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Hi all, long time lurker here, just about to purchase a D200. Have been around to all the city stores and it feels and looks good. My question is I have an F4 and 35-70mm f2.8 and a manual focus 20mm 2.8. I would like to buy one lens as a primary walk around lens, either the AFS DX 18-70mm f3.5 - f4.5 or the AFS DX 17-55 f2.8. The other choice is the AFS 28-70 2.8. I think the 35-70 wont be wide angle enough on a digital camera, so thinking maybe start with the 18-70 as I would prefer one lens mainly to walk around with. Is the 18-70 a good lens or garbage? I will pay the extra if required, but would prefer to start cheaper while getting used to digital. Everyone in all the camera stores said the 17-55 is much better and I should get it, but I think they would say that given the price difference.

Thank you for any help


Neil

Neil

The 18-70 which you'll often seen referred to as the "kit" lens came standard with both the D70 and D70s. It's an excellent quality lens. For me though I fairly quickly replaced it as my kit lens with the 24-120VR for the greater zoom and the benefit of the Vibration Reduction. Now I've replaced the 24-120 VR with the 28-70 f2.8 which is better still (and with a price to match).

If you decide to settle on the 18-70 keep an eye out since mine will be up for sale sometime next week.

There's a great 17-35/17-55DX/28-70 debate going on in another thread. All of these are significantly better than the 18-70 DX (and at ~5 times the price, you'd expect them to be). I have the 17-55 DX and it's great, and I'm sure those with the other two will say similar things. Depends what your shooting needs/wants are!

Thank you Peter and MCWB for your quick response. I have seen the debate between the 2.8 lenses, which is one of the reasons I wanted to try at the bottom end as there is some confusion on wether Nikon will keep the APS sized sensor or go full 35mm sensor. I do not want to buy something which will be outdated soon. I also think for inside work I will use the 35-70 2.8 and forego the width.

Peter, I assume the 24-120 is the AF-S VR 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED ? Is it a good lens? Is the VR a gimmick?

Is the 18-70 ok to start with? Peter you changed, anything you hated about the 18-70?

Thanks again for any information.


Neil

Neil,

If you're worried about Nikon potentially moving to FF in the future, you need to ask yourself a couple of serious questions.

First of all, you're going to be acquiring a D200. If Nikon moved to FF in the relative short term - say 18 months - what would you do? Upgrade? Stay with the D200? Have one of each?

Your apprehension is somewhat reasonable, as the DX lenses don't work too well on the FF cameras, whereas pretty well most non-DX lenses will be happy on your F4 as well as any digital.

But you mention obsolescence: if that concerns you, do not even consider buying digital, as the cameras are outdated before they even come to market. That said, the Nikon DX sensor will be around for quite a long time to come: the D200, plus the yet to be announced D80 will ensure they're here for several years yet.

Consider your photographic needs and use that as your guiding light, rather than what might, or might not, be available in the marketplace in 18 months or more time.

At the moment, my arsenal of lenses for my D70s are: Tokina 12-24, Nikkor 50/1.8, Nikkor 80-200/2.8. I still have my 18-70, and I doubt I will sell it any time soon because IMO it is an excellent quality lens for the price. I still dig it out for when I need one lens for photographing social events as you can get a decent wide-angle, and portrait lens in one.

I have tried out a 17-55, and to be honest, I didn't really notice any great differences in image quality. The focussing speed is similar. The 18-70 is much smaller and lighter. The wider maximum paerture of the 17-55 would be quite useful if you need it, of course. That would be the deciding factor. If you think you want the extra stop or two of aperture, then go the 17-55.

The 28-70 is by all accounts a very very good lens, but I have not yet tried one out for size. I think it would be just not quite wide enough at 28mm for me (I like wide angle lenses!!)

There are a number of wide-midrange zooms out there that would serve you well. I have owned a number of them from Sigma and Nikon. If you are on a tight budget and don't mind buying used, I'd recommend you give serious consideration to the kit lens (which I've used but don't own) or the AF-S Nikkor 24-85 f3.5-4.5 ED IF (which I do own). It is simply superb. Another one I use and like is the Sigma EX 24-60/2.8, a sleeper that is very sharp wide open and performs consistantly throughout its range. It's not the lens for everyone but it is always in my bag.

Thank you Gary, Des and Mike. You are very right Gary about not buying a digital camera if I am worried about obscelesence, but it seems that everyone wants to stop making film cameras, so I have to move. It sounds like I will be ok with a AFS DX 18-70 and can then work out where to go from there. They seem to be quite cheap at many places and as Mike said I may start second hand after I get the body, that way the loss will be less if I choose to upgrade. I will keep on reasearching and thanks very much to everyone for their help.

Thank You

Neil