Bye Bye F90x...........................Hello?

[david_clark10]

I am finding it more and more of a pain using several ED G lenses on

my D100 and them not having full compatibility with my F90x. One of

my friends has also gone down the digital route and is selling his F80

(N) so I have decided to sell the F90x and buy his F80. I love the

F90's build quality but just can't finnance a F100 at the moment and

wonder if this is a bad move? However my main concern is the lens I

want to buy for the F80 a 24-85mm (G ED f3.5-) will it be as good

quality as the old 28-105mm D I had? I have seen lots of reviews on

the 24-85mm and tried one briefly. I don't expect it to compete with

the 28-70 f2.8ED but have reservations about all the G ED lenses and

sometimes wonder if they are slapping the ED badge on any lens now

just to make it more appealing!

[jbq]

I think I remember reading that the 24-85 AFS G was surprisingly sharp, but that the sharpness came with some fairly heavy distortion.

[scott_warn]

I have one very simple answer, don't buy a g lens and keep the F90x. You have stated that you were very satisfied with the 28-105 D so why would you trade it for an unknown? Please don't tell me that Nikon made the D100 incompatible with the older D mount AF lenses, that would only get me even more worked up about the lousy g mount. If you need a wider lens I would suggest that you investigate which wide angle primes will work well on your D100. You could also look into the 17-35 f2.8 although that is a pricey lens. I will not support any g mount lens and do believe that if enough of us do that, Nikon will stop building them.

 

BTW, I do believe that Nikon is now slapping the ED designation on just about any lens they can, including some real dogs. Photodo lists the MTF for the 70-300 ED as being 2.4 (out of 5), that is a pretty lousy score when you consider that the 80-200 f2.8 various versions score around 4.0.

[EricM]

"I will not support any g mount lens and do believe that if enough of us do that, Nikon will stop building them."

 

I'm in! Lets start it right now! The anti-G League.

[chris_ladoulis]

I have a D100 and an old N8008 and have the same issue. I make a point to stay away from G lenses, since I like to use my extension tubes and manual bellows. I'm looking for a newer body to replace the N8008. I splurged for the 28-70AFS, so I'll have to wait a little while...

[ShunCheung]

The pros and cons between the N90s/F90x vs. the N80/F80 has been discussed in 3, 4 different threads in the last month or so. Just look back a bit will give you a lot of very good answers.

 

Even since Nikon put ED elements into the 70-300mm zoom a few years ago, ED doesn't imply too quality any more; neither does AF-S. Price is still the best way to separate high and low end lenses although that isn't 100% accurate either.

[charles_miller]

I was handling a few low-priced SLRs over at Wally World, and none of them had fresh batteries. The view through the N65 and the "G" lens was very dark because it defaults to minimum aperture when it has no power. Maybe enough buyers will surmise that the N65 and other "G" cameras are broken and will avoid them. That would be divine justice, except the Nikon marketing department will probably use the failure of "G" lenses and cheap bodies as proof that film SLRs are dead. I think Nikon is heavily into self-fulfilling prophecies at this stage.

[raymond bradlau]

You might want to check out the 24-120 VR Nikkor, If your camera is not connected

to a sturdy tripod 100% of the time this lens would make your photos sharper

 

Buy the way Id bet you all the lenses you mention will out resolve 90% of film on the

market

[elliot]

"<i>I am finding it more and more of a pain using several ED G lenses on my D100 and them not having full compatibility with my F90x... I have decided to sell the F90x and buy... F80</i>" - David Clark<P>Don't do that! That is exactly what Nikon wants you to do! You would just be supporting their evil plan.<br>1. They are making their new lenses without aperture rings so that the lenses won't work on your old cameras and you need to buy new ones. A-holes!<br>2. They are making their bodies without the metering tabs so that the bodies cannot meter with manual focus lenses and you have to buy new autofocus lenses to use on your new cameras!<BR>blah :(

[rendy_setiadjie]

David,

If you still want to keep D100 for your arsenal, it's hard for you to keep F90x unless feed up 2 different lenses system. Since the latest VR feature cannot be used on your F90x body due to G lenses...

[wind.dk]

Unless there are some specific G lenses you simply just must have for a specific purpose, I must admit I fail to see the problem. Now regarding the lack of metering when mounting a non-chipped lens on the F80, that's a different matter... :D

[ShunCheung]

According to David Clark's original question, he already has a D100 and apparently some G lenses too. Therefore, avoiding G lenses is not really an option any more.

 

For all practical purposes, the D100 is merely the digital version of the F80/N80. Therefore, the D100 pretty much shares all pros and cons of the F80, and David himself should be in a pretty good position to judge whether the F80 meets his needs or not. If the build quality and slower AF (compared to the F5 and D1) on the D100 doesn't bother him, most likely nor will those on the F80. No-CPU MF lenses won't meter on the F80, nor will they on the D100, so that shouldn't be a new issue to him.

 

The 24-85 AF-S G is a fine lens for its class (i.e. $300 range in the US). On a DSLR, I would prefer it over the 28-105 since even 24mm isn't all that wide. The 28-105 is essentially not a wide angle any more on the D100. There is some barrel distortion on the 24mm end, but it is more serious on a film body than on a DSLR, which doesn't use the edges of the image circle.