D700 and light-weight AIS primes

[philippartridge]

<p>One of the endearing characteristics of the D700 is its excellent results when used with AIS lenses. No doubt the Voightlander SL and SLII lenses will be another great match. I use a 58/1.4 on a D200 and it is a definite keeper, great build, not bad weight. The 40 Ultron is reputedly also wonderful and fast enough at f2, comes with a close up lens, very small and light...</p>

<p>Bad news is the paucity of wide angle excellence available for the back country landscape shooter Nikon user. The old 20s are so-so res-wise but still with character, the more modern 20/2.8 is also quite blah - these comments are in comparision to the rogue performance of the 14-24/2.8, a crazy option for serious back country usage, so heavy, no filter, and best at the wide end, and a little too wide. Now imagine the same optics in an 18-28 f4 weighing in at 450 grams! Alas, never to be seen is my guess.</p>

<p>The new Voigt 20/3.5 is also underwhelming from first reports and too pricy. Now if they start making more of the old SLs, the 125/2.5 and 180/4, these would sell like hot cakes. The 17-35/2.8 is yet another variation on the Nikon giant, heavy zoom habit - another old lens in need of an update. I am guessing Nikon will do something about this gap, either with a wide prime (not very likely) or a fine prosumer zoom, say a 25-105 f4 VR, which they also need badly. </p>

<p>The 70-300VR and the older classic Nikkors, including the fine 35-70/2.8, apparently work great on the D700. I have a 105/2.5 AIS looking for more use, plus a 28 f2. BTW, the 28 f2.8 AIS came in a short focus version, much better than the older design. They are known as '0.2m' - 0.2 metre minimum focus; great especially for close up work. </p>

<p>The ZF Zeiss arouse mixed feelings. Many love the 'in the photo' realism and 3D, others rail at the excessive weight, cost and below par curvature of field of the wide angles, resulting in poor corners at wider apertures. No perfect lens...I wish we could use the Contax Zeiss lenses, much better overall for us hikers, very light and often better than the ZFs.</p>

<p>Your 180/2.8 is a winner; the others will look just fine to you. I have this theory that the match of FF sensors and ~12 MPs is a serendipitous combination; witness the Canon 5D, now the D700.</p>

[rodeo_joe1]

<p>The primes you have are all fine for use on the D700, but I can't speak for the D300 since I've never owned a crop factor DSLR. The weakness in the bunch, if anything is the 24mm f/2.8, which I have but now hardly ever use.</p>

<p>You probably don't want to hear this, but once you've seen the quality of pictures from the 14-24mm zoom Nikkor you'll forget every other ultrawide. It knocks spots off every wideangle prime I've put it up against so far. At f/2.8 there's nothing to touch it, and even stopping everything down a few stops, the corner quality beats most of the competition hollow. However, lightweight and convenient it ain't, so there's still something to be said for owning a neat little lens like the 20mm f/3.5.</p>

[aruns]

<p>Hello everybody,<br>

Thanks very much for each of your responses. They are very informative and useful, that I have decided to purchase a D700 to go with my current collection of lenses. If I personally find the quality not up to the levels I expect, I now know what alternatives to look for. Once again, I truly appreciate your responses, thank you - this is what makes this forum so great!<br>

Best regards, I hope to post some samples on the gallery here + the photographic forums soon. Cheers, Arun.</p>

[aruns]

<p>Matthew and Pedro, thanks for sharing samples too. I made up my mind! :) Cheers, Arun</p>

[aruns]

<p>Hi Matthew, quick question. Did you do much processing on the picture you posted..the exposure of foreground, the faces of people in the pic and the clouds are all well controlled, although the faces look a bit processed. If this is a straight, out-of-the-camera pic from the D700, I am really surprised. (the D70 would cough up with the cloud highlights and would require quite quite a bit of processing to get this result, if at all).<br>

Hi Curt, a little off-topic, but hopefully a quick question: what tripod do you use. I use a manfrotto xprob55 (aluminum) an extremely stable tripod, with a manfrotto ball head as well. But it is heavy. with the ball head it weighs close to 8-9 lbs. I have tried getting a slik (not the pro series) but after using the manfrotto the slik felt like it had noodle legs. So I returned it. Right now I am just lugging around the manfrotto combo. :)<br>

Have a great memorial day everyone.<br>

Thanks, Arun.</p>