DX lens FX sensor

aberal

aberal

lens lens lens (or Lens)
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Alan
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Does anyone know whether Nikon's DX lenses work with FX format sensors and if so what their limitations might be? Lens designations are a mystery in themselves and it's confusing the hell out of me!
 
Yes they do work, the camera automatically changes to DX mode and only uses the 5.1 mill pixels in the centre of the senser
 
RogDen31 said:
Yes they do work, the camera automatically changes to DX mode and only uses the 5.1 mill pixels in the centre of the senser
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Ok - so in otherwords, you're not getting the benefit of the FX format then? Do you know which lenses are compatible with FX then? I've scoured the Nikon website but it's amazing what they seem to be able to not tell you!

Thanks for the quick response. :thumbs:
 
Well the 5.1 million pixels are good quality pixels, plus you still get the phenominal ISO capability of the FX sensor.

Remember - Pixel count is not everything :)
 
Basically any lens that does not mention DX in the name.
 
As an aside... you can turn off the auto crop on the camera and use DX lenses in FX mode. What you get is a heavily vignetted image (which goes to black a fair way outside of the DX crop area) which you can crop to a larger size than DX in software later. You're still better using proper FX lenses though!

Flashy
 
You will get phenomenal results with any old 35mm film lenses on the FX sensor cameras - I have dug my old full frame lenses and they work fine.

A 35-70 f2.8 is small, ligt and produces really excellent results - and is half the weight of the 24-70.

Don't be afraid to pick up some used lenses from F4 and F5 days - they will be stunning just the same.
 
I've not tried any DX lens on the D700.

Can't really see the point...? Its a nice idea, but why spend £3k on a camera, than plonk a DX lens on it.

Much better to get older FF lenes, ie the stellar 28-105 f/3.5 - f/4.5 AF-D which is a stunner on DX, and FF too :)
 
puddleduck said:
Can't really see the point...?
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There would be no point if I was knee deep in available dosh. As it is - I'm not. :( I can't afford the whole caboodle right now, so step one - look at buying the D700, accept my DX lens limitations for the moment then step two - gather up decent lenses as and when the finances become available. Plus I didn't want to fork out an extra £300 for the D700 FX kit lens which wouldn't give me the lens options I'm looking for.
 
aberal said:
There would be no point if I was knee deep in available dosh. As it is - I'm not. :( I can't afford the whole caboodle right now, so step one - look at buying the D700, accept my DX lens limitations for the moment then step two - gather up decent lenses as and when the finances become available. Plus I didn't want to fork out an extra £300 for the D700 FX kit lens which wouldn't give me the lens options I'm looking for.
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I must be missing something, but why buy the D700 now if you have'nt got the lenses or the money to buy them?

Buy the lenses (which will still work on your current body), save up, and the D700 will have dropped in price by then.

I never understand why people plonk down ££££ on a body then scrimp on glass. If you are happy with DX crop mode, you don't need a D700 right now.

I'm probably beiing dense, but it strikes me a bit like buying a car, then remembering you don't know how drive :bonk:

Cart before the horse here, surely?
 
puddleduck said:
Buy the lenses (which will still work on your current body), save up, and the D700 will have dropped in price by then.

I never understand why people plonk down ££££ on a body then scrimp on glass. If you are happy with DX crop mode, you don't need a D700 right now.
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Who said that I was happy with DX crop mode? What I said was that I was accepting it's limitations for now.

I do understand your point, and sort of agree. Thing is - I know what I want from a body and don't yet know what I fully want from the lenses. For instance I don't yet know whether I need a perspective control lens for architectural photography, which is a special interest of mine, but I do know that I need low noise for interiors.

So this is the way I'm going about it - you'd have done it differently, which is fine. IMO it's not so much cart before horse as horses for courses. Either way, within a year I will have gathered together what I want, hopefully.
 
aberal said:
Either way, within a year I will have gathered together what I want, hopefully.
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Wouldn't it be more sensible to pick up some older Nikon glass that will work with the D700 now and buy the body in a year's time when it will be £1200?

That's like getting £800 of free glass ;)
 
aberal said:
...but I do know that I need low noise for interiors.
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Why is noise an issue for interiors? Surely interior shots are static on a tripod and you can use the lowest ISO available on whatever camera you are using so the D700's high ISO noise advantage won't apply.

Not trying to pick holes in your choice, I personally think it's a fair decision, just curious about the noise issue... :)

Flashy
 
I think you are choosing the wrong tool for the job.

Get a Fuji S5 Pro, a Tokina 12-24, put it on a tripod, base ISO100 and you'll be able to do it with one shot, and keep highlights from burning from external windows. No other camera can do this.

The S5 Pro has much better DR than the D700, noise isn't that far behind either.

I have both btw - the S5 Pro blows the D700 away for DR, and for interiors I'd care about highlights from external sources as well as noise.

Or get a D60 or D40 + 16-85 VR and handhold @ low ISO, shoot a burst and with VR you should get a critically sharp shot with no noise to speak off @ ISO800.

'Sup to you, but I get the feeling you've not thought this through at all. You don 't need a D700 to do what you want to do.

You might fancy one but I'm pretty sure folks were managing to do what you want to do just fine before the D700 came out?
 
Flash In The Pan said:
Wouldn't it be more sensible to pick up some older Nikon glass that will work with the D700 now and buy the body in a year's time when it will be £1200?

That's like getting £800 of free glass ;)
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Sorry guys - what I should have said I have a wee D40x with no internal motor so none of the lenses suggested above would operate. I'd be buying great glass with nothing to drive it. So none of your (very sound) advice works for me.

All I'm considering doing is saving myself 300 quid on the kit zoom and using my old one in the interim. Trust me - I've considered all the options till my head spun. High on the list is getting a D300 plus quality glass then upgrading to FX format later, but that seems even more like throwing money away.
 
Flashman said:
Why is noise an issue for interiors? Surely interior shots are static on a tripod and you can use the lowest ISO available on whatever camera you are using so the D700's high ISO noise advantage won't apply.

Not trying to pick holes in your choice, I personally think it's a fair decision, just curious about the noise issue... :)

Flashy
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Thinking about the times when I either can't use or don't have a tripod.
 
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