR is a great choice, but the F4-5.6 max aperture is limiting if you want to do fast moving stuff indoors. If budget allows, I highly recommend the 80-200mm f/2.8 lens. Cheaper, but still pro quality, alternative to the $$$$$ 70-200mm VR f/2.8.
Just remember that with a Nikon 3100, you need to buy an AF-S lens (with the Auto-Focus built into the lens, because it's not built into the body of the 3100). Most of the zoom and telephoto lenses are AF-S, but the 70-300mm f/4, the 80-200mm f/2.8, and the 80-400 f/4.5 are not. Although you can still use those lenses on the 3100, you won't have Auto-Focus (AF) so you'll have to focus manually.
@hmgphotos thank you I'm new to the world of photography and dslr so thanks for clearing my mistake up lol. I'm looking for a lens to shoot things from far away. thanks for you're advice!
get a cheap 80-200 tamron or sigma. or a cheap 2 lens kit with 18-80 and 80-200 or something in that range. play, get a feel for shooting, and read up, decide what you are going to do, what types of shots, night, indoor, outdoor, etc. the more you shoot the better idea you will get of the kind of lens would be best. then you can save up and get a good lens that will suit your needs the best.
@bsingleton0010 Manual focus isn't that hard to do, but it definitely takes longer and takes some getting used to. You have to set up your shot and turn the ring on the lens, and there's a little light in your viewfinder that lights up to show you if you're in perfect focus. To be honest, I'd be pretty bummed not to be able to use auto-focus because AF is so accurate and fast, and lets you concentrate on other things like exposure, composition, etc. If you have a camera store nearby that rents lens, it might be a good idea to rent a few of the lenses suggested here (both with AF and with AF-S) to see what you like.
@cchambers thank you for the advice @wenmei lol I live in the middle of nowhere so there isnt nothing like that around here. but thank you for your help!
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I like the Nikkor 18-200mm VR personally. Very versatile, eliminates the need to carry a zillion lenses. The 200mm will be an actual 300mm in the D3100, so great telephoto reach, but still wide at the lower end.
If you're talking about a dedicated telephoto... the 70-300mm VR is a great choice, but the F4-5.6 max aperture is limiting if you want to do fast moving stuff indoors. If budget allows, I highly recommend the 80-200mm f/2.8 lens. Cheaper, but still pro quality, alternative to the $$$$$ 70-200mm VR f/2.8.
@wenmei is manual auto focus hard to do?