First Focus Me

But you have probably landed here because you typed in “Best Lens for Nikon D600″ or something like that into Google and here you are. So let me tell you a little story about my experience from moving the Nikon D300 to a full frame D800 and how I went about choosing what I considered the best lens for my camera.

A few months back Nikon Launched the Nikon D800 and I must have spent about a year before that watching the rumours, reading the specs and researching lenses so I knew what to buy when the D800 was finally released. Coming from a DX body and lenses this was a major time for me. I was however lucky enough to have had the foresight about 2 years ago to stop buying DX lenses so I already had a 50mm 1.8 FX lens  and the 105mm micro lens, what I did not have though was a replacement for my 18-200mm DX lens that was almost permanently attached to the D300!

I knew going Full Frame meant that I would lose the 1.5 zoom that gets added by a DX camera so I was very sceptical about buying something with very little telefocal length. I must have gone through all lenses and placed check marks against them. Infact I still have a copy so here it is.

The following FX lenses were taken into consideration:

• AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G (More info on Nikons Page)
• AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED (2.9x) (More info on Nikons Page)
• AF Zoom-Nikkor 24-85mm f/2.8-4D IF (3.5x) (More info on Nikons Page)
• AF-S Nikkor 24-120mm f/4G ED VR (5x) (More info on Nikons Page)
• AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II (2.9x) (More info on Nikons Page)
• AF-S Nikkor 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR (10.7x) (More info on Nikons Page)
• AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED (4.3x) (More info on Nikons Page)
• AF VR Zoom-Nikkor 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6D ED (5.0x) (More info on Nikons Page)

If you are looking for a DX Lens just go and buy the Nikon 18-200mm VR II– You can read Ken Rockwell’s review here or buy it here. BUT if you have an FX camera then please read on, you do not want a DX lens.

In order to see which lens would suit me best, I asked myself the “Golden Question”. Your first immediate answer to this question is probably the most important part of this article. Whatever you think of first, is more than likely what you are most passionate about, so when you read my question remember that.

Golden Question)

What am I going to use this lens for? Don’t forget to remember your first thought…

My Answer)

Walking around –

Based on that I thought about the logistics a bit, and determined that as I like to walk around cities, taking photos, I do not want to be lugging a case of lenses around, I want one or two maximum at a push! (You may well come to a very different answer to me, this is allowed and I encourage it, that is why Nikon make lots of different lenses, because we are not all the same.)

So now I have some criteria, “I want one lens that has multiple capabilities”. The next step is an extremely scientific process that needs to be followed with great care. This way you can narrow down your selection with great accuracy. My very scientific way of narrowing down the selection, was by simply looking at the zoom level. I know I like to use a bit of a wider angle and I know I like to be able to zoom in, therefore anything with a very low range, was not going to cut it for me.

Immediately looking at the list I could start crossing out a few.

• AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G (I already have this anyway)
• AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED (2.9x)  Range is too low.
• AF Zoom-Nikkor 24-85mm f/2.8-4D IF (3.5x) Range is still too low.
• AF-S Nikkor 24-120mm f/4G ED VR (5x) – Maybe, but 120mm?
• AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II (2.9x) It’s minimum 70mm ( I love this Lens)
• AF-S Nikkor 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR (10.7x) – Oooo Widish and Telephoto hmmm.
• AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED  (4.3x) WOW 300mm, but still 70mm.
• AF VR Zoom-Nikkor 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6D ED (5.0x) I take photos in cities, not portraits of God.

Now that it has been narrowed down to a whole two, I can look at things like Quality… There is a very good reason I did not do this first. If I have spent time worrying about the quality of a 50mm lens, it may not have made it through the first elimination round. I now know what I want, and what Nikon offer, so my work is theoretically now a lot less.

Option 1 – AF-S Nikkor 24-120mm f/4G ED VR (5x)

Pros

• Slightly smaller than the 28mm-300mm
• VR – Vibration Reduction (I will definitely use on hand held zoom, it can help by up to 4 stops apparently)
• AF-S Definitely useful in quiet situations
• AF Focus is quicker than the 300mm version
• F/4 at 120mm

Cons

• Cost – £1,000 – That costs more, for less zoom
• Optics – Possible distortion on maximum and minimum zoom
• Pictures may not be as sharp as a fixed length lens

(Read Ken Rockwell’s review)

Option 2 – AF-S Nikkor 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR

Pros

• Optics – Super sharp
• Ergonomics – I don’t need a wheelbarrow to carry it and it feels good.
• Wide (ish) 28mm and Telephoto 300mm all in one
• VR – Vibration Reduction (I will definitely use on hand held zoom, it can help by up to 4 stops apparently)
• AF-S Definitely useful in quiet situations
• Cost – Whilst still quite pricey at £800 it’s the Value you need to look at.

Cons

• Optics – Possible distortion on maximum and minimum zoom
• Pictures may not be as sharp as a fixed length lens
• Cost – It’s still £800
• F/3.5 is barely available it creeps up to F/5.6 almost instantly…

(Read Ken Rockwell’s review)

Decision time

Based on the above, I chose the 28mm-300mm. I could not ignore that it has an extra 180mm worth of zoom. The tests over at Kens site showed the ever so slight differences and its cheaper? Very strange but it is? I was also about to lose the 1.5 X Crop of a DX so 300mm would be equivalent to the 200mm on my DX lens… awesome! On the reverse side the 18 on a DX is equivelent to a 27mm Full Frame, this is 28, the difference was going to be minimal.

Final Question

Will this lens produce the quality I need?

Absolutely! I have been using the DX Nikon 18-200mm VR II and a D300 camera with results that I have been very happy with. I cannot see any reason, why changing to the D800, with this lens could possibly be any worse than what I am using now. You can check out some of my images with it over in the Galleries

If my answer was no, then clearly I would need to compromise somewhere else, perhaps I could carry two lenses and then opt for something like the Nikkor 24-70mm and Nikkor 80-400mm.

Other Lenses

If your answer to the Golden Question was Macro Photography please consider the AF-S VR Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/2.8G IF-ED. This lens is phenomenal, it does cost a bit more than the others but when it comes down to clarity and zoom… It is just WOW.

Post Purchase

So after buying a D800 and what I considered to be  the best lens for my D600 D800 I went down to my local camera rental store and rented a AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II, after all this is the one lens every pro will swear by! When I first picked it up I thought I was going to have to take up some Gym again that thing weighs a TON!

The 70-200mm is truly an awesome lens and I did have serious second thoughts and even considered returning my lens and changing it for this one BUT… This lens kept catching me out. It has some major issues for my use.

• Issue1 – You need to be about a meter and a half away from your subject (1.2m +) If you are going from DX to FX then this is huge, you end up with space around the image and your subject right in the middle. Framing it was horrible on close up objects, you really needed to stand quite far back, after all it is a 70mm to 200mm lens.
• Issue 2 – the range was not great. the difference between 70 and 200mm in a city taking shots was very limiting. I found myself having to walk about 500m just to frame houses of Parliament and then the angle I wanted was completely wrong. I was chatting to another photographer shooting that day and he just laughed at me, in German! If you have ever been laughed at in German its serious!
• Issue 3 – ITS HEAVY. If you are going to put it on a D600 good luck.
• Issue 4 –  It has an aperture of 2.8 all the way to 200mm, this is not a flaw, this is just awesome and it makes me want it so much more! You can get some truly great depth of feel with this lens in almost no light.

Am I happy with my AF-S Nikkor 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR - Absolutely! I would not choose any other lens right now. I am going to be on the lookout for something for portraits but that’s a whole new article, for now when I go into the City this is the lens I will take.

If you have any opinions or preferences, I would love to hear about them. Please feel free to share your views below.