Gear Share Dilemma

[CIC]

Hello everyone

I'm in a classic "gear sharing" dilemma.

I have a Z9 with 14-30 Z F4 and 24-120 Z F4. Now my son also needs a camera and I'm thinking about buying him a Z8 or Z6iii. We're both into same génère of photography (travel, portrait , landscape etc) so these focal lengths are required. But I don't want to buy the same lenses. So I'm looking for suggestions for Zoom lenses that somewhat covers the need in budget. I can go for 3rd party Zooms if I don't have to compromise IQ. I do not need f2.8, F4 is just fine.

Thank you all in advance.

[Manfred M]

I would have to ask about your son's experience level.

Many years ago, my wife and I shared lenses even though we had different film camera bodies (both Leica R3). Later on when we went digital (Nikon D90 cameras for both), we had lenses that complemented; she shot a Nikkor 18-200mm plus a Sigma 150-500mm. I had a number of other lenses including the 18-55mm kit lens and the 55-200mm plus the 80-400mm.

We avoided having exactly the same lenses as that gave us more flexibility.

She still shoots the 18-200mm and I am now shooting medium format, so we don't overlap anymore.

[Geoff F]

Some of the third party manufacturers are now producing excellent quality lenses which are equal to the 'top brands' but considerably cheaper. So check a few reviews before purchasing anything.

I agree with not always requiring F2.8 lenses. Most of my photography is with F9 - F11 settings

[CIC]

Hello Manfred
Thank you for your reply and I'm so sorry for this delayed response.

My son's experience level is 6 out of a 10 point scale. Dile to his study pressure, he can't shoot regularly, but whenever he can, he does. Personally, my judgment is that he has a good pair of eyes and produces fairly good images of street and human interests. He won't be staying with me while he will be using his new equipment. So there is no chance that we can swap things.

[Manfred M]

Some of the third party manufacturers are now producing excellent quality lenses which are equal to the 'top brands' but considerably cheaper. So check a few reviews before purchasing anything.

I agree with not always requiring F2.8 lenses. Most of my photography is with F9 - F11 settings

Geoff - that really depends on the type of photography you are doing.

In landscape work, having an image that is sharp from the front of the camera lens to the horizon is often very important.

In other genres, the opposite can be true as shallow depth of field can be useful to isolate your subject. This is often the case in portraiture (especially location work, rather than studio work) and in product and still life photography. I often use fast lenses (and full frame and medium format cameras) precisely for that reason.

[Manfred M]

Hello Manfred
Thank you for your reply and I'm so sorry for this delayed response.

My son's experience level is 6 out of a 10 point scale. Dile to his study pressure, he can't shoot regularly, but whenever he can, he does. Personally, my judgment is that he has a good pair of eyes and produces fairly good images of street and human interests. He won't be staying with me while he will be using his new equipment. So there is no chance that we can swap things.

When I look at your website, you shoot a wide variety of subject matter; still life (food), street photography (travel), wildlife (especially birds), landscapes and architecture. Your photographic language is still developing (I would not instinctively be able to attribute that all of the images were produced by the same photographer). In some cases I would like to see a broader depth of field and in others I would like to see something shallower (especially in the street photography where the backgrounds are sometimes a bit distracting).

As your son essentially shoots the same type of images that you do, then there is a dilemna. You would have to duplicate the lenses you use. I can see two different approaches here. The first one is the one Geoff suggests and that is buying third party lenses that are going to be less expensive. There is interesting glass coming out of China (many brands) and South Korea (Samyang). The main downside is that these lenses are not always autofocus and in many cases, they are fixed focal lengths. The more expensive Japanese third party lenses (Sigma, Tamron and Tokina) can be quite good, but generally not as good as the Nikon OEM lenses. In terms of IQ i have made some massive prints from a lens that is not considered all the great optically (and had many complements on the sharpness of the prints (up to 80cm x 110cm). Sharpness comes from knowing how to post-process a well taken shot.

The other option I see is that if you upgrade your glass, your son can use your old lenses. I'm not sure what the used lens market is like in India, but would certainly be an option for me. If you look at used lenses, stay away from any lenses that professional photographers use as they tend to be very hard on their gear.

The other thought is that unless your son plans to make a lot of large prints, the camera / lens combination does not really matter that much as most images on the internet are less than 2MP and most of the pixels you have captured are thrown away. I've won awards for prints done with 12MP (APS-C) and 20MP (mFT) cameras.

The main reason I went full-frame and medium format (and away from APS-C and mFT) was to use fast lenses that create sharp, shallow depth of field (DoF) images. If you are shooting f/4 glass on your Z9 you don't seem to be that interested in shallow DoF.

[DanK]

I'm a little confused by this. If your son isn't going to be in the same area and therefore can't use the same lenses, why think of this as a "gear sharing" question rather than just ask what is the best option for him given whatever financial constraints you have for the purchase? What seems important to me is what your son will be shooting, not what you are shooting. It seems to me that the only reason to worry about consistency with your gear is if you expect to do long-term swaps, for example, "why don't you take this lens for the next several months, and I'll take your.....".

So, I would start with the basics, some of which have already been mentioned. One of them is whether he has a need for fast glass. I don't; I almost never shoot wider than f/4 on a full frame camera, and usually I shoot narrower than that. (I don't do studio portraits, but I do a lot of candids of kids, and for those, I don't go wider than f/4 because I want the entire head in focus.) Other people, who shoot different things and have different goals for their images, do need fast glass. Note that for the issue of depth of field, the actual number depends on sensor size. Assume the answer is that your son would need f/4 on a full frame camera. To get the same DOF with a Nikon APS-C camera, you would need f/2.8. With micro four thirds, you would need f/2.0. I shoot both full frame and MFT, so this difference is very real to me.

A second question is how many megapixels he needs. I completely agree with Manfred about this. For posting online, higher pixel counts are of no use, and they just waste money, storage, and processing time. For very large prints, more megapixels helps. However, even in the range of A3+ or A2, you can get wonderful prints from 30 and even 20 MPX. And in addition, new upscaling procedures, like the AI-based "super resolution" in Adobe products, often do a superb job of adding more detail if you actually need it. My most successful image, which was printed A2 and hung in a museum for 6 months, was shot on a Canon 5D III (22 MPX) and printed A2. Another, a 26 x 47 cm print from 7.5 MPX crop from an image taken with an 12 MPX MFT camera, was hosted in a gallery. So be realistic about what's really needed.

Second, what bells and whistles does he need? Does he need the spectacular AF tracking that some modern cameras offer? For landscapes and portraits, this is no help at all, but it certainly is for birds in flight. Would he make use of the stored buffer that some new cameras will keep around the image captured at the moment the shutter is fully pressed? The ability to create a focus stack? For many people, the answer is either "no" or "not much". For example, for me, the focus stacking function of the OM-1 Mark II is quite useful, and the AF tracking is helpful with candids of kids (who move around unpredictably), but I will very rarely use the ability to keep a buffer of shots around the primary shot.

[William W]

I too am befuddled a little bit: rather than offer direct suggestions per lenses, I’ll offer this experience.

Around 2008 my Daughter needed (as opposed to I thought she needed or she wanted) a digital camera and a lens coverage from medium wide to slight telephoto. She needed this as a requirement tool for an elective Art Subject taken (for 2 years) for High School Matriculation.

(As an aside she also required 135 Format and or Medium Format Film Camera(s) and Standard Lenses for both, alternatively she could share those tools, which the school provided.)

At the time I had a comprehensive kit of Canon DSLRs, both 135 and APS-c Formats and set of very fast Prime and Zoom lenses. At times (but not all the time) she could borrow my lenses.

We bought a Canon DSLR (400D) with the kit lens, EF-S 18~55 f/3.5~5.6 and the EF 35 f/2.

She achieved very well in the study of The Craft, and gained exceptional results in her Major Work and Final Exams, and never borrowed any on my gear.

Moving along to further studies and employment . . . she still uses that camera and the two lenses, occasionally and less each year.

She now has a very smart mobile phone, exceptional quality images and videos she makes now, with that tool.

WW