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About to purchase new Nikon gear, looking for feedback/opinions...


photojen

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<p>Hello...<br /> By the middle of next week I am hoping to make a large purchase of new camera gear (large for me). I have done a great deal of research, but I am looking for some feedback on my order. I was wondering if you wise PN peers would look at my list and tell me if I am forgetting something in this order. I posted this in the Nikon Forum because most of the products are Nikon, though I tossed around putting it in the Casual Forum. I appreciate your time and feedback, more than you may know. I often rely on PN for photo guidance. Have a good weekend.</p>

<p>Here is what is in my shopping cart:</p>

<p>Nikon gear:<br /> Nikon D700 camera body<br /> Nikon AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm 1:2.8G ED VR II<br /> Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 D<br /> Nikon AF-S Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8G ED OR Nikon AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 ED (this is where I need some feedback, mostly)<br /> Nikon SB900<br /> Nikon 4804 R1 Wireless Close-Up Speedlight System<br /> Nikon MC-30 Remote Trigger<br /> Nikon MB-D10 Multi-Power Battery Grip<br>

Nikon battery</p>

<p>Other gear:<br /> Sekonic L-3085 Flashmate<br /> Alien Bee Digi Bee Lighting System with a B800 upgrade and reflector and stand<br /> Aura backdrop stand and 2 backdrop (which colors should I choose to start? black and white?)<br /> Circular Polarizers and ND Fliters for all the lens (except if I choose the 14-24mm because I don't see CPs for it???)<br /> 5 year Nikon protection plans for the camera body and lenses.</p>

<p>I currently own a D80 and the only lens I will continue to use is my 105mm micro.</p>

<p> </p>

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<p>There is a big difference between the 14-24 and 24-70 with regard to usage. Do you have mostly wide angle needs, or do you have only occasional wide angle needs and more standard focal length requirements? </p>

<p>What kind of shooting do you do? You're talking about a huge investment, so before Shun says it, I will: Do you really need the kind of gear you're looking at to serve your needs? </p>

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<p>I am leaning towards the 24-70mm for more practicality. I would love the super wide angle, but am second guessing it.</p>

<p>What kind of shooting? It varies...I have goals and ambition. Large investments? Yes, but my goals are worth it. I can't go forward with the camera and lenses I currently own. And yes, I do need these upgrades. I have been shooting with my D80 for awhile and am ready to make the next step. I have my LLC, a company name, and a website in the making.</p>

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<p>You are indeed buying a lot of stuffs. Are you shooting professionally? What type of subjects do you shoot?</p>

<p>The 70-200mm/f2.8 VR version 2 and the 24-70mm/f2.8 AF-S are both fine lenses.</p>

<p>It has already been pointed out many times that the 14-24mm/f2.8 AF-S is a highly specialized lens for those who are interested in super wides. For what it can do, optically it is excellent, but that lens also has a lot of limitations such as a limited zoom range and a bulging front element, which means no filters and vulnerable in some situations. While I have one, I rarely use this lens and prefer my 17-35mm/f2.8.</p>

<p>The D700 has to be quite late in its production cycle. I have no insider info (or I wouldn't be posting here), but I expect that it'll be replaced in the next few months. If nothing else, its value will likely drop quickly. If you want a D700 anyway, you should be able to get it cheaper if you can wait. If you cannot wait, the D700 is still a fine camera now.</p>

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<p>Shun...I have tossed around the D700 idea of do I wait or not, for 2 weeks. What I may do is hold off on the D700 and order all the other equipment and work with my lighting kit, in the meantime, while waiting for the D700's price to drop. Or upgrade...I have read a bunch of forum postings about possible D700 upgrades...I don't know, my gut tells me to wait, but I also have a limited budget and probably couldn't swing the upgrade. I have noticed that the cost of the D700 has gone up at B&H.</p>

<p>Professionally shooting? Not yet...working on improving myself and my photography. May take some time, but I need the right equipment to get started. I am looking at attending a local photography school as well. </p>

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<p>Now that I've drooled all over my keyboard while looking at your list...</p>

<p>In most cases, I would think the 24-70 would be an easy first choice in terms of priorities, over the 14-24. As I'm sure you already know, the wide max of 24 will behave like 18mm on your D80. Do you have plans that are heavily weighted toward extreme wide angles?</p>

<p>How much will the 5-year plans set you back?</p>

<p>Have you considered a Cokin-style system for ND's? </p>

<p>If you can afford all this, and you want new "toys," go for it! Should keep you busy for a long time, whether it is all for needs, or mostly for enjoyment and exploration.</p>

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<p>Jennifer,</p>

<p>I looked at your portfolio, and you've got some fantastic work. What sort of photography is your business going to concentrate on? If it's the people/event shots, you're going to want the 24-70. If the landscapes... well, it could go either way, but you've got your reference point already - what do you use most often with the D80?</p>

<p>It's a big investment. My concern would be that you're going to buy a $1800 lens without having answered the question "What am I using this lens for?" Do you live somewhere with a decent rental service? Can you delay buying either of those lenses and rent both to see which is going to be useful? Around here those lenses rent in the $25-40 range and if you pick up late on Friday you get it for the weekend, so $50-100 or so worth of lens rentals might help you get a clear idea of what you do need.</p>

<p>One other thing - I see a lot of macro in your portfolio and you've got a close-up flash in your list but no macro lens. What are you going to use?</p>

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<p>Dave, I think I will wait.</p>

<p>Jim, about $1300+ for the protection plans. And yes, Cokin is top on my list. And I am definitely going to 'go for it'. I need to.</p>

<p>Andrew, a little bit of everything. I have strong calling towards nature photography. But I need to start venturing into people photography as well. I would like to get good enough to make a profit (and this could take years, yes, I know). But one must make the initial investment. I currently own the Nikon 105mm micro.</p>

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<p>I'm not certain that people's reluctance to purchase D700 today is well founded. If there's the worry that one's equipment isn't the latest and greatest, then it's probably best to wait. But, if today's D700 fills the needs, I don't see price as a big factor. </p>

<p>The D700 is already available at close to $1,000.00 less than at its introduction. Crystal balls aren't all that reliable, but do we really see it dropping a bunch more overnight at the intro of the D700 v2? And if we wait, will it be worth another $1,000.00 to have the next big thing?</p>

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<p>Very true, Jim. I think the D700 will fill my needs, but I suppose I should wait the wait for the lower cost, but I don't want to wait too long...maybe a couple of months or so, but not much longer. And with just my luck, I will wait, purchase it at normal cost and a couple weeks later, the price will drop...happened to me with my D80. But the price of the D700 is higher today at B&H than it was a month ago, fyi, I have been following it.</p>
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<p>One more thing that hasn't been mentioned.</p>

<p>WOW! You do nice work.</p>

<p>I don't think you said what you already have, other than the 105.</p>

<p>Also, I like to say of ultra-wides like the 14-24... If you don't KNOW you need that, you probably won't use it much or at all for real photography.</p>

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<p>I have a Nikon 70-300, 18-135mm and a 105mm.</p>

<p>Manfrotto carbon fiber tripod with a joystick head...</p>

<p>And thank you, Peter and Andrew. I try. I haven't been shooting long at all. I have some big shoes to fill and a lot to learn.</p>

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<p>The 70-300 is an FX lens. Is it the good VR version? I think one thing to consider, since you don't have your business plan worked out yet, is to delay the 70-200 purchase and use the 70-300 until you're sure you need it. (Unless you already have something specific in mind, like low light sports, or you really don't like the 70-300.) The 105 on FX will have a lot of uses, like portrait. I think you might be moving too quickly on equipment - you've clearly got the artistry but the business plan is the higher priority than the lenses right now.</p>
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<p>My 70-300 is not VR, it has served it's newbie purpose, but now it's time to move on, thank you for the advice.</p>

<p>I have a plan. I have a business name (Elemental Images, LLC with a DBA), bank accounts (checking and savings) opened, have an accountant, a friend is working on my website, bought Quickbooks...I have a plan, been working on it for over a year. All of my actions are thought out to the best of my ability~ I am willing to take the risk.</p>

<p>I thank you all for helping me work through this.</p>

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<blockquote>

<p>I'm not certain that people's reluctance to purchase D700 today is well founded.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Of course it is well founded. I paid close to $5000 for my D2X back in mid 2005. A year later Nikon upgraded it to the D2Xs, still at $5000. Another year later, Nikon announced the D300 in August 2007 for $1800. The D300 is clearly a much better camera and took no time for the D2X/D2XS' value to tumble to $1500 and then some more.</p>

<p>The D700 is "only" $2600 today; it cannot possibly drop by $3000. But any successor to the D700 will clearly have video and dual memory cards; most likely there will also be more pixels and/or better high ISO results. How far the value for the D700 will drop will highly depend on how much Nikon is willing to pack into the next model. I can't speak for someone else, but if I buy a new D700 today, it will annoy me a lot when it quickly becomes out of date. For example, I find the video feature highly desirable for nature photographers; video is a must for my next DSLR. Dual memory cards is important for wedding photographers.</p>

<p>If the primary objective to improve one's photography, IMO it is unnecessary to buy so much new equipment all of a sudden. If the OP wants to explore portraits, she can add some lighting and studio set ups. One can experiment with portraits with a D80 just as well as a D700. If you actually go out and shoot some weddings, the D700's AF and high-ISO capability will be major advantages.</p>

<p>As far as I can tell, Jennifer has no compelling reason to buy a D700 right now. But that is me. She is the one who is buying.</p>

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<p>I have a D700, 24-70/2.8, 14-24/2.8, and 50/1.4G. If you're deciding between the 14-24 and 24-70, I'd get neither, and instead get a 17-35/2.8. Use your 'foot zoom' to fill in between 17-35, the 50, and 70-200 until you can afford a 24-70. While it's not quite as good a lens optically as the 14-24, the 17-35 is plenty good enough...the differences are really diminished returns in terms of usability. Several folks I know call the 14-24 the greatest lens they never use, and I'd have to agree - mine sits in my bag <em>a lot</em>.</p>

<p>With the 14-24 I find not being able to use ND grads and other filters a real handicap. Lee is making an adapter for it now, but it's all new filters as they're bigger, cost is high and selection is severely limited. I'd look at going with the Lee system for the balance of your lenses, or at least another brand of filter with the Cokin holders due to color cast issues with Cokin ND grads. Threaded filters aren't an option with this lens as there are no filter threads on it - that's why you can't find a CP for it. I'd get the new Hoya HD filters for the rest.</p>

<p> </p>

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<blockquote>

<p>If the primary objective to improve one's photography, IMO it is unnecessary to buy so much new equipment all of a sudden.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Again, I agree with Shun in that the OP need not buy all that especially at once. No, Shun and I are not related. </p>

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<p>From another side of the fence, the same advice: you might want to be more "incremental" in your purchases as you see how things progress. When you are planning to go professional, you want to avoid spending too much of your capital up front--you may need some of that money to keep your LLC alive while you are developing a customer base. Consider if there are options that are less expensive, but will serve until you are firmly established.</p>

<p>And I have long admired your portfolio as well. I am not being condescending at all when I say that it looks like there may be commercially viable images already there, depending on how and what you are marketing.</p>

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<p>With all the political instability going on in Thailand, I'd bet that there will be no new products from Nikon this year unless they manage to move production to China or back to Japan. This also explains the price increase and inventory shortage of Nikon gear.<br>

As for the kit, use your existing camera, get the full-frame lenses one-by-one. If you get a bug jumbo package you'll be lost and won't learn the features and sweet spots of all the gear.</p>

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<p>Jennifer, after perusing your portfolio but without reading every reply here in this thread, I'd suggest that your expansion would be perhaps better served by expanding into medium or large for the still lifes and landscapes-- and not trying to cover this with a FF DSLR and $10K or so of glass. A modest investment will return better results on film than any 12MP sensor, for a fraction of cost (something like 10-20% of the capital outlay).If your work were more action oriented, the tables would be turned.<br>

You have a real knack with birds and these shots do call for a DSLR, but you may already in fact be better served with an APS-C sensor here for the "free" teleconvertor effect of the cropped sensor.</p>

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<p>Superb portfolio photos; love your use of colour. Maybe it would be helpful to make a list about what you like and don't like about your current lens setup, and then try to get the FX lenses that 1) keep the features that you like; and 2) improve upon the aspects that you don't like.</p>
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