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I’m one of those photographers that thinks lenses are just as, if not more important than the camera itself.
If you can’t see, you don’t need a camera.
I built what I thought was a nice kit of lenses, then I sold it, I wasn’t thinking about the whole kit of my cameras. I was building a kit for a single camera, the D780. But I loved film and my film camera comes in two flavors, MF and AF. I just love the old AI-S lenses, metal, glass, milled markings with paint. Gorgeous, precision, hardy and works of engineering art.
I want my cake and eat it too.
I found the Nikkor Crinkle Finish lenses just what I liked.
Read on, or jump to the camera story at the bottom.
With one G lens because it is so damn good, I can’t bear to part with it.
AF-S Nikkor 14-24 f2.8 G ED FX, the only lens in my kit that’s not fully functional with the F3.
The Nikon 16mm f/2.8 Fisheye-NIKKOR AF-D is a really fun party lens and great for skateboarding or a skater vibe image set.
The AF Nikkor 20-35mm f2.8 D is a bomber architecture lens, a street photography lens, a great ultra wide angle lens.
AF Nikkor 50mm f1.4D is a great lens for pictures of people, my family and friends or a great, fast, normal lens.
The AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm f2.8 D is just about for everything. This is probably one of my favorite lenses of all time. You didn’t hear me say that…
AF Zoom Nikkor 80-200mm f2.8 ED Dual Rings MK III is a fantastic zoom. Portraits, variable lens without loads of opportunity in composition.
The AF Nikon 300mm f4 ED is an ultra sharp zoom lens for pulling in distant detail. I’m simply amazed at the distance this lens captures detail.
One favorite? Probably the AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm f2.8 D. Wait, didn’t I just say that you didn’t hear that from me? Well, I , uhh, I really like this lens. I like the perspective, build and image quality, Nearly a perfect lens except it is big and heavy. For me, that ok because it is in hand, not on a strapped camera, I’m carrying it, using it, enjoying the simplicity of photography with it.
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Anyway, I chose the Nikon D780 for a few different reasons. It uses two SD cards, has killer battery life and it’s a relatively late model DSLR. At the time of this writing, Nikon still sells it new. The D780 has the ability to use a wide variety of F-mount Nikon/Nikkor lenses both manual and auto focus. It takes 4K video and is reasonably priced. I have a really nice kit of AF lenses that is shared with my F6. It will mount any lens I own, I even use a mirror Reflex lens on it with good results. It is a camera for a lens junky like me.
Below are the lenses I started with on the D780.
I am learning so much about the D780 controls. If I want to use one of my manual focus Nikkor lenses, the F-mount is forward and backward compatible. But with my AF (auto focus) lenses above, they all just about cover the whole focal length of my MF (manual focus) lenses. The AF-S NIKKOR 28-300mm f3.5-5.6 G ED VR FX is a bag of lenses in one single lens.
After first purchasing and unboxing my D780, for my first pic, I chose the Nikkor 20mm f2.8 AIS, mounted it to the body and went outside. Taking a look at the controls, everything is different than my manual focus cameras so I just focused on our flower pot outside of our front door and snapped a pic. No wasting time or pixels, I went back inside and started reading about how to get the image out of the camera, off the memory (SD card.) Nikon has an APP for my iPhone 16pro, SnapBridge so I uploaded it to both my iPhone and iPad, dug around in the D780 menu and quickly configured the Bluetooth, paired the iPhone and ran the APP. The APP mirrored the SD card contents with a thumbnail gallery, I selected the flower pot and pressed download from my phone and boom, the image was sent to my phone. I’m in, it was easy.
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| My first quick photo after turning it on. |
This digital camera will keep my film cameras happy. I can feed them premium film and get HQ processing now. I’ll carry one or two cameras in the field, snaps with the D780 and compose with the F3 or the F6. I can share my AF lens quiver with both, If I bring the F3, I have a minimal but dedicated lens kit for it.
Also, the D780 has video capabilities so now I can start practicing shooting video, editing on my iPad. The Idea is taking shape. Just about all components are in place. I can now start planning to visit the rock art sites and studying Freemont, Anasazi and Hohokom styles, developing a body of work, images in my mind to use to paint the ideas I have.
I use two of the following SD cards, fast and lots of storage. I also use an SB-400 Speedlight flash for both night and fill. I carry my D780 without a strap most of the time by using a Lowepro Nova 1 camera bag on a shoulder sling.
Super excited to learn how to use a modern pro level digital camera.
Below are a few photographs from the D780
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ResourcesNikon D780 - Hands On Review
Nikon D780 Secrets (Ken Rockwell)
Nikon D780 Menu Set Up Guide (Steve Perry)
Nikon D780 Settings - Landscape, Portrait (Leigh & Raymond Photography)
Astrophotography for Beginners - Gear, Settings & Tips (Mallory Davis Photography)
Nikon D780 Secrets (Ken Rockwell)
Nikon D780 Menu Set Up Guide (Steve Perry)
Nikon D780 Settings - Landscape, Portrait (Leigh & Raymond Photography)
Astrophotography for Beginners - Gear, Settings & Tips (Mallory Davis Photography)
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