Help with Lens Recommendations

<p>I am planning on moving from a D90 to the D7000. I understand that many of my current lenses (e.g. Nikon 18-200) should be replaced. I am looking for lens recommendations from 16mm to 200mm. I intend on keeping the 300 f/4 and 1.4 tc which I hope will still be fine with the D7000. My biggest problem is deciding between an fx or dx lens for the D7000, and whether it will make a difference in IQ. I shoot mostly landscapes, macros and wildlife but a walkaround lens is also desirable. I have no budget and IQ is important. Thanks very much for your recommendations!</p>

<p>I would not start replacing anything, actually.<br>

Yes, the 18-200 is optically not the finest, and at 16MP looking at 100% zoomlevel, you will see those problems earlier. But the 12MP D90 isn't that far behind, the resolution increase is not that much. If you are fine with the lenses you have today and how they perform on your D90 today, I'd keep them, and test them on the D7000 first. Then decide.</p>

<p>First of all, could you tell us why you are upgrading from the D90 to the D7000? Exactly what is insufficient on the D90?</p>

<p>I only tested the 18-200 on the D300S, not the D90, but those two are close enough for that purpose, and I don't find the 18-200 to be all that good on its long end on the 12MP D300S. The wide end is good except for some serious distortion.</p>

<p>If you are happy enough with the 18-200 on the D90, you could be happy with it on the D7000. That is entirely up to you to decide, but D7000 will further show the flaws on those super zooms.</p>

<p>Who is using the D7000 and what lenses are you most happy with?</p>

<p>The D7000 is my main wildlife camera so that I mainly use it with long telephoto lenses. I am very happy with using the 70-200mm/f2.8 AF-S VR II and 200-400mm/f4 AF-S VR on it. The 500mm/f4 AF-S version 1 is ok on it too, but I need to stop down to f5.6 to get really good results.</p>

<p>However, I am afraid that my answer doesn't exactly help you since most likely you won't be using those long lenses. But the point is that high-quality lenses work well on the D7000 (and D800, D600).</p>

<p>Thank you Shun! And you are right -- I don’t need advice on the long end as I should be fine with the 300 f/4 and 1.4 tc on the D7000. I am looking for recommendations for "high-quality lenses" from 16-200mm. And whether I should go for fx or dx lenses?<br>

To answer your previous question: I have had issues with the D90s noise in low light. Plus, I would like to get more pixels on my subjects for cropping, and the slightly higher frame rate shouldn’t hurt for birds in flight. These, plus the generally newer technology of the D7000 versus D90. I hesitated putting this information in my post because information like this can distract from the original intent by creating a debate on whether the reasons for upgrading the camera are valid or not. I have already made that decision! :)</p>

<p>But Robert, the point is: it's easy to say "14-24 f/2.8, 24-70 f/2.8 and 70-200 f/2.8 VRII" - and yes, it'll be optically all great. Would it help <em>you</em> to just list 3 very good lenses without further considerations about <em>your</em> needs? I doubt it - I know I'd grow crazy with a split at 24mm, nor would I like carrying these three around in a warm city in summer.</p>

<p>Without knowing what is wrong with your current lenses, what you usually use them for and what specific characteristics of a lens matter to you, and which not, telling you how to spend money on either DX or FX lenses is going to be nonsens. We could be suggesting a hammer where you need a screwdriver. So, really the question is: what exactly do you find wrong with you 18-200 when using it on a D7000?</p>

<p>Robert, are you looking for a better superzoom, or can we cover that range with more lenses? I've been led to understand (I don't own a DX Nikon, so this isn't from experience) that the kit 18-55 VR and either the 55-200 or 55-300 lenses (or 70-300) provide better quality coverage of the same range than the 18-200, and are probably cheaper in combination than the 18-200 is alone - but, obviously, you'll have to change lenses sometimes. If you want an "18-200, but better", I'm not sure that exists - though it might be worth checking reviews of the third-party lenses. A brief rummage for reviews suggests that the 18-300 is no better than the 18-200 at the 200mm point.</p>

<p>Robert,</p>

<p>I recently (May) upgraded to the D7000 from the D200. I'm not a pro and I don't have a ton of money, so I try pretty hard to get the most bang for my buck when it comes to photo gear. Here are some of my recommendations for "bargain" yet quality lenses:<br>

1. Nikon 30 f/1.8 Great little lens, sharp images, less than $200 new.<br>

2. Sigma 10-20 super wide zoom. I've tried just about all of the superwides (Nikon 12-24, Tokina 12-24, Tokina 11-16, etc.) and I like the Sigma 10-20 the best out of all of them. $350 or so used.<br>

3. Nikon 35-70 f2.8 Built like a tank, razor sharp images. Autofocus is a tad slow, but IMHO this lens is one of the best bargains out there in terms of image and build quality, about $275 used<br>

4. Nikon AFD 50mm f1.8 Small, light, great image quality, about $100 new.<br>

5. Tamron 90mm macro. Super sharp lens, I like it better than the Nikon 105 AFD. About $250 used.</p>

<p>The obsession with lens "quality" isn't really very useful. There are no "bad" lenses on the market today and even those of yesterday are often adequate performers. It's also true that you can get good pictures from an elder 6mp DSLR, and the D90 is no elder citizen. You have excellent images in your gallery. What exactly do you hope to gain by an "upgrade"?</p>

<p>Robert, I fully understand that you would rather not drag this thread off track, so I'll only make this comment once. The D7000 only represents a moderate amount of high-ISO improvements over the D300/D90 generation, although you gain a bit more when you down sample from 16MP to 12MP.</p>

<p>Given that the D7000 itself is a two-year-old camera, you may be better off waiting till next year so that the D7000 will be further updated for a bigger leap. Of course, none of us knows for sure when the D7000's replacement will appear and what features it will have. As long as the D90 is doing ok, I would suggest holding onto it for a bit longer.</p>

<p>I agree with Patrick that Robert has some nice images on his portfolio. A D7000 is unlikely going to make any huge differences.</p>

<p>for landscape, i'd replace the 18-200 with a 16-85 VR and a 70-300 VR. there is about a stop of high-ISO improvement from d90 to d7000, plus you get much better AF. that could mean more keepers with the 300/4. for low-light pics, i'd get the 35/1.8 or the 50/1.8 G.</p>

 

<p>My suggestion is to sit tight until the end of January and see if Nikon comes out with any new cameras. As for lenses, here's the deal. For landscapes you are generally shooting stopped down. At f8, virtually all lenses are pretty equal. I'm going to suggest you buy a a Nikon 16-85mm VR which doubles as a great "general purpose lens. For a longer lens I'd get either a Nikon 70-300mm VR or a used Sigma 70-200mm f2.8 OS. If the Tokina 70-200mm f4 were available I think it might be perfect for you. I would not buy any single focal lenses such as 35mm f1.4 etc. Since you are shooting stopped down I doubt they'll prove very useful. If you did shoot in low light or shoot a lot of portraits, you'd already know you needed f2.8 or faster. I would NOT buy full frame lenses such as 24-70mm etc. How is the rest of your camera system--do you have a really solid tripod, first class ballhead, and how's your computer running?</p>

<p>I bought a refurb Nikon D5100 last June for $500. It has the same sensor as the D7000. My plan was to buy it and use it now, then keep it as an inexpensive back up camera when Nikon comes out with another camera in coming months. The D5100 isn't quite as convenient to use as the D7000, but image quality is the same and for landscapes you don't really need fast AF or handling.</p>

<p>Kent in SD</p>

<p>Thanks everyone for trying to help me!</p>