Nikon Lens Lineup

hyakuhei

hyakuhei

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Robert
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Hi Guys,

I shoot weddings and bits of press work but my real passion is aviation!

I have a hard limit on my lens budget of £1800 and for that I'd like to find:

Something very good at 300mm - Nikon 300 F/4 AF-S or similar... and a few others to fill in the gaps - perhaps a good walkabout lens and a nifty fifty or some similar combination...

I'd like to know what you guys think - second hand kit isn't a problem either.
 
hyakuhei said:
Hi Guys,

I shoot weddings and bits of press work but my real passion is aviation!

I have a hard limit on my lens budget of £1800 and for that I'd like to find:

Something very good at 300mm - Nikon 300 F/4 AF-S or similar... and a few others to fill in the gaps - perhaps a good walkabout lens and a nifty fifty or some similar combination...

I'd like to know what you guys think - second hand kit isn't a problem either.
Click to expand...

Which body are you going to be using?
 
the two standouts for weddings Nikon side are 24-70 AF-S and 70-200 VR but i think they will go over your budget
 
With any luck I'll be using a D300 and a little backup at some stage.

After a nice chat with the people at Greys of west minster I've got the following lineup on hold:



20 F/2.8D (used)
50 F/1.8D (new)
35-70 F/2.8D (used)

I'm also watching a 80-200 online and I'm going to wait around for a decent 300
 
you can find a new nikon 80-200 f2.8 d at
www.tradecamerasonline.com
if not just for reference on price
not the best website for speedy delivery but you do end up getting the lens
2 weeks waiting time but the cheapest around
 
hyakuhei said:
With any luck I'll be using a D300 and a little backup at some stage.

After a nice chat with the people at Greys of west minster I've got the following lineup on hold:



20 F/2.8D (used)
50 F/1.8D (new)
35-70 F/2.8D (used)

I'm also watching a 80-200 online and I'm going to wait around for a decent 300
Click to expand...

On the D300 I would have gone 17-55 f2.8, and the 300f4 AF S, both used would do it for your budget.

I have the 35-70 f2.8 and its a great lens, but better suited to full frame bodies at that focal length.

The 80-200 is a good shout for that range, nice lens.
 
The lenses I rate highly for the D300 are the 17-55 f/2.8, 50 f/1.8 or f/1.4, 24-70 f/2.8 and the 70-200 f/2.8 but these are not cheap with the exception of the 50mm. But I would say choose between either the 17-55 or the 24-70 as a wedding/portrait lens I don't see a need for both really. Also I find that I rarely need to use my 50mm now with the 17-55, f2.8 is enough for me.

I have actually used the 18-200mm VR for weddings and celebration events with great results. Its not a professional lens but it is quite underated in my opinion. Its a very versatile and sharp lens which doesn't cost a fortune. Yes it struggles in low light conditions and yes there are areas in its zoom where it isn't quite as good but as an "all-rounder" and as a "walkabout" lens it would take some beating. Some professional photographers have been known to use this lens on a frequent basis and I can certainly understand why.

Anyway, hope it helps!
 
dore187 said:
you can find a new nikon 80-200 f2.8 d at
www.tradecamerasonline.com
if not just for reference on price
not the best website for speedy delivery but you do end up getting the lens
2 weeks waiting time but the cheapest around
Click to expand...

Do you know if they are grey imports? Prices look really cheap!

I had a look at the site but can't see anywhere that it states they are or are not grey import stuff, but it does say "TradeCamerasOnline.com Pro Dealers of: Mamiya, Hasselblad, Broncolor, Peli, Lastolite, Canon, Sekonic, Manfrotto, Nikon, Velbon" but I can't find any mention of them on Nikon's website.
 
OutLore said:
Do you know if they are grey imports? Prices look really cheap!

I had a look at the site but can't see anywhere that it states they are or are not grey import stuff, but it does say "TradeCamerasOnline.com Pro Dealers of: Mamiya, Hasselblad, Broncolor, Peli, Lastolite, Canon, Sekonic, Manfrotto, Nikon, Velbon" but I can't find any mention of them on Nikon's website.
Click to expand...

There was a thread on here somewhere, that linked to another forum, from memory people got the kit but it took a while (10 days seemed the norm) that would suggest that it is travelling a fair distance. Having said that with the pound being weak even Hong Kong stuff is close to UK prices anyway.
 
Out of curiosity, if your real passion is aviation, why are you switching from Canon to Nikon? There's not much to choose between the two brands for wedding and portrait kit, but Canon offers you a much better range of telephotos for aviation photography.
 
Martyn... said:
There was a thread on here somewhere, that linked to another forum, from memory people got the kit but it took a while (10 days seemed the norm) that would suggest that it is travelling a fair distance. Having said that with the pound being weak even Hong Kong stuff is close to UK prices anyway.
Click to expand...

I was speaking to a couple of guys yesterday who'd ordered kit from them and were saying just this. They'd also been told that kit was in stock when they placed the order and cards had been charged. Purely anecdotal, but I'd be a bit careful.

Hugh
 
I thought you were eyeing up my kit on our last shoot ;) did you had a wedding in march – how did it go.

As you know I cant say enough good things about the af-s 80-200 it’s just fantastic wide open, what type are you looking at the af-s of the af-d but I guess there will not be much between them.

One thing to remember is the af-s takes extenders with no problems just a thought if you want some extra reach.

I had the 24-70 but I found it was not wide enough so I got the 17-55, the 24-70 might be ok for you as you used the 24-105 on your canon.
 
StewartR said:
Out of curiosity, if your real passion is aviation, why are you switching from Canon to Nikon? There's not much to choose between the two brands for wedding and portrait kit, but Canon offers you a much better range of telephotos for aviation photography.
Click to expand...

I shoot a lot of low level aviation stuff like Markjayne,Xup,Trappe etc.

The AF system in the D300 is just better than the 50D - I'm not really talking about the number of AF points here as most people use only a subset of the available 51 when doing low level - I believe the biggest difference is the AF algorithms in particular the movement metrics used.

I suspect that for something like sports the Canon may be better but given the unique closing range of acceleration you get with low level aviation (much greater than airshows) the Nikon high end AF just can't be matched by anything other than a one series Canon, which for me means the 1D MkII which is a large step back in a lot of places - the best compromise for me is to switch to the dark side.

I thought you were eyeing up my kit on our last shoot did you had a wedding in march – how did it go.

As you know I cant say enough good things about the af-s 80-200 it’s just fantastic wide open, what type are you looking at the af-s of the af-d but I guess there will not be much between them.

One thing to remember is the af-s takes extenders with no problems just a thought if you want some extra reach.

I had the 24-70 but I found it was not wide enough so I got the 17-55, the 24-70 might be ok for you as you used the 24-105 on your canon.
Click to expand...
Hey Julian - I certainly was eying up your kit mate!

I looked at the 24-70 and imho its over priced for what it is and I read a few reviews of the 17-55 that made me think twice even though it was my initial choice.

The lineup I've chosen should do me for a while I think - I may well shuffle the lenses around a lot over the next few months...

The wedding in March fell through but I shot one in North wales just a few days ago - it was a really fun day and even had steam trains!

I had the 300mm f4 before the f2.8 Rob, its a fantastic lens and worth every penny, works a treat with a converter too

So your converting to Nikon are ya

Mark
Click to expand...

The 2.8 is way beyond my range at the moment but I'm liking the sound of the 300 F/4 - I was speaking to Xup about lenses and he reakons its best to stick to the Nikon AF-S stuff - which was pretty much what I though already.

The D300 arrives on Thursday :-D
 
Thanks for the input Joe - I'm definitely going to try the 17-55 at some point in the future.
 
Right, lenses arrived today!

And yay! and pooh!

I'm not a fan of the 35-70 so that and the 20 are going back - all sorted with the nice people at Greys - I've taken your advice and I'm now waiting on delivery of a 17-55.

I kept the Nifty fifty because its always going to be useful :-)
 
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