Posted by Igor Doncov on March 30, 2015 at 11:07 PM
I've decided to leave Canon because I don't believe that the 5DS will be better than the D810 and I think Canon is so far behind now that it will never catch up.
I know that the zoom lenses are inferior to the prime lenses but I can't see carrying a bag of lenses. As far as I can tell Nikon glass is now mostly superior to Canon as well, although I need to research this out a bit more.
I am thinking of the 24-70mm lens. Do you agree? If not what do you recommend?
Carrying the 24-70/2.8 and 70-200/2.8 covers any look at a landscape that you can imagine. If you need to pick one lens only, I'd consider the new 24-120/4.
So much depends on how you tend to shoot and what you can afford. Bottom line, with the D810, get better glass than you can afford. That strategy has served me well for many years and saved me the cost of upgrading lenses. Example: Had my first 70-200/2.8 for 12 years, through 4 pro-sumer camera bodies. It was well "used" and still received very decent trade-in for it. Lots of reasons to buy better glass than you can afford-- image quality, product quality, handling, weather speaking, trade-in value!
You'll probably get enough recommendations here to make your head spin! Best of luck, and enjoy your new Nikon gear!
Igor, it all depends on your personal needs, photo objectives, methodology, finances, etc. Life and lenses are compromises, and what works best is personal. I had both the 24-70 and the 24-120VR, but I sold the 24-120 because the extra reach wasn't worth carrying both, and I overall preferred the 24-70 for my needs and uses. Plus, I own the 24-85 for backpacking and when I otherwise want to travel light and small, so the 24-120 was the odd lens out. Someone else with different objectives may well choose the 24-120 over the other choices. Then there's the new, highly regarded, and less expensive 24-70 Tamron which has VR if that is important to you. I think I've also read speculation that Nikon may be updating the 24-70 with a VR version which might make buying at least a new 24-70 not a great lens investment, but that rumor has been circulating for years. Choices, choices. This: sums up my own state of mind whenever I am thinking about a new lens (and camera, too).
Posted by Igor Doncov on March 31, 2015 at 9:49 AM
Thank you for your responses.
I came across this website a few days ago which may be the most useful one so far for camera and lens evaluation and comparison. Dxomark.com. Unlike dpreview it gives a numerical score on various parameters which can be used to rank items. In the web page below provides and ranks the best lenses for the D810. IMHO the most important reason when going to D810 is sharpness because I'm not going to get that dynamic range without a good lens to go with it. The sharpness for a 24-120 is 15pmpx which is virtually identical to my current canon 24-105(14pmpx). So I don't it's a good choice. None of the 24-70 lenses seem to be particularly sharp with an average of about 22PMpx but still about 50% sharper than the longer range zooms. The Tamron's seem like a good choice simply because they equal the Nikon lenses at 2/3 the price. The prime lenses are of course cheaper and sharper.
Discussion
4 repliesI know that the zoom lenses are inferior to the prime lenses but I can't see carrying a bag of lenses. As far as I can tell Nikon glass is now mostly superior to Canon as well, although I need to research this out a bit more.
I am thinking of the 24-70mm lens. Do you agree? If not what do you recommend?
So much depends on how you tend to shoot and what you can afford. Bottom line, with the D810, get better glass than you can afford. That strategy has served me well for many years and saved me the cost of upgrading lenses. Example: Had my first 70-200/2.8 for 12 years, through 4 pro-sumer camera bodies. It was well "used" and still received very decent trade-in for it. Lots of reasons to buy better glass than you can afford-- image quality, product quality, handling, weather speaking, trade-in value!
You'll probably get enough recommendations here to make your head spin! Best of luck, and enjoy your new Nikon gear!
I came across this website a few days ago which may be the most useful one so far for camera and lens evaluation and comparison. Dxomark.com. Unlike dpreview it gives a numerical score on various parameters which can be used to rank items. In the web page below provides and ranks the best lenses for the D810. IMHO the most important reason when going to D810 is sharpness because I'm not going to get that dynamic range without a good lens to go with it. The sharpness for a 24-120 is 15pmpx which is virtually identical to my current canon 24-105(14pmpx). So I don't it's a good choice. None of the 24-70 lenses seem to be particularly sharp with an average of about 22PMpx but still about 50% sharper than the longer range zooms. The Tamron's seem like a good choice simply because they equal the Nikon lenses at 2/3 the price. The prime lenses are of course cheaper and sharper.
http://www.dxomark.com/Reviews/Best-lenses-for-the-Nikon-D810-Exceptionally-high-sharpness-and-detail-but-no-advance-over-D800E/Best-Zooms-on-the-Nikon-D810
For some reason this site does not evaluate tilt/shift lenses as far as I can see.
Take a look at this thread by Harley regarding the 24-70 Tamron. He uses the lens on his D-810.
-p