17-55 2.8 or 24-70 2.8???

evilonion

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Dave Peacock
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hi all,
I have a nikon d300 and i would like to sell my lenses and get the one i use the most which is the 18-50 range... usually at about 35mm.

Now i want to put the money towards the best glass as i feel the camera is perfectly adequate and no reason to upgrade at the moment.

I know everyone raves about the 24-70, and i have used it myself. The pictures were pin sharp and was a joy to use... but how does the nikon 17-55 compare?
Is it equally as good on the crop or would i be better off losing the 17-23 range and going for the 24-70?
 
if you mostly use ~35mm why not get the 35/1.8 - it's cheap too.
of course, you could always get the 1.4 ;) :lol:
 
When I used DX, I used my 17-55 90% of the time (also had a 35 1.8DX too). If I was to ever to downsize to DX I'd consider the 17-55 a must have. It was sharp wide open, focus really fast, build quality second to none.

Personally I'd miss the 17-24 range if I used a 24-70 on crop.
 
I'd echo what James said. It's personal of course but I'd find the extra 7 mm at the wide end of the 17-55 a fair bit more useful that the extra 15mm at the long end. So the 17-55 would be my preference in your boat. A useful chunk cheaper as well particularly if you're buying used.
 
How about on a FF body, is 17mm wide/good enough to ditch the 15mm on the long end?
 
How about on a FF body, is 17mm wide/good enough to ditch the 15mm on the long end?

Huh?

The 17-55 is not an FX lens, you only start to see no vignetting at around 26mm, so on FF it's effectively only a 26-55. 24-70 is the midrange zoom of choice for FX.
 
Instead of the 24-70 have you considered the "beast" Nikons 28-70 2.8 which used is about £600-£650ish - alot cheaper than the 24-70 but still as sharp...

I had one for my D300s before I went FF & got the 24-70 - its just a thought if you decided on the 24-70 (hope that makes sense - just go in from a long day at work)
 
I had this same question a while back and for my shooting I thought 24-70 as I would rather have the longer end. You could take a look at the Tamron 24-70 with stabilisation sounds great in theory.
 
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