Hello Peter,
Thank you for the detailed postings. I appreciate you taking the time to help me out. The 35-70 range may sound (to me) as being a non-exciting zoom range, but it is a very useful general purpose zoom that could be the only zoom needed for most applications. As you have correctly commented on which type of lenses I like, I seem to have been preferring prime lenses since I switched from SLR to RF cameras. When I was using Canon FD cameras, my workhorse zooms were 28-50 (NOT the inferior 20-55) and the 80-200/4. I had separately a 24/2.8 and a 50/1.4 for certain uses here and there. Now I am (maybe) back to using SLR cameras, so maybe zooms get back in fashion with me. I will go over the material shown via the link that you have provided us.
I hardly ever take photos in dark scenes, so I have never really given cameras with high ISO sensitivity any extra points or value. I don't go out anymore at night to take photos of night scenes. I don't frequent clubs or bars or meetings at night. I don't anymore shoot weddings. Hm. I am really a basic daytime photographer where ISO 160-320 covers almost any type of situation for me.
Thanks!
Raid
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Peter said:
(1) Raid if you do eventually go down the path of buying an AF lens and ever do opt for a zoom (though I suspect you may be more of a prime lens kind of guy) I would advocate seriously considering the Nikkor 35-70mm f2.8 AF D.
This lens is excellent and until not too long ago was regarded as the general purpose shorter zoom lens for Nikon using pros. I have seen pixel peeping comparisons with the latest 24-70mm f2.8 AF and it is within a tiny whicker of being as sharp as it. As a walk-about lens it is hard to beat. Best of all these days it can be bought for a song. If I take my Nikon D700 on a holiday and I want to reduce weight and size this is the lens I take instead of say a 24-70mm f2.8 AF lens which is much bigger and heavier and not noticeably better in use (though technically better for pixel peepers).
https://www.imaging-resource.com/len...nikkor/review/
If you buy the Nikkor 20-35mm f2.8 zoom, the Nikkor 35-70mm f2.8 zoom and the Nikkor 80-200mm f2.8 AF zoom you have a superb set of fast 1990s era lenses for the D700. Maybe at a cost of perhaps one quarter of the cost of newest equivalents. If your spine can handle it - they are heavy.
Other non pro lenses of the same vintage can be had for even less - almost pennies. The Nikkor 28-85mm f3.4 - 4.5 comes to mind. I have long liked this lens which though not quite so good as the above lens has a more useful zoom range. It can flare badly if the sun is position wrongly. That is about its only sin.
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Peter M
(2) Raid congratulations. The D700 is still my main DSLR and I have never felt obligated to upgrade to a newer model. Its pixel count is modest but enough for my purposes (though I would like more to have more detail available for cropping or for landscapes etc where a lot of detail can be found in the images) and its dynamic range is still good by today's standards though it is wise to keep its sensitivity to below 3200 ISO - it does not compete well in the latter respect compared to today's latest crop of cameras. Which is plenty for me. It is a fine camera and well worth owning.
I often shoot with legacy lenses on my D700. I have never really had problems focusing with a D700 though it does not have a focusing screen designed specifically for this purpose. In fact I am not even sure if the focusing screen can be swapped out (as it could be with some Nikon AF film cameras). I have not checked.
Instead I tend to rely to some extent on the magic green dot visible in the viewfinder. This is the dot which works with Nikon AF lenses to signify that the camera has found focus with an AF lens. It works equally well with non chipped manually focused lenses. I have never had a problem with this system and since as it is working off the image that has passed though the lens and is hitting the sensor (and AF module) then it should be accurate. If not for some reason I believe that just as with AF lenses you can use this menu option to adjust the in-focus indication for that manual lens. (You may wish to check this as I have not tried as I have never needed to - its what I have been told). Of course this means you need to also "tell" the camera which lens you are using at any time but this is also easily done in the relevant menu as this allows you to select the focal length and max aperture to record in the metadata recorded for images shot with that lens. I believe the camera then knows to apply any focus confirmation correction to that lens when it knows you are using it. (Check this also). I actually prefer this system to focus peaking which I find invariably still requires enlargement of the image in the finder to check critical focusing as focus peaking often is approximate not highly accurate. Whereas the green dot it either in focus or out of focus and you can tell immediately which applies with no guesswork
Disadvantages - only few. First, it's a fairly big camera especially with a battery grip. Second, it has no image enlargement or focus peaking as with mirrorless cameras due to its optical finder and third, using the rear LCD to shoot is clunky for live view due to the presence of the mirror. I find this best reserved for tripod use.
As to the lenses. They MUST be either AI or AIS (or AI converted from non AI) lenses. Do not mount a non AI lens on the D700 as it has a mechanical aperture follower which can jam and be damaged by a non AI lens if one is mounted. Other than this pretty well any Nikon AU or AIS lens work brilliantly with this near pro camera. BTW it is easy for anyone with basic skills to make the AI conversion of a non AI lens. The instructions are readily found on the internet.
I own and use all of the lenses you mention (sometimes more than one version of specific lenses) except the 21mm lens and they all work perfectly. Some like the 105/2.5 are classics of course.
BTW Always shoot RAW. Though Nikon makes a reasonably good job of processing its JPGs, the D700 as a prosumer camera begs to be shot in RAW mode. It follows that if shooting B/W I process the coloured image on my PC using editing software to convert to mono.
PS Other good lenses to try are the 35mm f2 (early version but converted to AI is the one I prefer due to its lovely rendering, 28mm f2 (ditto), 85mm f1.8 (ditto), 85mm f2 (Under rated and less desirable than the 1.8 version but still better than its critics say), 105mm f1.8 (If you do not mind the expense and the weight it is lovely performer), 135mm f3.5 and f2.8 (Pretty well any version is nice though I like the earlier Sonnar lenses where you have that option, 200mm f4 (The earlier bigger one has nice rendering but technically the redesigned later and smaller one is better nd also renders beautifully). Any number of MF zooms are good too. The ones I have experience of include the 100-300 f5.6 which is universally regarded as excellent though it never really took off in the market, the 28-45 f4.5 which renders nicely though only moderately sharp and the 35-70mm f3.5 which is regarded as the pro precursor to the justly famous 35-70 f2.8 AF lens all come readily to mind.
If you want advice on AF lenses I can help you there too.
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Peter M
