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Lens Lust

December 14th, 2007 · Comments

To say the least, the Nikon D300 has reinvigorated my interest in photography. I still haven’t had a chance to really go out and push it’s capabilities, but it already has me thinking about lenses some more. It was enough that it kept me up last Thursday night, and so I made a diagram to show what lenses are available, organized by lens speed (aperture) and range (wide to extreme telephoto). I did this so I could spot holes in my current lens line-up:

Nikon Lens Diagram

One difference between my set of kit and most is that I share lenses with my wife. Dallas hopped on the D-SLR side of the fence last year, and since I bought the Nikon 18-200mm VR lens last March, she’s had it on her camera most of the time. I on the otherhand use the Nikon 35mm F/2 lens most of the time, swapping out for the 18-200mm quite often. Since we’ve been married, we haven’t bought any lenses. Now that it’s a shared-affair, everything needs a bit of discussion first. It’s not easy to get expensive purchases past her without doing your homework first.

Dallas has discussed buying a second 18-200mm, but I prefer variety over redundancy when it comes to my hobbies. So far, here is my most wanted lens kit. The price given is the eBay standard price (Completed Items search → Sort by Price → Pick 3rd lowest).

  • Nikkor 80-400mm VR F/4.5-F/5.6: A birding/nature lens that can get good results without a tripod. It’s focus is slow, but gives great results for the price ($960)
  • Sigma 10-20mm F/4.5-F/5.6: a super-wide angle lens for landscape/city shots ($380)
  • Nikkor 85mm F/1.4: Possibly Nikon’s sharpest lens ever. Popular for portraits, can be adapted for macro. Very fast ($850)
  • Nikkor 80-200mm F/2.8 (two-ring): Nikon’s sharpest & fastest zoom. Popular for sports & event photography ($550).

I prefer buying lenses on eBay, since it tends to drop the price by 30%, and lenses are usually fairly rugged. The ideal for me is to buy one with cosmetic damage, but no damage to the glass. As I am still interested in buying a new motorcycle later in the winter, it’s unlikely I would procure more than two of those lenses in 2008. Still, it’s nice to dream. I find it easier to convince the wife that it’s okay to buy camera lenses than motorcycles. Now, I wonder what it would take to convince her to buy the Sigma 300-800mm F/5.6 ($4300).

What’s your dream lens?

Tags: technology

Viewing 6 Comments

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    Nice Chart ... I too just upgraded my D70 to the D300. Awesome camera, just getting started with it as it was a xmas present from my wife. I have the follwing (All nikkor / all except the kit lens also from Ebay):
    18-70 (D70 kit lens)
    35-70 2.8 (not on your chart)
    70-210 5.6 (2 of them - I've lent them to friends after I got the 80-200)
    80-200 2.8 2 ring (great lens)
    60 2.8 Macro

    I too have been looking at some more lens with the 18-200 at the top of the list, but after just spending $1800 on the D300 it will have to wait a little while. I also have the SB800 which I use a lot. I use the 35-70 for shots when I need the speed or shallow DOF. I wish it was a tad wider ... If only I had the D3 :-)

    Best Wishes, Doug
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    Hey Todd, Long time no see! I didn't realize you did photography before RTCI! It's awesome to get feedback from someone who did this professionaly. Here's what I translated your recommended lens lengths to for DX (1.6X multiplier, rounded down):

    12 - 15mm
    17 - 44mm
    50 - 125mm

    Which maps pretty well to the Nikon lineup:

    Nikkor 14mm F/2.8 ($1800 @ BH)
    Nikkor 17-55mm F/2.8 ($1200 @ BH)
    Nikkor 70-200mm F/2.8 ($1600 @ BH)

    I agree about fixed length vs zoom. My 18-200mm replaces just about every lens in its' range, but my primes are still sharper and faster than any zoom I own. Getting a fast zoom would be nice, but the prices are fairly terrifying for someone who doesn't make any money on his hobby. I hate changing lenses though in the middle of shooting. The more I think about it honestly, the less I want an 85mm F/1.4. Sure, the bokeh is great, but on a DX size sensor, 85mm is a bit too long for my liking. I'll stick with my cheaper 50mm F/1.8 instead.

    Thanks for your input!
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    Thomas,

    This is the only blog article of yours I've felt informed enough to comment on. Only because I made a living at this stuff a long time ago before working with you at RTCI. When I was a working, card carrying AP photo-journalist there were only 3 lenses we always needed in the bag (not including macros). The three can get expensive but you won't need to "fill in the holes" with a lot of fixed length glass:

    20 or 24mm 2.8 (or faster - big$$)
    28 to 70mm 2.8
    80 to 200mm 2.8

    I can't recall if these are the exact aperture sizes offered by Nikon, I know they're off for digital lengths (my knowledge is old-school ISO film). But for two years I was able to travel and make money with just these pieces. On occasion a 300mm 2.8 was required for sports but as starving artists we shared the $5K lenses around the newsroom.

    Trying to get everything in fixed length is expensive and cumbersome and not really necessary anymore since Nikon Zeiss and Canon have got rid of 99% of distortion in the high end zooms a while ago.
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    Cool, I didn't realize that was the Sigma that you bought. I'm primarily looking at it as a travel lens, as every time I go on a trip I keep thinking "man, if I could only get a wider shot here.". I think it'd be a stellar lens for HDR's as well. Thanks for the recommendation!
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    btw, the ultra wide sigma you have in your list is awesome. not terribly fast, but simply shines at landscape and architecture when lighting is good. this is the only one I had for most of my EU trips this summer, haven't been disappointed with results at all.
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    Canon EF 24mm f/1.4L USM

    and

    Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM

    for now... and probably many more when I learn to use these two :)
 

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