re new strings for Classical Guitar

I prefer D'Addorio strings.  I no longer have a classical, but I used that brand and another brand I can't recall.  But I don't think there's any way to avoid the tender fingers thing until you build callouses.

La Bella 2001 Light Tension.  I've seen them for around $8 on sale (regularly about twice that) long lasting and come to pitch and stabilize fairly quickly.  The lower tension might ease the pain for awhile to get through that "awkward" phase, but don't expect really high projection (volume). That's the trade off.

One thing to try and avoid is the tendency to press too hard on the string... you can't do anything about the diameter of it digging into your tender fingertips, but really you only have to press enough to contact the fretwire, not imbed it into the wood between them!

I too like D'Addario strings, but I think the La Bella strings are softer so a good starting string until those calluses get back.

True!  I grab mine now and then... but not as often as I should.  The biggest drawback to drop tuning on nylon, is that the intonation seems to go bad fairly quickly if the tension is excessively low or high.  Think it has to do with the way the string has to vibrate at given lengths (much as all string instruments) but the nygut is less forgiving it seems.  Other's opinions may vary, and it may be a variable that different strings may not all be prone to.

Hmmmmm,  I never managed to build any type of callouses up with the nylons,  it wasnt until I switched to steel and it wasn't for a lack of trying. I used to use Daddario Pro Arte lights.  Now that I have callouses, any old nylon works just fine.