Lens recommendations for M2 "Nikon mount"

O

Orangemoon

Member
The M2 is ordered and I expect month or so to go. I'd appreciate any recomendations for Nikon-mount lenses to get me started...perhaps a standard collection (non-zoom qty.3 or 4) needed for distances appropriate for "inside" house shoots and street scenes.

Thanks!
 
Welcome Orangemoon. This is one of those questions that gets asked quite often. There are lots and lots of threads regarding different lens sizes and whatnot. Don't be afraid to use the search feature, chances are it will save you some time instead of waiting around for someone to answer your thread. But anyways, here are two links to get you started:
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=65608&highlight=35mm+Lenses
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=67615&highlight=35mm+Lenses

Yes, those links look the same, but they do lead to two different threads. Just incase anyone was wondering.
 
I'll paste my standard Nikon lens rant :)


Any Nikon lens that lacks a proper aperture ring is "junk glass". IE, they are consumer lenses and should generally be avoided unless you just don't have the money for a better one. That said, junk primes (phoenix, and a few other brands) usually perform nearly as well as the best zooms.

I personally almost never shoot stills with the manual aperture ring (except when using my AIS 50mm f1.4), but the WHOLE point of a Nikon F mount is that it preserves your historical investment in the best Nikon glass, as opposed to Canon which chose a design that, although faster focusing and better for sports and action, requires full replacement of all your old Canon lenses. So, in theory at least, I could use any of my assortment of Nikon professional lenses with an old FM, FG or FE still film body.

Nikon has always had the absolute best glass (and Canon has usually had better camera systems).

For cinema use?

The BEST Nikon glass is a FRACTION of the cost of cinema lenses. And I shoot a 12MP D2x... trust me, as a practical matter, the quality of PROFESSIONAL Nikon glass is certainly well beyond what HD (2k or 4k) will require.

1) Stick to Nikon. Old AIS lenses are cheap (relative to cinema lenses). Stick to (or at least look for) AIS lenses. They come from a time before Auto focus, so they are designed for manual operation.

2) Don't buy junk (ie consumer) lenses.

3) The Nikon 50mm f1.8 is a consumer lens. Instead consider the Nikon 50mm f1.4 AIS lens? It's cheap, like $125? And a f1.2 is what? $350? This is NOT the place to save money.

4) Don't buy zoom lenses with a > 2.5:1 or 3:1 zoom ratio. IE 80-200mm (a good lens) is the max. A 28-200mm (not good, too much zoom ratio) will NEVER give the same sharpness, nor as wide an aperture, and will almost always vignette. Vignetting is less of an issue with partial frame sensors, still... You spent $6500 for the HVX and M2, it makes no sense to save $400 in your lenses, especially since glass is still the single most critical component of image capture.

5) Don't buy zoom lenses with a variable maximum aperture. Example: 80-200 AF ED f2.8 is good because it is capable of f2.8 from 80 all the way to 200mm. Avoid anything where the f stop is listed with a range, ie f4-5.6. They are consumer lenses, and the glass is just never as good.

6) If you need a true cinema zoom, RENT ONE, because 35mm lenses seldom hold focus across a zoom. Some few do. I have an OLD Nikon AF 35-70 (I think) that holds focus. But the internal slop makes the focus imprecise, and therefore, not reliable, or repeatable, ESPCIALLY at shallow DOF where it becomes nearly useless as a zoom.

7) If you are considering using 35mm lenses, buy a 35mm camera and learn to use it. Its cheap, and takes little more than your time. A nikon FM body is like $250 and film is still $10 a roll (developed). Make the effort to learn your lens systems. It will pay off.

Why on god's green earth would someone try to save money on afforsable $1000 and under Nikon lenses when the camera (RED) is $15k and up???? An HVX w/ P2 and an M2 is $7500. It makes not much sense to me.


EDIT: Tried to make it more clear and understandable.
 
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your rant is confusing, i cant tell whether you recommend something or dont recommend something, can you clear it up a little bit?
 
Sorry. Here are my recommended lenses:

1) Nikon 50mm f1.4 AIS (manual focus. Buy it used. ~$150. This is the preferred basic lens for M2 users.

2) Nikon 80-200mm AF-ED f2.8 ~900 new. (You dont need the AFS.)

3) Nikon 35-70mm AD f2.8 ~$350 used (this lens is out of production, but it's the one you want).

4) 15-30mm Zoom, Nikon or Sigma. I have the Sigma 15-30mmm. fstop is less critical on the wide lens.

Also, possibly:
Nikon 24mm f2.8 AIS (manual focus. buy it used. Not sure the price, but I think cheap, or maybe its the 28mm thats cheap.). This would be handy because it weighs less, and probably has a wider aperture than the wide zoom.


Those are pretty much all the lenses you REALLY need.


More info in the second linked thread above.
 
omg, 900 bucks!

I am going to buy better lenses very soon for our nikon mount, but looks like its not going to be AS soon. Need to just find that one great deal ya know!
 
Hey Cynic, not sure where you get your lenses from but have you tried keh.com? They seem to have a pretty good selection and some good prices.
 
ya, i saw KEH.com Sam Edwards recommended me there when i got the M2 from him. Great site. Right now we dont have any immediate use for the M2, so we just picked up 4 Nikon Series E lenses. A 35mm 2.8, 2 of the same 50mm 1.8 and a 100mm 2.5. Combined they were like 110 bucks after shipping.
 
Cynic821 said:
omg, 900 bucks!

I am going to buy better lenses very soon for our nikon mount, but looks like its not going to be AS soon. Need to just find that one great deal ya know!
Click to expand...

KEH is a great source (I never saw before).

They have that $900 lens for $450 -$600 used.
 
Don't forget to buy the 17-35 2.8 Nikon. Superb lens, nice and wide. Get it off ebay used. The Nikon 14mm 2.8 is good as well.
 
If you have the step down ring to put on the front of the HVX and the M2 adapter, then yes, you can use Nikon lenses, but njot right on the camera. :)
 
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