As I patiently (or not so) await the announcement and eventual arrival of the Nikon D700 replacement, it got me thinking about what ideal lenses I’d have for that camera.<\/p>\n
Over the years many lenses have served the role as ‘primary’ on the various cameras I’ve owned. \u00a0Generally these days that falls to the 18-55 f\/2.8 (- or something like that – My D300 hat the 1.4x crop factor and I still think in terms of 35mm focal lengths, so I actually think of that lens as my 24-70.. I can never remember the actual focal length..).<\/p>\n
I like the lens well enough, the issue I have is the bulk of the lens. \u00a0The ‘pro’ series lenses are always large, I get that. \u00a0The problem is, there’s often a big step down from the pro lenses.<\/p>\n
My understanding is that this is an area where Canon does well, offering a stepped down version of their top-of-the-line that is still really nice. \u00a0So that’s what I’d like to see from Nikon.<\/p>\n
Nikon recently introduced an f\/4 zoom lens, which sounds just about right. \u00a0The problem? It’s a 24-120. \u00a0I’ve owned one of those in the past (albeit the not-as-well-designed predecessor) and I had 3 primary problems with it: \u00a0First, the lens had pretty bad distortion; Second, it’s nearly as large as the F\/2.8 lenses (because of the additional focal length); Third, because of the large focal length zoom the controls didn’t provide a solid feel.<\/p>\n
So, what I’d like to see is this:<\/p>\n
First, a 24-70 f\/4.0 lens with the same handling and build quality of the pro f\/2.8 line but smaller and lighter (because of the larger aperture).<\/p>\n
Second, a refresh of the 70-300 incorporating the same f\/4 aperture throughout the range. \u00a0If need be, restrict it to 200, but really that shouldn’t be necessary. \u00a0This can be a little larger than the current lens, but ideally not much.<\/p>\n
Third, both lenses should share filter size so that 1 walk around set of filters can be applied to either<\/p>\n
Finally, the 70-300 should be compatible with the latest 1.4x teleconverter for longer shots (and to obviate the need for something like the 80-400, itself in desperate need of a refresh)<\/p>\n
OK Nikon, I’m waiting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As I patiently (or not so) await the announcement and eventual arrival of the Nikon D700 replacement, it got me thinking about what ideal lenses I’d have for that camera. Over the years many lenses have served the role as ‘primary’ on the various cameras I’ve owned. \u00a0Generally these days that falls to the 18-55 … <\/p>\n