In the beginning I couldn’t understand the importance of having a lens that could capture more light. Why should I spend the extra couple hundred dollars for a feature that would just take in more light? Little did I understand then, that makes a huge difference. Further proof came when I was trying to shoot in-door concerts and I was getting shutter speeds of 1/10^th of a second and lower, zoomed out at 200mm and hand holding: almost all the shots were blurry and unusable. So when I got the opportunity to use these various f/2.8 lenses, I was finding I was getting shutter speeds of 1/50^th and above which makes getting clearer shots via hand holding a more achievable task. Also even if I was primarily going to be shooting in day light or areas that have more light, I still would get f/2.8 lenses because being able to take in more light, even in daylight, can allow capture speeds of 1/500^th and even 1/1000^th and above! That translates to being able to take quicker burst shots and a higher chance of capturing the “Kodak” moment.

Another important feature when I’m considering another lens is if the lens has “ED“, or extra low dispersion glass(es). This makes a huge and noticeable difference in the quality of the images. When I’m using an ED lens versus a “standard” lens, I find that the ones taken with an ED lens are so much clearer, sharper, and the colors are much more vibrant. Of course this further drives up the cost by another few hundred dollars, but well worth the cost if sharp, vibrant colors are important to you.

Internal Focus, or IF, isn’t hugely important to me, but I do like it. Basically IF does two things: (1) the front focus element doesn’t move forward or backwards and; (2) in most cases, the length of the lens stays the same regardless of what focal length you’re using (obviously this applies only to the zoom lenses and not fixed focal lenses). I do like some of the newer (and some older) AF-IF lenses in which the focus ring doesn’t even spin at all (see picture).

My Next Lens(es)?

Here are a few lenses I would seriously consider (and I would buy them only if: (a) I was making a lot of money; or (b) I was actually making money off of images I take) purchasing and using on top of the lens(es) I already have. This list is constantly changing due to new releases and/or improvements.

Nikkor AF 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6D ED VR

This has a great focal length and relative portability. The type D glass is nice and the ED glass is also great. The body seems solidly built. The major issues is that the auto focus is slow and the f-stop doesn’t make a good action lens. The VR is nice, but comes at a cost of faster auto focusing. It would be nice to spring for the Nikkor AF-S 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF VR, but unfortunately, that lens is WAY huge and does not make it a very practical bring along lens. What I would most likely use a lens like this for is in-door concerts, but unfortunately with a f/4.5-5.6, I probably won’t be getting that great of shots. Never the less with this excellent zoom range, I could still use it for many other occasions such as being on a pier and trying to get that sweet spot shot of a bridge. The pricing for the lens isn’t horribly bad either, ~$1300-$1600

Nikkor AF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G IF DX VR

I once thought this was the only lens I would ever need, although I don’t entirely feel that way anymore. I would still love to have this as one of my lenses, but not my only one. It does have a GREAT focal range, from 18mm to 200mm and it’s quite compact also. It also has ED glass, so the clarity and sharpness is top notch. The price is also real attractive, ~$750, especially for what is jam packed into this lens. The major draw back is that its a f/3.5-5.6. I’m sure I could get some excellent shots of in-door concert performances with this guy. My only gripe is that this lens isn’t a f/2.8.

Canon?

As some of you may have heard or read, I’ve made the switch from Nikon to Canon. For the reasons of my switching, you can read about it further on my Canon page. You can also find various topics, Canon lens reviews, and more up-to-date information on that page also.

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Tags: Canon, Nikon, Nikon D100, photography

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