Close photography and zoom

I am on holidays and I have plenty of time for photos but also for thoughts. In these days I am wandering about zoom lenses that surely would help the speed and also the best design and composition of the pictures I take with my D2X. The problem is the quality of the images: are realy worse in comparison with my excellent Nikkor F105 and F200mm micro? And how much? I'll be very glad to read opinions and advices about this doubt. Thanks very much.

While some zooms are better than others and some are quite good, no zoom will be able to match a high quality prime.

The top quality Nikon zooms are superior to the old single focal lenses now. The old lenses have the older coatings designed for film, and don't have ED elements either. I have four single focal lenses (20mm f2.8, 28mm f1.8, 50mm f1.4, 85mm f1.8) and am dumping all of them. On my D80 body they cause problems. Specifically, I get flare and ghosting. On the 85mm it's so bad that I started avoiding using the lens for my RR photos. I see plenty of CA with the other lenses, especially the 20mm f2.8.

The latest Nikon zooms exceed the old single focal lenses in every way. The Nikon 14-24mm f2.8 is even sharper than Canon's modern 14mm f2.8 by all accounts I've read. I've switched to the Tokina 11-16mm f2.8, Nikons 17-55mm f2.8, 70-200mm f2.8 VR as my main lens selection. These lenses are noticeably better in image quality than the lenses they replaced. No old single focal lens will match the quality of the latest batch of digital-designed pro zooms. And now the nano-coatings are coming out!

If by "close photography" you mean macro, which is taking photos of smnall things very close by (such as a flower, an insect,) the dedicated macro lenses such as the Tamron 90mm f2.8 SP and Nikon 105mm f2.8 VR are still better because they have the ability to focus more closely than a standard lens. I use a Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 lens with a Canon 500D attached as my macro lens, and the results are very good.


Kent in SD

Gigi: Knowing your shooting style I don't think you can do better than your macro lenses. To get as close as you shoot with a zoom will require either extension tubes or a close-up diopter filter. While the tubes won't degrade image quality I find them to be a monumental pain to fool with - you must adjust focus every time you adjust the zoom. The close-up diopter puts another piece of glass on your lens and even as good as the Canon 500D is it will have some degrading effect and also limit your far point to 50cm. I really like the compositional flexibility of zooms and have several good ones but for macro they stay in the bag. >=))>

I've used all of our various 80-200 F/2.8's for "close-up" work at one time or other when I didn't happen to have along a macro. The image quality was always comparable, though I certainly was limited in how close I could shoot.

I've been in Hank's situation for a while now as my new Nikon 105 macro is on a boat somewhere. My shots are clear, until I try to shoot or crop in to a fly's compound eye. Good, but not microscopic. Good luck Gigi

My favourite lenses for holidays are either the 70-200mm f/2.8 or my latest fav the 300 f/4! I take a 1.7x TC and a Kenko 20mm Extention Tube.

I'm prefering the 300mm f/4 because it's a tack sharp lens and is hand-holdable with the 1.7x TC attached - making it 500mm (It produce sharp images despite not having VR!). Couple this lens with a 20mm extension tube and you have a stunning marco lens.

Thanks to all for your opinions and for sharing your experiences. Now I know that I have better to stay with my single lenses and wait.
Thanks again.

Every lens design is a compromse in some respect. With zoom lenses it is usually the maximum aperture and/or near-focussing capability. It's amazing as to how good the zooms really are in practical situations, though. I wouldn't be without them, but not for macros. (A possible exception might be the Canon 2 diopter lens on my 70-200 f/2.8 Nikkor, though I have yet to try it.)