Lens recommendation please

G

gbadgley

Active member
Hi okay, I have decided to buy the camera, and now need a lens recommendation. Up to now, I have been shooting with a Canon XL2 which had just the 20X zoom. For starters, because I'm now broke, I would like to buy just one good lens that I can have some fun with while I learn the camera. I am most interested in shooting outdoors, and I think maybe the Tokina 11-16 F/2.8 with the novoflex adapter might be a good choice. Does this work, or is there another lens that I should consider instead?

Cheers, Gary
 
The Tokina 11-16mm is a fine lens from all accounts, but as a "first and only" it seems awfully limiting to me -- it's an extreme wide angle with only a 1.5:1 zoom ratio. You can't use it to shoot flattering close-ups of people, for example. To put it another way, at its longest focal length, the Tokina is still significantly wider than your XL2 lens was at its widest angle setting. One of the lenses in the 17-55mm or so area would cover a much more frequently used range of focal lengths.

But maybe being "conventional" isn't your style at all. The question, as always, is, "what do you intend to shoot?"

Unfortunately, it looks like the free offer for the 14-140mm Lumix lens with the AF100 has expired. Although not stellar in a lot of ways, at least that lens covers a wide range, allows all the automation in the AF100 to work properly, and allows you to get started shooting right away.

- Greg
 
i agree with greg, the tokina is a great lens but is a speciality wide lens rather than one you would use for every shot - the nikon 17-55mm 2.8 is a fantastc lens with a useful range - if your budget cant stretch that far then the Tamron 17-50mm 2.8 (non vc) in nikon mount is well regarded
 
I just bought a used Tokina 20-35mm f 2.8 and am impressed with the quality of Tokina lenses. May I suggest you pick up one of the Tokinas wide zooms (Nikon mount) for landscapes, a $120 Nikon 50mm f 1.8 D for portraits and an adapter like the Voigtlander. The Nikon is sharp and bright with nice bokeh. It just feels so plasticky compared to the Tokina.
 
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The older Nikons don't feel "plasticky" and they also have an aperture ring for manual adjustment. Did you get the 14-140 deal with the cam? It truly is the go-to lens. I've done shoots where I brought all the lenses and didn't use anything but the 14-140... I also LOVE the 7-14!!! and the 20mm is incredibly clear and FAST... the beauty is that they talk to the camera too.
 
I would get the novaflex, wait off on the tokina for now (great lens, but def. not the only lens to have in your bag), and pick up some used manual nikon glass. Something like a 24mm f/2.8 (I got mine for $150 used), a 35mm (the 1.4 is a little pricy, find a used f/2 or f/1.8 DX if you are on a budget), and a 50mm f/1.4 (I got mine for $125 with film camera instead of the back cap on ebay). You could get all three for less than the tokina and have a great set. I would also consider the Bower 85mm f/1.4 as a great bang for buck portrait lens.

As for the m4/3 lenses, I am not really a fan. I have the cheapo lumix 14-42mm that I use as a variable prime outdoors for handheld when I need OIS for some low budget run and gun stuff, and have tried some other peoples 14-140mm's and Olympus lenses, and I keep finding that they really dont match up with my old manual nikkors from a usability and IQ standpoint for shooting video.
 
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Okay, thanks for all the great input. I had a hard look at the Nikon 17-55 and it's obviously a beauty, and I now have this on the shortlist.

I have another question. I see many are waiting for the birger mount for their Canon lens. Knowing virtually squat about mounts and lenses, is there any chance that I may be able to use my Canon XL2 zoom on this mount. The Canon is an L series lense with an XL mount.
 
We use the Tokina 28-80 f2.8 as our go to zoom. We also use the Tokina 80-200, Pansonic 20mm, Voightlander 25mm, Nikon 50mm, Nikon 28mm. We will soon be adding the Tokina 11-16 to the mix.
 
gbadgley said:
I see many are waiting for the birger mount for their Canon lens. Knowing virtually squat about mounts and lenses, is there any chance that I may be able to use my Canon XL2 zoom on this mount. The Canon is an L series lense with an XL mount.
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Unfortunately, no. The Canon lenses for the XL2 are designed to project a circle of light out the back that covers the area of the 1/3" image sensors in that camera. The AF100 sensor is, roughly, four times as wide and tall as the XL2 sensors, with about 16 times the area. Even if you could mount the XL2 lens physically on the camera, you'd only see a tiny little circle of an image in the middle of the screen. This is similar, but even worse, to the issues people are having who would like to use 2/3" ENG camera lenses on the AF100. With a very expensive additional optical magnifier you can do it, but the cost of that adapter equals or exceeds the price of the camera itself.

There's always been some snickering behind the scenes on the designation of that Canon XL video zoom as an "L" series lens, by the way. Normally, Canon won't even designate any of its AF-S (digital SLR) lenses as L's, and certainly the build quality and optics of the video lens fall way outside the normal limits for what the "L" badge means. About the only thing it has in common with the serious L series still camera lenses is that it's painted the same color. This has generally been regarded as basically a marketing trick to increase the prestige of the XL series video cameras.

Now I'm definitely not a snob about this -- I have about a dozen Canon still lenses (and am anxious for the Birger mount to use them on my AF100), and only a couple are L's. They're great lenses to be sure, but there are some fine gems among the non-L Canons as well, like the 10-22mm AF-S, the 100mm macro and the 85mm f/1.8. The build quality of these is not up to the weather-sealed, rugged professionalism of the L series, but the optics are way better than just fine, and the weight and cost are a lot less.

- Greg
 
Hi, okay, thanks again for all the great input. All your comments have really helped, and I do appreciate.

So, I have decided to go with the novoflex adaptor, unless someone can convince me that the adaptimax is superior.

On the end of this I have decided to go the prime lens route, hopefully purchasing some used Nikons 24mm f/2.8, 35 mm f/1.4, and 50mm /1.4 all manual I guess???

But I'm still confused as to what Nikons I should try to get as I understand it there is a DX series, an FX series, and a series for film cameras. G series and everytime I look again there are more symbols. And I understand that some of these may be good for still pictures but not cine?

Yikes!
 
gbadgley said:
Hi, okay, thanks again for all the great input. All your comments have really helped, and I do appreciate.

So, I have decided to go with the novoflex adaptor, unless someone can convince me that the adaptimax is superior.

On the end of this I have decided to go the prime lens route, hopefully purchasing some used Nikons 24mm f/2.8, 35 mm f/1.4, and 50mm /1.4 all manual I guess???

But I'm still confused as to what Nikons I should try to get as I understand it there is a DX series, an FX series, and a series for film cameras. G series and everytime I look again there are more symbols. And I understand that some of these may be good for still pictures but not cine?

Yikes!
Click to expand...

Some clarification of Nikon lens symbols
FX - For full frame still sensors (like the Canon EF)
DX - For smaller APC sized sensors (like the Canon EF-S) but fine for AF100 M/43 sensor
G - Does not have an aperture ring, need to control aperture on the AF100 through the adaptor
AF - Auto focus through the body of the camera (will not auto focus on the AF100)
AF-S Auto focus motor within lens (will not auto focus on the AF100 unless Birger make a mount in the future)
Ai - Full frame, manual focus, aperture ring (often favoured for video)
ED - Extra low dispersion glass elements to reduce chromatic aberration
IF - Internal focusing (the front lens element does not rack in and out, good for video)
Nano Crystal Coating to reduce internal lens flare
SWM- Silent wave auto focus within the lens
A good site for comprehensive listing of nikon lenses is www.photosynthesis.co.nz/nikon/lenses.html
 
Nikon AF D lenses are what you should look for. They have manual aperture rings. As nikon lenses do not communicate with af100. you need to have some kind of aperture control. This is what Nikon D lenses provide. Novoflex also makes adapters for all nikon lenses whether they do have aperture ring or not but on lenses without aperture ring you will not be able to see at what aperture you are. you will have to guess by your eye.
 
frozenlights said:
Nikon AF D lenses are what you should look for. They have manual aperture rings. As nikon lenses do not communicate with af100. you need to have some kind of aperture control. This is what Nikon D lenses provide. Novoflex also makes adapters for all nikon lenses whether they do have aperture ring or not but on lenses without aperture ring you will not be able to see at what aperture you are. you will have to guess by your eye.
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I have to disagree... You really want the manual focus primes, AI preferably. You gain no features with the any AF nikkor lens as the AF100 does not use the autofocus on those lenses, so you are restricted to manual anyway. As you have to use it manually, the mechanics of the older MF nikkors are much nicer for manual use as they are designed to be used manually. Take a AI series lens, and a AF-D lens side by side, and you will feel the diffrence. I am not bashing them, there are some great AF-D lenses that are not availible as MF lenses, and some are optically better than the older AI/AIS lenses, but if given the choice between the same lens/optics, the AI and AIS lenses are nicer to use.

note; the main diffrence between the AI and AIS lenses for the AF100 is that the AI lenses will have a longer focus throw, which I perfer for video. AIS also as some features to a few nikon film bodies, which is not relevant to the AF100 or current nikon digital cameras.
 
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