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| AF-S Nikkor 24-80mm f3.5-4.5 G ED VR FX |
Resources
Basically I didn’t know what I wanted, I knew I needed a lens that would offer auto focus and optimize light metering but I just didn’t know how I wanted to start. I knew I wanted to save my money for the manual focus lens collection so my deciding factor was my budget.
My resources, my Nikon system books did not cover modern Nikkor lenses. So I turned to Google for reviews and ultimately to Ken Rockwell and his volume of work in describing nearly all of the glass that Nikon had to offer.
After reading some of Ken’s reviews on FX lenses and purchasing my new to me Nikon D780, I originally wanted the quiver killing Nikkor 28-300mm f3.5-5.6 ED G. Great lens, awesome pics but it was expensive. I really couldn’t afford the big and seemingly bulky quiver killer that the 28-300 was so I deflected to a much more affordable and smaller focal throw of the 24-85.
Also, I had a big annual trip to Glen Canyon, a very harsh place to own and operate a nice camera. On this particular trip, it snowed, hailed, rained, the wind blew hard and we froze and it also got hot a couple of times. The precipitation kept the dust down but when we got home, everything had a coating of dust on it and the first thing I did was to do a thorough cleaning of my camera and lens
In my mind, zoom lenses are for traveling light. Your choices are made for you due to the variable focal length. At my experience level with the equipment I am using, the DSLR was my weak link and the 24-80 was a good choice.
The thing is with Glen Canyon, it’s hard to take a bad picture.
So I own the 24-80mm and it’s my travel lens for the D780. Not entirely true, in a few weeks time, I have a car trip planned past Glen and Marble Canyon, up into southern Utah to capture the rock art there. I’ll take my commercial bag of MF Nikkor lens and F mount them onto my F3 and the D780 and capture what I see there, my way.
My resources, my Nikon system books did not cover modern Nikkor lenses. So I turned to Google for reviews and ultimately to Ken Rockwell and his volume of work in describing nearly all of the glass that Nikon had to offer.
After reading some of Ken’s reviews on FX lenses and purchasing my new to me Nikon D780, I originally wanted the quiver killing Nikkor 28-300mm f3.5-5.6 ED G. Great lens, awesome pics but it was expensive. I really couldn’t afford the big and seemingly bulky quiver killer that the 28-300 was so I deflected to a much more affordable and smaller focal throw of the 24-85.
Also, I had a big annual trip to Glen Canyon, a very harsh place to own and operate a nice camera. On this particular trip, it snowed, hailed, rained, the wind blew hard and we froze and it also got hot a couple of times. The precipitation kept the dust down but when we got home, everything had a coating of dust on it and the first thing I did was to do a thorough cleaning of my camera and lens
In my mind, zoom lenses are for traveling light. Your choices are made for you due to the variable focal length. At my experience level with the equipment I am using, the DSLR was my weak link and the 24-80 was a good choice.
The thing is with Glen Canyon, it’s hard to take a bad picture.
So I own the 24-80mm and it’s my travel lens for the D780. Not entirely true, in a few weeks time, I have a car trip planned past Glen and Marble Canyon, up into southern Utah to capture the rock art there. I’ll take my commercial bag of MF Nikkor lens and F mount them onto my F3 and the D780 and capture what I see there, my way.
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| Same spot, at 85mm focal length |
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| Wide angle, 28mm |
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| Fully zoomed in with 80mm |
I really like this lens yet I prefer a prime lens to promote creativity. It seems with a zoom lens on walks I simply frame my subject then adjust the zoom to capture the best perspective. With a prime lens, I spend more time in the creative NOT just firing away at my subject. I take a little more time thinking about perspective. It does allow me to create good images yet I seem to get far fewer “favorites” out of a session.
I’ll keep it in my bag as it is a good lens, I just prefer primes or I want to prefer them. Truth is, I’m still figuring out how I want to do this. How I want to learn, how I’m going to teach myself. I’m learning by doing and I’m doing it with the Nikon system.
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| One of my favorite photos from using the 24-80mm |
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