D700 Lenses

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D700 Lenses

Postby Frankie » Sat Sep 27, 2008 10:38 am

I have a new Nikon D700 and am unable to use my old DX lenses. I hate to have such an awesome camera and make poor lens selections. I had a Nikkor DX 18-200 mm lens with my D200. It was a great walking around lens in lots of different situations. It's going to be a real adjustment not to have that capability any more. Does anyone have suggestions for a good collection of lenses?

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Re: D700 Lenses

Postby rkligman » Mon Sep 29, 2008 11:32 am

Why can't you use a DX lens? I'm not in the market for a D700 and haven't run across this information yet but it sounds way out of line. Are you saying you don't WANT to use them or you CAN'T?
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Re: D700 Lenses

Postby rkligman » Mon Sep 29, 2008 11:44 am

Some quick research brings up this: http://www.dpreview.com/previews/nikond700/page4.asp

"" If you attach a DX format lens a box appears in the viewfinder to indicate the cropped area (rather than the grey mask used on the D3). Optionally you can also manually select the shooting format (FX: 36 x 24 mm or DX: 24 x 16 mm - the 5:4 format has been dropped from the D700). Since the speed advantage of the DX crop format has been lost there seems little point using it unless you're actually using DX lenses. "

I can't help you on the lens question itself. The lens is a critical part of the camera and I can't fathom buying such an expensive camera and not knowing what to put in front of it. Besides, I can't afford such a beast so I don't have any first hand knowledge. I just found it strange that you said you can't use the DX lens so I had to investigate.
Rick Insane Diego...

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Re: D700 Lenses

Postby Frankie » Tue Sep 30, 2008 1:30 pm

Hi Rick,
I guess I should have chosen my words better. What I should have said was that I can't use the DX lenses and get the most out of the D700 camera. I can use a DX lens on the D700 but it greatly reduces the capabilities. From what I've been able to learn about DX vs FX the focal length doesn't change between DX and FX, but what does change is the Field of View and the number of pixels the camera can record. When the camera is set to DX mode, the FoV is less than it would be in FX at a set focal length by a certain factor. For example, In FX mode I can get up to 12Mpx+ out of the D700. In DX mode I'll get about half that no matter how you cut it. If I shoot in FX mode with the intention of cropping I will still get 12MPx+ max on the file, but if it's a DX lens in FX mode then about half of those pixels will be unuseable due to edge softness and vignetting. As for buying a camera as wonderful as the D700 without knowing what to put on the front - good point - it was an extremely generous gift for a very enthusiastic (but not terrifically knowledgeable) photographer. I do appreciate your research. I plan to use my DX lenses as much as I have to but in the meantime I am scouting out the best FX lenses to buy when I'm able to replace my DX equipment.

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Re: D700 Lenses

Postby rkligman » Tue Sep 30, 2008 8:43 pm

A gift...Well that makes more sense. Since it's a gift then I guess the lens part is up to you to purchase and cost may be a factor. Are you looking to spend under or over $1k per lens? For under $1k, actually about $469 or so, then I'd take a good look at the Tamron 28-75. The corners can be a little soft but the center is tack sharp. I've been using it since June and love it. 4-5 members of my group use it on their Nikons, Canons and Pentax and we might even have a Sony. It's a full frame lens. In fact, strangely enough, almost all my lens are FX except the fisheye and Sigma 10-20. So really my only missing part if I go FF is from 16mm to 27mm which will kind of suck because I do like going wide now.

If you can spend more than $1k per lens then there are new Nikon FX lenses out but I don't know how they behave.
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Re: D700 Lenses

Postby Frankie » Wed Oct 01, 2008 10:04 am

Thanks, Rick. I’ll definitely check out the Tamron 28 – 75. That sounds like it’s around my price range. I’m sure it would be a worthwhile investment to buy some really good glass – like something over $1K but it’s out of my league right now. Since I’ve been getting more serious with photography, I’ve taken some photos and done some graphic design work for a few local companies in my area but certainly don’t make enough from photography yet to be able to earn a living off of it or to pay for high price equipment. I’ve been learning as I go (reading, workshops, etc.) and appreciate the help.

f65+

Re: D700 Lenses

Postby f65+ » Mon Dec 08, 2008 9:10 am

Frankie,
Save your money buying a new so called "FX" lens. There are hundreds of the older Nikon "AF" lenses on the market which are just as good (if not better) than the new "FX" lenses and at 75% to 80% less cost. The reason for the lesser cost is that since they were originally made for the 35mm film camera, and are not considered for the "DX" format cameras, many people also don't consider them for the new "FX" format cameras. The market is flooded with these perfectly usable Nikon "AF" lenses.
Fred

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Re: D700 Lenses

Postby Frankie » Mon Dec 15, 2008 12:20 pm

Hi Fred,
Sorry to take so long to respond but I just saw your post. Do you have some AF lenses that you might recommend? I'm especially interested in a good "walk around" lens that would come in handy when I don't have the ability to do a lot of lens changes.

Frankie

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