Nikon Glass

jcoxshooter

jcoxshooter

Well-known member
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.
 
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 said:
this is the lens Im looking at
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/186250-USA/Nikon_1960_AF_S_Zoom_Nikkor_17_35mm.html
Click to expand...

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
 
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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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
Duke M. said:
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.)
Click to expand...

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...

Duke M. said:
Primes all in F1.4 and all manual:

24mm
35mm
50mm
85mm
Click to expand...

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).
 
the tokina does not extend. but at the 11mm end, it's so wide that placement inside your box is a consideration.

the 24-70 extends a significant amount. in my box, care must be taken to avoid hitting the nearest filter.
 
I tested, two weeks ago, in a real hard enviromental docu work at countryside with horses + a lot dust, an Nikon 80-200 2,8 (no moded yet) with F3 Slog and it was absolut sharp, contrast and color accurate.
 
For my faster paced doc work the 17-55 lives on my camera with the Optitek adapter 80% of the time. It has a great range, is sharp at 2.8, has good focus feel for a AF lens and only extends about a 1/2 inch. The other lenses I use are the Tokina 11-16, Nikon manual focus 85 1.4 for interviews and a Nikon 80-200 2.8. If I could only own one lens it would be the 17-55.
 
Good to know about lens extensions, great info.

Also incase anyone doesn't know it and is working with non-constant aperture lenses the Sony F3 has a HANDY DANDY feature under TLCS which can be used to auto-adjust and compensate exposure when zooming through the range. I wrote about it in this thread and in my F3 blog.
 
For zooms I'm using the; Tokina 11 - 16 F2.8, Nikon 17-35 F 2.8, Tokina 28 - 70 F 2.6 The one based on Angenieux, Nikon 70-200 F2.8 and Nikon 80 - 400 F 4.5 all with Prolock adaptor.
cheers
Morton
 
28-70 extends a little bit, 24 - 70 alot. I seem to remember the 17-55 extends also. 17-35 not bad if at all and 80-200 doesn't.
11- 16 Tokina doesn't and is a great lens also. I do most interviews with 80 - 200 unless its a small room then i go with 50 and 85 f1.4's
 
All of these lenses are sharper than most cinema lenses and focus the same direction, although opposite of a cinema lens. A reversible follow focus helps with that.

The Tokina 28-70 can be a little softer wide open. I think the Prolock by Optitek is a great accessory. With it the issue of G lenses becomes more a matter of preference and style. The only thing I don't like about a G lens is you can't know exactly what F stop you're at. But then again, do you really care?

The F3 works with both full frame and DX lenses (the Tokina 11-16 is actuallyh a DX lens). DX and S35 sensors are very close in size. If you want to also use your lenses on a full frame camera (5D or D700 for example) you'll want to concentrate on full frame lenses where possible.
 
I'm using a Tokina 16-50mm DX lens on the MTF adapter. It does extend for reference. But I love this lens for the ultra wide view I can get, and I got it at a steal for under $500.
 
The 17-55 2.8 on the Opitek adapter is an excellent handheld choice. However. Operating the lens with a matte box reqires a bellows adapter as the extension is approx 1/2 inch. I simply use the supplis lens hood and an Arri follow focus as the lens' focus is too rough. The Duclos 11-16 also has a small extension and reqires a donut. I found a cheap rubber lens hood with a 70mm friction mount works better. Of course you give up the ability to add a filter in front of the lens, but it's a lightweight solution for handheld work,
 
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