MF Primes or Monster Zooms on trips away

[jonoslack]

Hi There
I think most of us who've gone down the route of the D3/D700 are impressed, not least by Nikon's wonderful new nano coated zooms;
14-24
24-70
By some miracle they seem to perform as well (in some respects better) than primes of the same focal length - even the lovely Zeiss primes.

But they are big.

I have two trips in the near future, and I've been trying to work out how to travel a bit lighter, and still keep with the image quality.
I already have the zeiss 25mm f2.8, which I've fallen back in love with after a re-evaluation.
I was just about to pull the trigger on the ZF 18mm as a companion piece (so that I could then leave the monster 14-24 at home). Then I did a small sum:

25mm+18mm = 950gm
14-24 = 970gm

hmm!

I want to take the 58 f1.4 for low light, so, the next issue is whether to take the other monster:
24-70 - or the much smaller (and still very good) 28-105 on the basis that it also gives me a kind of macro facility (and relieves me of the necessity of taking the 105macro as well!).
the 70-300 is a no-brainer, it's small and light and does the job.
The first trip is to Ronda (Spain) for a wedding, where I am supposed to take some pictures, but it isn't my 'job'. I don't want to miss the landscape though!

My current thinking is:
D700:
14-24 nikkor
28-105 nikkor
58mm f1.4 CV
70-300 nikkor

(leaving behind: zeiss 25mm, CV40mm pancake, nikkor 24-70, nikkor 105 VRmacro, nikkor 24-120 VR)

Of course, I'll also have an M8 with CV 15 Zeiss 25 and 50 and 75 'cron.

any other suggestions (too late to buy now, we fly tomorrow!)

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Take the M8 and relax a little. LOL

 

[Terry]

Jono-
I feel your pain after just taking a roller bag full of gear to the beach and am returning this weekend. I keep thinking about the Tamron 28-300 that I've hear good things about. supplemented with the small primes. I just can't get myself to pull the trigger until I see if Nikon does anything new and what Voigtlander brings.

 

[jonoslack]

Jono-
I feel your pain after just taking a roller bag full of gear to the beach and am returning this weekend. I keep thinking about the Tamron 28-300 that I've hear good things about. supplemented with the small primes. I just can't get myself to pull the trigger until I see if Nikon does anything new and what Voigtlander brings.

Don't listen to good things about cheap zooms on the D700 - I've listened, and they've universally been a disaster . . . . at least, a disaster if you like your edges and corners sharp.

I'm sure that tamron is good on DX, and of course, I could be wrong, but I'm pretty certain it'll be useless on FX.

I tried the Tamron 28-75 f2.8, which is spoken kindly about in many circles . . . . . need I say more!

 

[jonoslack]

Take the M8 and relax a little. LOL

Don't tempt me!
or the E3 with the 12-60 and 70-300 (excellent throughout - 24-600mm small bag)

 

[Guy Mancuso]

E3 sounds good too. I think you should sell it all and go MF. Too much stuff. LOL

Get a MF back and pick up a Alpa for the fun stuff. RELENTLESS

 

[Guy Mancuso]

There is a saying around here . Once you go back it's hard to go back.:ROTFL::ROTFL::ROTFL::ROTFL:

 

[Terry]

Two things on the Tamron:

1)if I get it from B&H I can test it to see what the corners are like and if bad return it.

2)the one thing that gives me a little hope on this lens were some comments by Thom Hogan. He mentioned it in a thread and I followed up with him. His comment back was "casual experience so far suggests it is better than expected. but I haven't begun to do exhaustivetesting yet.

Yes, it makes me nervous to get this lens until I have the perfect brick walls and patience to test it during the return period.
I put the D700 with 24-70 next to the M8 with 28 cron the other night. I should have taken a picture because the size difference was just huge.

 

[PSon]

Two things on the Tamron:

1)if I get it from B&H I can test it to see what the corners are like and if bad return it.

2)the one thing that gives me a little hope on this lens were some comments by Thom Hogan. He mentioned it in a thread and I followed up with him. His comment back was "casual experience so far suggests it is better than expected. but I haven't begun to do exhaustivetesting yet.

Yes, it makes me nervous to get this lens until I have the perfect brick walls and patience to test it during the return period.
I put the D700 with 24-70 next to the M8 with 28 cron the other night. I should have taken a picture because the size difference was just huge.

If you get the perfect brick wall, Guy will perfectly ban you. LOL

 

[jonoslack]

If you get the perfect brick wall, Guy will perfectly ban you. LOL

Don't Mention the War . . . I mean Don't Mention the Thread!

and perhaps I'd better stop talking about corners or I'll be banned!

 

[Vivek]

Don't Mention the War . . .

Hi there, Mr.Fawlty! :ROTFL::ROTFL:


Your original plan sounds good.

I took my D300, 50/1.8 AF, 18-55 AF-S and the 70-300 ED plus a 28mm T/S (smallest and lightest of all) plus my D80-IR to Barcelona.

All the lenses I chose do well for IR as well, hence that selection.

Now, if am going again, I would drag the 14-24 zoom and the 30/1.4 Sigma.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

I want pretty walls.:ROTFL::ROTFL::ROTFL:

 

[bradhusick]

Take an M7 with a 50 cron, 400 Fuji, and stop chimping and enjoy the scenery.

Seriously, having the D700, 1Dm3 and M8s (and many others), sometimes just taking the M7/50 is a real joy!

-Brad

 

[Stuart Richardson]

Since you are bringing the M8 already, I would either leave it at that, or just bring the D700 and 24-70 and 58/1.4 for the wedding and super low light. Rather than think about covering every possible angle of view and shooting situation, think about what you LIKE to shoot with a given camera, as well as what you think you will encounter when you are there. Choose on that basis rather than, "Well there might be elk on the range, so I better bring the 70-300."

 

[jonoslack]

Since you are bringing the M8 already, I would either leave it at that, or just bring the D700 and 24-70 and 58/1.4 for the wedding and super low light. Rather than think about covering every possible angle of view and shooting situation, think about what you LIKE to shoot with a given camera, as well as what you think you will encounter when you are there. Choose on that basis rather than, "Well there might be elk on the range, so I better bring the 70-300."

HI Stuart - Well, one thing there WILL be is spectacular landscape . . . hence the 14-24 - and the 70-300 for compressed perspective - and it's also good for candid's at the wedding.
On this trip we will have a car and a hotel room, so I don't have to carry everything all the time.

 

[jonoslack]

Take an M7 with a 50 cron, 400 Fuji, and stop chimping and enjoy the scenery.

Seriously, having the D700, 1Dm3 and M8s (and many others), sometimes just taking the M7/50 is a real joy!

-Brad

Hi Brad
I did a month, film only, m6 just over a year ago - it was a liberation . . . . until it came to getting home and having to scan the film properly etc. etc.

I swore that I would never ever take a roll of film again - and so it will be!

thanks for the sensible suggestion though.

 

[losta]

I would go 24- 70 with the CV40mm pancake for times you want to go light plus a long lens as you like.
I have dragged around the bigger lenses and after a few hours they get really heavy on the shoulders but you want to have them with you because they are so good.

 

[asabet]

Jono-
I feel your pain after just taking a roller bag full of gear to the beach and am returning this weekend. I keep thinking about the Tamron 28-300 that I've hear good things about. supplemented with the small primes. I just can't get myself to pull the trigger until I see if Nikon does anything new and what Voigtlander brings.

Hi Terry,

I had the Tamron with the Canon 5D. On the wide end, it has soft corners and edges even stopped all the way down. It's also not very sharp at or near 300mm. Overall though, I think it does a decent job considering the huge zoom range. The vibration compensation is very effective. I got 3 or 4 stops of stabilization. Here are some full res samples I took with that lens -> http://www.flickr.com/photos/asabet/sets/72157603268535781/detail/

 

[jonoslack]

I would go 24- 70 with the CV40mm pancake for times you want to go light plus a long lens as you like.
I have dragged around the bigger lenses and after a few hours they get really heavy on the shoulders but you want to have them with you because they are so good.

HI Lisa
the point is that there are BIG dramatic landscapes around Ronda - and I do want some real wide angle for those. I like the pancake, but the 58 f1.4 is almost as small, and it's a little longer and a little faster - good for the wedding in the evening.

Hi Terry,

I had the Tamron with the Canon 5D. On the wide end, it has soft corners and edges even stopped all the way down. It's also not very sharp at or near 300mm. Overall though, I think it does a decent job considering the huge zoom range. The vibration compensation is very effective. I got 3 or 4 stops of stabilization. Here are some full res samples I took with that lens -> http://www.flickr.com/photos/asabet/sets/72157603268535781/detail/

HI Amin
I've come to the conclusion that if I'm going to make much of a compromise on image quality . . . then I'm better off taking the E3 and lenses - the compromise is so small (except in high ISO), and the lenses so good.

In this case the wedding is in the evening, outside, so I think the D700 is called for.

 

[asabet]

HI Amin
I've come to the conclusion that if I'm going to make much of a compromise on image quality . . . then I'm better off taking the E3 and lenses - the compromise is so small (except in high ISO), and the lenses so good.

In this case the wedding is in the evening, outside, so I think the D700 is called for.

Hi Jono,

I'm pretty sure you'd return the Tamron 28-300 right away if you bought it. It isn't a lens that could work for the type of scenics you've shown with just a sliver of land at the bottom. I just thought Terry might like to see some full frame samples with that lens.

My choice, if I had your kit, would be to go with just the Zeiss 25, CV 58/1.4, and the 28-105. I like to travel light, prefer the use of primes, and rarely want to go wider than 25 or longer than 105. Those little three lenses would have me covered.

However, you tend to use a wider focal length range, so I think there are two good choices for your first trip. One would be 14-24, 28-105, 58/1.4, and 70-300. The other would be 14-24, 24-70, 58/1.4, 70-300, and 105 macro. It really just comes down to how much you're willing to carry!