Lightweight wideangle / telephoto

[nikchem]

Hi all

Wide
Have a nikkor 17-55mm...but sometimes find too heavy...hands bor lak..am thinking of investing in a single wide angle fast prime...any suggestions ?

Telephoto
The 70-200mm sounds gorgeous...but think that it may too pro when i'm not there..also dont want to scare away ppl with such long lens...any suggestions for fast telephoto ? have the 85mm 1.8 tho find the reach a bit short...still love the lens..

shooting mainly candids/street/theatre

nikchem
d70s user

 

[raptor84]

I'd suggest looking at all your photos and see what focal length(s) you tend to use the most and get the lens that covers that range.

 

[azul123]

Wide angle, there's plenty of Nikkor prime to choose from find out which is within your budget and preference, I think for landscape 20mm is wide enough, for group shot... I find the 28mm don't have distortion, had never used 24mm to comment whether it is better or not.

On telephoto, for not too heavy lens go have a look at AFD180mm ED IF, you will be surprised with it. It is a little slow but on a D200 it is fast enough, can even be compared with colour reproduction of the much more expensive AFS70-200mm VR. I am comparing colours only ah... not speed or versatile of zoom with prime.

So if you need the versatile of zoom and speed then have to search within you what is important liow.

../azul123

 

[Stoned]

If you want something lighter than your 17-55, you can consider either the nikon 20/2.8 or a tokina 17/3.5. Both are really light. However, both are also slower or as fast as your current f2.8 nikkor zoom. The only prime offering f1.8 at 20mm is the Sigma 20/1.8, but that's pretty darn heavy as well. Personally I find it quite ok, but if you consider the 17-55 heavy, then the sigma might be a killer too.

 

[nikchem]

hi folks - tks 4 helpful comments..

for street (bldgs/street vistas), mkt place, parties...find myself in 18-30mm range
for portraits / theatres / street phot (people) ....besides the 70-85mm also in the 200mm. sometimes in the 135.150mm.

heck...sounds like i need the zoom at both ends !

wide...will check out the nikkor 20mm. very light ! at 370g but price @ 850-870 ! intrigued by the sigma 1.8 (have a severe weakness for fast lens...dont like flash) but yup - size 7 weight a killer...also seen some reviews that not usable wide open...wish they have a nikkor 20mm 1.8...distoriation for prime 20 same as 17-55mm ? as i usually take people for indoors...dont want to have martian heads...

teles...never thot of the 180mm (did check out the 80-180 for micro) not many reviews out there tho did see some comments abt better colour that 80-200. seems that 80-200 particularly at long end not so good...a shop strongly recommended the 80-200..
options :
80-200 1.3kg 187mm $1.6k
180 0.76 144mm ??
135mm 0.8 120mm $1.7k
was quite attracted to the 135mm f2 dc as the size was quite good but not the price. sample that i tried was soft wide open tho...dont know whether this is sample variation.

any views appreciated..

rgds

 

[ExplorerZ]

hi folks - tks 4 helpful comments..

for street (bldgs/street vistas), mkt place, parties...find myself in 18-30mm range
for portraits / theatres / street phot (people) ....besides the 70-85mm also in the 200mm. sometimes in the 135.150mm.

heck...sounds like i need the zoom at both ends !

wide...will check out the nikkor 20mm. very light ! at 370g but price @ 850-870 ! intrigued by the sigma 1.8 (have a severe weakness for fast lens...dont like flash) but yup - size 7 weight a killer...also seen some reviews that not usable wide open...wish they have a nikkor 20mm 1.8...distoriation for prime 20 same as 17-55mm ? as i usually take people for indoors...dont want to have martian heads...

teles...never thot of the 180mm (did check out the 80-180 for micro) not many reviews out there tho did see some comments abt better colour that 80-200. seems that 80-200 particularly at long end not so good...a shop strongly recommended the 80-200..
options :
80-200 1.3kg 187mm $1.6k
180 0.76 144mm ??
135mm 0.8 120mm $1.7k
was quite attracted to the 135mm f2 dc as the size was quite good but not the price. sample that i tried was soft wide open tho...dont know whether this is sample variation.

any views appreciated..

rgds

how about the new Sigma 50-150 f2.8 (only for cropped sensor) + Sigma again 18-50 f2.8. both sld cost about 2k. each weighting < 800g.

 

[Stoned]

hi folks - tks 4 helpful comments..


wide...will check out the nikkor 20mm. very light ! at 370g but price @ 850-870 ! intrigued by the sigma 1.8 (have a severe weakness for fast lens...dont like flash) but yup - size 7 weight a killer...also seen some reviews that not usable wide open...wish they have a nikkor 20mm 1.8...distoriation for prime 20 same as 17-55mm ? as i usually take people for indoors...dont want to have martian heads...


rgds

For the Sigma there's a lot of fluctuation in quality between copies, so be sure to test yours out properly. For a good copy, F1.8 should be usable, f2.8 will be sharp as a tack. I'm not sure how it stacks up against the Nikon 20mm because I'm a canon user.

 

[diediealsomustdive]

as i usually take people for indoors...dont want to have martian heads...

Anything in that 20mm range will have that "distortion" towards the edge. it is not distortion per say, but the natural phenomenon of physics pulling in that wide. Anyhow with 20mm with reduced sized sensor you get 30mm and the edge is cropped, not very wide and my experience with 20mm and reduced sized sensor is not much distortion.