Nikon Glass

[jcoxshooter]

About to buy some new glass for my f3 and was wanting to get suggestion on which nikon zooms would be a good option to go to look.

[crs127]

when i go nikon, its usually the 17-55 t2.8, 24-70 t2.8 or the 70-200 t2.8, if you go primes try the Zeiss ZF set.

[jcoxshooter]

this is the lens Im looking at
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...r_17_35mm.html

[Duke M.]

this is the lens Im looking at
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...r_17_35mm.html

The 17-35mm F2.8 is one of Nikon's finest lenses. There is plenty of overlap with the 24-70mm. My Favs all manual in F2.8:

11-16mm Tokina
17-35mm Nikon (off the top of my head I think the 17-55 is a G lens without a manual iris.)
28-70mm Nikon
70-200mm Nikon (the one with three rings, not the slider.)

Primes all in F1.4 and all manual:

24mm
35mm
50mm
85mm

[Cosimo Bullo]

The 70-210 F4 is a surprisingly nice piece of glass and with macro.

[Lenilenapi]

I recently compared my 17-35 (which is great and got me to dump a Zeiss 21mm f2.8) with a new 17-55 and was surprised to find the 17-55 even sharper and with better contrast. Only negative is my 17-35 is roughly parfocal and the 17-55 wasn't at all.

17-55 is a better length for handheld run & gun. It is G lens with no iris as is the 24-70 and I think the 70-210 (not sure on that one)

The older 17-35, 28-70 and 80-200 are also great glass, do have iris rings and at least mine are parfocal. Cheaper as well though you must buy used.

[Tomas Riuka]

i suggest looking here: http://rplens.com/products.htm

[MPB]

i've found the 24-70mm to be very useful for most run-and-gun, though i can certainly see how a 17-55mm could work better. i've also ended up using the 24-70mm for a lot of interviews, though i prefer a prime. if the director wants reframes while shooting, the farther end of the range works well. when i first got it, the action was so smooth, i could even do live zooms by hand. now, it's seen some humidity and heat, and the action isn't as predictable. the Optitek adapter allows control over the iris.

[Thomas Kist]

I have the 17-55 2.8 in combination with a Prolock. It stays on the camera most of the times when shooting docu style.
Every once in a while a 1.4 (35,50 or 85) prime for more shallow DoF. Together with the 11-16 and 50-150 2.8 this is what goes with me on a trip.

[starcentral]

The 17-35mm F2.8 is one of Nikon's finest lenses. There is plenty of overlap with the 24-70mm. My Favs all manual in F2.8:

11-16mm Tokina
17-35mm Nikon (off the top of my head I think the 17-55 is a G lens without a manual iris.)
24-70mm Nikon
70-200mm Nikon (the one with three rings, not the slider.)

Can you say for each lens listed above, which lenses extend and which ones don't? Would be great to have as reference here in this thread, especially for those planning to use on rails with other pieces on their rig. ie. mat box, etc...

Primes all in F1.4 and all manual:

24mm
35mm
50mm
85mm

I am using most of these with my F3 and absolutely LOVE the 85mm f1.4. I use it the most I'd say, that and the 50mm. Once you go wider and are shooting people the distortion and FOV starts to look less cinematic in my opinion so generally I stick above 50mm for my work (when shooting people that is).