Zoom for the 24 to 105mm Range (Lens questions...)

<p>OK, in an ideal world with unlimited funds, I would buy a 24mm

f/2.8 AF-D, 105mm f/2.8 AF-D Macro, and 80-200mm f/2.8 AF-D lens and

I think I would be set for quite some time. However, funds are

limited with a baby on the way. Currently I own the excellent 50mm

f/1.8 AF-D, the crappy(terrible vignetting at the wide end, sharpness

leaves a lot to be desired, extremely low contrast, and slow) 28-80 G

and the not as crappy, but still somewhat,(sharpness leaves a little

to be desired, contrast better than 28-80 but nowhere near as nice as

my 50, and slow) 70-300 G.</p><p>Can anyone recommend a good zoom

lens that can cover the 24-105mm range (or there abouts) that has

good sharpness and contrast and isn't so painfully slow? My budget

is around $500. I am looking for some official reviews of a

qualifying lens as well. I've seen some that meet my focal length

requirements, but don't know how good they actually are...</p><p>TIA!

</p>

28-105mm f/3.5-4.5D AF Nikkor.

Ellis already pointed you toward the most popular kid in the class..

 

1) the 28-105 is very well regarded by lots and lots of folks.

 

It won't open up to 24mm. That may not be a problem for you. But if you do want to go wider than 28mm you could look into:

 

2) the 24-85 G-series AF-S lens.

 

3) the 24-120 G-series VR lens.

 

Have fun,

The world may turn out to be ideal after all.

 

If you don't mind slightly used lenses in excellent/plus condition, KEH has your answer:

 

24mm f/2.8 AF ~$225 (for snapshots and cool wide shots)

 

85mm f/1.8 AF ~$265 (fast! beautiful portraits)

 

And if you need longer, there's the 200mm f/4 AI with

a strong build quality and superb sharpness for ~$120.

Add a T3 closeup lens if you need macro. ($30).

 

This is my own preference over the zooms. It's below your budget if

you want to do without the 200mm. It's only a hundred

more if you want the 200mm.

The quick answer is the 24-85 AFS, which is a great lens. But it's not a lot faster than what you have. I personally am with Steve here: primes are a much better way to get speed and quality, and the 85 f/1.8 is a particularly good deal.

 

Do you have a camera that can meter with AI lenses? That could be an easy way of getting good stuff on a budget.

I would concur that the 85mm f/1.8 is a great lens for infant and early childhood photos, good portraits and candids under low light. It can support very sharp enlargements, that am sure you will want.

I am interested in fine art nude and simple nudes so I sometimes browse those nude websites like Met-Art or the like. Some of those images I found has complete EXIF data so I can tell what lens they use. What I found is that they all use small aperture comsumer zooms instead of pro zooms. I dont think they choose comsumer zooms simply because it's cheaper. In most occasions they have to shoot against window lights or even studio lights, under such condition some cheap comsumer zooms could greatly outperform pro zooms because all f2.8 pro zooms FLARE seriously when shooting agaisnt lights, and by the way if using flash/studio_lights combined with window light nobody shoots f2.8, f5-f6.3 is the adquite aperture for enough DOF so pro zooms has no advantage but only disavantage here.

 

I have some pretty good quality prime lens and now I am looking for a nice small aperture zoom in the 24-70mm range.

The 28-105 is tough to beat for performance price ratio, but if you demand a 24mm-... range zoom

 

The 24-85mm f/2.8-4 AFD lens has a mixed reputation; however, if you get one of the good ones (early ones had significant build quality unit to unit issues), you will be pleased if you don't need fast AF.

 

It won't focus as fast as the 24-85 f/3.5-4.5 G AFS or 24-120 f/3.5-5.6 G AFS VR and it won't do as well as a 24mm f/2.8 prime in flare performance.

 

I carry a 24-85 AFD instead of 24, 28, and 35mm primes unless I know I'm going after a strong backlight scene.

A little bit off topic for this forum but I think currently only Minolta has a 24-105 f/3.5-4.5 lens. It is really good in sharpness and contrast.