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Help me find a new lens.

taylorwilsdon

taylorwilsdon

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Nov 16, 2006
1,870
13
New York City
I'm looking for a new "general" lens. Right now, my combination is the 12-24mm and the 28-70mm, both of which are enormous and heavy. I use a Nikon D300 body.

I'm basically looking for suggestions on where to go next. I've looked at the 17-55mm, hoping it could replace both (I don't shoot ultrawide that often, 17 might cut it) but that's also a very big lens. I looked at the 16-85 VR, which has a perfect range, but I don't like the variable (and slow) aperture. The 35-70 would be nice, but they're hard to find in good condition now and demand an unreasonable price premium as far as I'm concerned. I'm not in love with push/pull either.

Anything I'm missing? I'm very open to 3rd party lenses (I've had good experiences with Tamron, Sigma and Tokina) and I'm not against using primes and switching up a lot. I don't want to spend any new money, just what I would get from selling one/both the 12-24 and 28-70 (probably $1600 or so).

Wants: Lighter than "The Beast" 28-70mm. Good range (doesn't have to go wide if I'm keeping the 12-24). Very sharp - the whole idea here is getting nice images and I'm just a hobbiest, so I want the very best for my money.

Thanks for your help!
 
Hi,

you already have a very good set of lens. Getting a third zoom one in that range is useless and any lighter lens will have lower quality optics.

I dont see the 50mm1.8 in your list. This baby is a must, look on my blog if you need to be convinced. There is a post about it "first lens you should buy". What ever you shoot, it will find its place.

Lens weight is always an issue and the only way to solve it is to get lenses made for cropped sensors. Wide aperture lenses for full frame are all heavy.

I think you should move toward a 70-200. It offers in one zoom lens the power to do full lenth portrait and face close up. It is also good for sport and shooting across the street. With that one, you will have coverage from 12mm to 200 which is excellent.

There are a lot of variables at play regarding sharp pictures and with your talk about "slow aperture", I have a feeling that you mostly shoot at the widest range. Try to stop down a bit and notice how sharper your shots will be. Now if you combine this with the VR, you can get some insanely sharp pictures. That is why I moved from a 70-200L2.8 to the f4IS version. For 90% of my shots, the IS helps more than the speed increase. So that might be something to keep in mind!
 
Mantat said:
Hi,

you already have a very good set of lens. Getting a third zoom one in that range is useless and any lighter lens will have lower quality optics.

I dont see the 50mm1.8 in your list. This baby is a must, look on my blog if you need to be convinced. There is a post about it "first lens you should buy". What ever you shoot, it will find its place.

Lens weight is always an issue and the only way to solve it is to get lenses made for cropped sensors. Wide aperture lenses for full frame are all heavy.

I think you should move toward a 70-200. It offers in one zoom lens the power to do full lenth portrait and face close up. It is also good for sport and shooting across the street. With that one, you will have coverage from 12mm to 200 which is excellent.

There are a lot of variables at play regarding sharp pictures and with your talk about "slow aperture", I have a feeling that you mostly shoot at the widest range. Try to stop down a bit and notice how sharper your shots will be. Now if you combine this with the VR, you can get some insanely sharp pictures. That is why I moved from a 70-200L2.8 to the f4IS version. For 90% of my shots, the IS helps more than the speed increase. So that might be something to keep in mind!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply!

I do have the nifty 50 (f/1.8) as well as the 55mm macro (f/3.5). Right now, its not going to be a 3rd zoom, its to replace one or the other. I also do have a telephoto, but I'm happy with it so its low on my list to replace. I can deal with a big heavy tele zoom because I don't walk around with it much.

I was thinking of getting the Sigma 30mm 1.4, Nikon 50mm 1.4 and Nikon 85mm 1.8 to replace the 28-70mm. That way they'd all be fast primes that don't weight a whole lot.

The beast is BIG and its a bit of a nuisance to carry, especially with a SB-800.
2670387208_48be41e20b.jpg
 
Ok, go with a 30mm. With your crop factor it will be 45mm which is very easy to visualize when looking around. So you can have a mental frame of what you want to shoot before putting the camera in front of your eye. Very useful when you have to shoot quickly (ex: streets).

I think my 24-70 is even bigger than yours :-D
 
Mantat said:
Ok, go with a 30mm. With your crop factor it will be 45mm which is very easy to visualize when looking around. So you can have a mental frame of what you want to shoot before putting the camera in front of your eye. Very useful when you have to shoot quickly (ex: streets).

I think my 24-70 is even bigger than yours :-D
Click to expand...

No, one of the improvements that the 24-70 made is that its much smaller.

30mm is almost "normal" on a crop body so I think it would be a good choice, but I'm afraid it almost overlaps with the 12-24... maybe I should get an 11-16 and the 17-55.
 
taylorwilsdon said:
No, one of the improvements that the 24-70 made is that its much smaller.

30mm is almost "normal" on a crop body so I think it would be a good choice, but I'm afraid it almost overlaps with the 12-24... maybe I should get an 11-16 and the 17-55.
Click to expand...

The D300 is a DX, so you can use the Sigma 18-35 f/1.8. I highly recommend that lens. Try it out, and let us know what you think.
 
Why not? I still own the D300 and I'm buying lenses for it. I just thought I'd mention an option I found to be very good indeed. If I were in his position, I'd want to know about such a good lens that is so affordable. I have always tried to be helpful and kind, and I see nothing wrong with it - it makes the world a better place!
 
OldCorpse said:
Why not? I still own the D300 and I'm buying lenses for it. I just thought I'd mention an option I found to be very good indeed. If I were in his position, I'd want to know about such a good lens that is so affordable. I have always tried to be helpful and kind, and I see nothing wrong with it - it makes the world a better place!
Click to expand...

Fair enough. How you finding the D300? I have the option to buy a second hand one as a back up to my D7100 through work.
 
Apple fanboy said:
Fair enough. How you finding the D300? I have the option to buy a second hand one as a back up to my D7100 through work.
Click to expand...

I love it. They only made minor upgrades with the D300s, and people are still waiting, years later for an update, an equivalent of D400. The premier APS-C Nikon is the D300/D300s. The next step is full frame, but not everyone wants it - personally I love the APS-C because I find it the best choice between quality and additional reach on the long end of lenses. Unquestionably, the D300 is one of the legends of the Nikon camera world. Just make sure you get one with not too high a shutter count, so you still have some life left in it.
 
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