Lens Choice ? ?

[kaushikkartik]

Hello everyone,
After a Fruitful discussion in my last post. I again are looking for your help. As I told you I have a Nikon D90, and am looking for a new Lens and have a limited time to decide as I am going to Italy this month end and want to take (new Lens) it along.
Now my budget is clear, 500 euros, I do mostly Landscapes and Portraits. I have a 35mm prime and a kit lens 18-105, and 70-300.
I am thinking in terms of an Fx lens... so that when I upgrade my camera in a couple of years I have the required kit for it.
My choice was a 24-70, But obviously the Nikon is way too expensive. Pls suggest.
P.s I always like a clean Bokeh....

[Shadowman]

Hello everyone,
After a Fruitful discussion in my last post. I again are looking for ur help. As I told u I have a nikon D90, and am looking for a new Lens and have a limited time to decide as I am going to Italy this month end and want to take (new Lens) it along.
Now my budget is clear, 500 euros, I do mostly Landscapes and Potraits. I have a 35mm prime and a kit lens 18-105, and 70-300.
I am thinking in terms of an Fx lens... so that when I upgrade my camera in a couple of years I have the required kit for it.
My choice was a 24-70, But obviously the nikon is way too expensive. Pls suggest.
P.s I always like a clean Bokeh....

You already have the 70-300mm so that range is covered. With the 18-105mm wouldn't you pretty much cover the range of the 24-70mm, only losing the benefits at the outer focal length and obviously the speed? Why not a prime lens instead?

[Manfred M]

Kartik - I personally think that you have the range covered for your trip, and if you are looking to invest in FX glass, put a bit of money aside and then buy proper pro Nikon glass. I bought both the f/2.8 24-70mm and f/2.8 70-200mm Nikkors well before I jumped to FX and found that the 24 - 70mm was a great lens on the D90 (one has to be a bit careful when shooting with it as it is not stabilized).

When I first got my D90 (well over 4 years ago now) I got two kit lenses, the 18-55mm and the 55-200mm and then got a Tokina f/2.8 11-16mm. After that (with two exceptions; I got a grear deal on the f/1.8 35mm lens and I picked up a Samyang 8mm fisheye for very little money), I bought no more DX lenses; but these tend to be rather expensive, far more than your 500 Euro budget. I still shoot the D90 because and the kit lenses because they are small and light weight.

With the exception of Tokina; I have been very unimpressed with the build quality of the other Japanese third party manufacturers lenses.

[tclune]

I have the Tamron 28-75 f/2.8, and it is my standard go-to lens for just about everything. It is wonderfully sharp, has excellent contrast, and is free of CA AFAICS. It doesn't have VR, but I don't feel the need for that at these relatively short focal lengths. I have seen some folks say that it is a bit soft in the corners wide open on a full-frame camera. My camera is a DX, so I really don't know one way or the other about that -- on my camera, it is sharp wall-to-wall, even wide open, across the zoom range. It's really a wonderful lens. And, as an added bonus, it takes the same size filters as my Nikon 70-300 VR.

[RustBeltRaw]

I think Manfred hit the nail on the head. You already have decent glass covering 18-300mm, so if it were my money, I'd continue saving until I could afford something really swanky like the 24-70 f2.8 you mentioned. The only reason to get that lens now would be if you needed wider apertures than the 18-105mm or 70-300mm can provide. For landscapes, probably not. For portraits? Possibly, especially if you want to get something longer than the 35mm. I'm a Canon shooter, so I can't credibly recommend any specific Nikon gear. Something like Canon's 85mm f1.8 USM or 100mm f2.0 USM might be the best fit, but again, I recommend keeping your money for now.

[kaushikkartik]

Hi,
I was also thinking of the 85 mm 1.8 nikkon, I have seen and read that it produces stunning Portraits, but am not sure is it so good for Landscapes.
Also the Sigma 24-70 .... How is it,
and one more question, apart from E bay where can i buy used lenses....

[Manfred M]

Hi,
I was also thinking of the 85 mm 1.8 nikkon, I have seen and read that it produces stunning Portraits, but am not sure is it so good for Landscapes.
Also the Sigma 24-70 .... How is it,
and one more question, apart from E bay where can i buy used lenses....

Frankly just about any lens can be used for landscapes; but zoom lenses do give you a bit more flexibility.

Stunning portraits are the result of the photographer, not the lens. I had a look at four different lenses when I went for a fixed focus portrait lens (just remember that these lenses are really aimed at the FX user); the f/1.4 85mm Nikkor, the f/1.8 85mm Nikkor, the f/2 105 DC Nikkor and the f/2 135 DC, Mechanically the f/1.8 85 was the poorest quality of all of the lenses, but it was very sharp (which is not necessarily that important in portraiture). The other three were very well built; both the 105 DC and 135 DC are older designs that need the in-camera motor to drive the focus mechanism. I ended up going with the f/2 105 DC as I found the 85mm focal length a bit short for the way I shoot. I own a 135mm for a different camera, so I ended up with the 105 DC. In my case this was the right choice as this is a good focal length for the portraits that I shoot and it has amazing bokeh . The DC (Defocus Control) feature is subtle, but quite interesting. The other lens that I use for portraits is the f/2.8 70-200mm. Don't forget that for a lot of portraiture you will be shooting in the f/8 - f/11 range to ensure you get the subject in focus.

I don't know about the Sigma 24-70mm. We own the Sigma 150-500mm and it died and had to go back to Sigma for repairs twice within the first 6 months that we owned it. Sigma lenses may be okay optically, but their build quality is not great.

Used lenses; how about camera stores; that is where I have bought several. I would never buy a lens on eBay or any other place where I cannot inspect / test it first. There is no way one can tell how well it works or if there are any problems with it without holding it in your hands.

[tclune]

apart from E bay where can i buy used lenses....

Just about everybody's favorite place for used equipment is KEH . They are very reputable and have as good a return policy as you're likely to find. I also like to buy Nikon factory refurb lenses, which come with a 90 day guarantee and have been brought back up to spec by Nikon itself. I've never been disappointed with a Nikon refurb. My own rule of thumb is that I'll buy new for the longer warranty if the price difference is less than about 30%, but everybody has their own views on these things. In addition to getting the refurbs from Nikon itself, you should check Adorama and B&H. Not only does the availability vary between stores, but I have actually paid about 10% less from Adorama than from Nikon direct at times. BTW, Adorama and B&H also have used lenses, and are as reputable in their dealings with those as with new equipment in my experience. FWIW

[William W]

Looking for a new lens; wanting the Nikon 24 to 70/2.8 with not enough in the budget for it and making a purchase under the pressure of time is a recipe for a poor choice.
I suggest you save the 500 Euro and put it towards the lens you want.

I spent eight week in Italy last year - a 24 to 105/4 on a 5D did me fine – for all Landscapes and Portraits and lots of other stuff too.

One is capable of making good images with a D90 and the 35 Prime and the 18 to 105 kit lenses, which you have: I had a 16 year old student who toured Turkey with an EOS 400D and a 35/2 and the 18 to 55 kit lens – she’s won a couple of local competitions with her work from that trip.

WW

[wilgk]

I have the canon version of an 85 1.8
It is my most often used lens..

[Brev00]

It sounds to me like you are trying to squeeze your future ambitions for full frame into a trip to Italy. Adding the 24-70 makes little sense to me for a trip like this. Besides the added weight, the lack of vr in all the churches and museums plus the awkwardness of the focal lengths on dx will cause some negative consequences. You are going to want those wide focal lengths! So, my advice is to ignore your own original concept and get a dx ultrawide. After taking 200-300 shots with it all over Italy, you will have gotten much of your money's worth. Full frame is off in some unknown future. Italy is coming up soon. You could easily make do with the 18-105 so saving your money for that full frame future may make sense. But, don't go fx cheap now with a cut rate 24-70 you will want to sell the day after you get your new camera.