Now that I've decided to go Full Frame....

[ALwin]

I asked in a previous topic whether an FX upgrade was worth it, from my D90 to D700. I have received some good comments from fellow members, was able to borrow my office's D700 and play around with it and after reading the sensor size article in issue 103 which just got on my iPad today, I have decide to go Full Frame and sell my D90s.

Now the question is, as I'm mainly a landscape and portrait photographer, the lenses I plan to use are:
1) Nikon 70-200 VR II which I already have
2) Nikon 14-24 f2.8, will buy later, currently for the time being I can use my Tokina 11-16 ATX (DX format) lens as a 16mm f2.8 prime with the D700

So now that I've covered a nice telephoto and ultra-wide angle range, I am missing the mid zoom range lens. And I am currently tight on budget so the question becomes:
a) Should I get a 24-70 f2.8 lens which I'm sure is an excellent lens?

or

b) I already have some Nikon prime lenses: 28 f2.8, 50 f1.8 and 60mm macro lenses (with possibility of getting the 35mm f2D prime), will these suffice? With these lenses I could always take a few steps back or forward.

When doing portraits with my D90, I usually use the 70-200 or my 105 DC lens or went for my Tokina 11-16 f2.8 when I wanted to get very close to the subject. I rarely ever touched my 17-55 (28-80mm equiv on FX) lens for portraits unless it was for group shots. For landscapes I used whichever lens I felt would get me what I wanted. With my D90, I had the entire 11mm to 200mm focal range almost covered with some tiny blanks in the 55-70mm range.

[peterlyall]

Stick with what you have until you can see a definite need for anything else. You have a good selection of lenses - enjoy the D700!

[Chris Humphreys]

Agree with Peter, always nicer to look forward to your next purchase and will give you time to work out what really matters. Having said that, the 24-70 is a great lens. Don't blacklisted_site the 16-35 F4 VR, I love mine and it takes filters which the 14-24 doesn't.

[ALwin]

Thanks for your replies, going to hold off on getting the 24-70 for the moment and will get the 14-24 after my D90s and some DX lenses are sold.

The 16-35 was something I considered but preferred a faster lens like the 17-35. But since I also want an ultra-ultra wide decided for the 14-24. Sucks that it doesn't take filters but I can live without using them, only use NDs and Gradient NDs but with the D700 14bit raw seems to capture more dynamic range than D90's raw so might be able to do some processing in Lightroom to compensate or do HDR. And polarizers won't work with wide angles.

If Nikon had made a 16-35 f2.8 lens like the Canon with the sharpness of the 14-24 I would've probably chosen that instead, I can live without VR at wide angles.

[Chris Humphreys]

16mm isn't that far from 14mm and it works with polarisers just fine, also the VR more than compensates for the fixed aperture of F4. The 14-24 is an awesome lens, but for landscape work I discounted it on lack of filter options. Your choice of course.

[ALwin]

Thanks Chris, like your input as always.

Since I haven't actually bought the 14-24 I may change my mind later though if I had to get something else I may get the 17-35 f2.8 over the 16-35 f4 for 2 reasons:
1) f2.8 over f4
2) Aperture ring over Gelded G, (I have a 5DmkII which I use for videos and I have an adapter which allows me to put Nikon lenses on the Canon mount so having an manual Aperture ring is important, only have actual Canon 2 lenses for the 5D> 24-105 and 24 f3.5 TS II)

[Pitmatic]

I have the 16-35 f4 too and i picked it over the 14-24 because

1 no filters i dont usualy use them but i do want the option to use 10 stop nds and polarisers

2 slightly longer focal range (its just more flexible)

3 2.8 on an ultra wide is not that exciting if your after shallow dof effects i think the lens is too short and as for speed just up the iso you have a camera that can do it now with almost no guilt!

4 most of the time the lens is going to be stopped down for story telling images even f4 is quite wide! if i want shallow DOF i will use a longer lens at a wide apperture

that said the 14-24 produces lovely images and i am sure it will do you proud if you go for it

[egwardo]

I have a D90 and D700 and use a sigma 24-70mm all the time and its great, use it mostly for my portraits, but is great with landscapes!

But i agree that the temptaion is always to buy more and more kit and we are always better to hold of until we have a situation(s) where we think if only i had this bit of kit! and that is the time to buy.

[sarge5233]

Hi

All I can say is go for it. I upgraded from the D80 to D700. It came with the 24-120 kit lens, which later I traded in for the 24-70 Nikkor. This is a fabulous combination, although I am still waiitng for the Cokin Z Pro filters to fit it. P filters cut off below around 35mm. There appear to be no Cokin or Lee filters available in the country!!

I also have the 14-24 Nikkor. It is a marvellous lens but as others have said, there is the problem of filters. Lee now do a kit with holder and one ND grad, but it is a whopping £300! Another disadvantage is the front element. It is bulbous and protudes almost to the front of the built in lens hood. I am always replacing the lens cap between shots to ensure I dont knock it against anything. But having said that, I love it!

Good luck
Sarge

[ALwin]

Hi

All I can say is go for it. I upgraded from the D80 to D700. It came with the 24-120 kit lens, which later I traded in for the 24-70 Nikkor. This is a fabulous combination, although I am still waiitng for the Cokin Z Pro filters to fit it. P filters cut off below around 35mm. There appear to be no Cokin or Lee filters available in the country!!

I also have the 14-24 Nikkor. It is a marvellous lens but as others have said, there is the problem of filters. Lee now do a kit with holder and one ND grad, but it is a whopping £300! Another disadvantage is the front element. It is bulbous and protudes almost to the front of the built in lens hood. I am always replacing the lens cap between shots to ensure I dont knock it against anything. But having said that, I love it!

Good luck
Sarge

@Sarge,
In which country do you live? Have you tried http://www.teamworkphoto.com/shop/index.php for the Lee filter holder system and Hi-Tech filters which are cheaper than Lee's but better than Cokin. Also check out this site http://www.formatt.co.uk/default.aspx

@Everyone, Thank you for all your advice. I got the 14-24 during a 'sale' here and since I still have a good DX lens to be sold I may look for a 16-35 or second hand great condition 17-35 later on. I am going to skip out on the 24-70 range for the time being since I can use my 28, 50 and 60mm prime lenses to cover part of the mid zoom range.

[ALwin]

Update: had a friend at the office do a portrait shot of me just mere inches away from the front of the 14-24 lens with the D700, took the memory card home and loaded it onto my computer.

What I saw frightened me, the glass is very very sharp and I could see all the pores, sweat (office central heating/ventalition is lousy, summer is never cool enough and winter is kept too warm) and beard stubs etc. Call me vain but I rarely like photos of myself, especially with this lens. I'm afraid now of using this lens to take portraits and showing the photos to people without editing them.