Lenses that would match D800.

aiviews

Hi,

Considering the pixel rich sensor of D800, it looks difficult to pick correct lens that would optimally resolve the camera. As a matter of fact, even 24-70mm suffers. Which lens will be ideal to tap D800 to its full potential?

Thanks and happy New Year to you !

SilverLines

shawnino

In the old forum, redirector had a thread about the 135mm f/2 DC. Worth a search and read. I just got back from Antarctica and it was on my D800E more than anything else. Of course I've asked the lens to marry me, and it's incredibly silent, but I'm still waiting.

I have not read any other complaints about the 24-70, no do I own it myself.

aiviews

Hi,

Considering the pixel rich sensor of D800, it looks difficult to pick correct lens that would optimally resolve the camera. As a matter of fact, even 24-70mm suffers. Which lens will be ideal to tap D800 to its full potential?

Thanks and happy New Year to you !

SilverLines

Msmoto

Here are some of the top lenses tested by DxOMark.  The scores to the right are at maximum resolution I believe.

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 85mm f/1.4G DxOMark Score 34

Carl Zeiss Makro-Planar T 100mm f/2 ZF2 33

Samyang 85mm f/1.4 Aspherique IF Nikon 31

Carl Zeiss Distagon T 35mm f/1.4 ZF2 Nikon 30

Sigma 85mm F1.4 EX DG HSM Nikon 30

Samyang 35mm F1.4 AS UMC Nikon 30

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 24mm f/1.4G ED 29

Carl Zeiss Distagon T 35mm f/2 ZF2 Nikon 29

You can go to the DxOMark website and pull down the "Lens Ratings" menu to see a bunch of others.

I have the 24mm f/1.4 NikkorG, 85mm f/1.8 NikkorG, 135mm f/2 Nikkor and believe all of these should do justice to the D800.  Sigma has a new 35mm f/1.4 DG HSM A1 Lens which is supposed to be very sharp.

TaoTeJared

Hi,

Considering the pixel rich sensor of D800, it looks difficult to pick correct lens that would optimally resolve the camera. As a matter of fact, even 24-70mm suffers. Which lens will be ideal to tap D800 to its full potential?

Thanks and happy New Year to you !

SilverLines

Fact? $2,000 pro lens that is rated one of the best in production is not good for the D800 - No.  If you actually believe that, then there is no lens ever made that would be sufficient.  Pixel peepers and resolution focused reviewers shouldn't do lens reviews.  Bokeh, distortion, CAs, af speed, build quality I believe are much more important than 100 lines of resolution or about 1mm of print area spread out on a 8x10.

All the mid to higher end lenses look great with the D800 and are used to their full potential.  I have a serious hard time with the thought process that you need a better lens for the D800.  It is just backwards.  I think all other bodies don't take advantage of what lenses can offer and the D800 does.  The D800 didn't change anything, some lenses are still resolve more and are sharper in certain uses than others.  

It is smarter to buy a lens that you need for your work.  My 60mm macro probably resolves the best, but it is not the lens I need or could use for 90% of my work.  

macsavageg4

Hi,

Considering the pixel rich sensor of D800, it looks difficult to pick correct lens that would optimally resolve the camera. As a matter of fact, even 24-70mm suffers. Which lens will be ideal to tap D800 to its full potential?

Thanks and happy New Year to you !

SilverLines

Considering film is higher resolution than any DSLR I highly doubt the credibility of anybody that says this.  I personally have shot with lenses from the 1930s tessar clear up till stuff built brand new and it all looks good provided you know how to shoot with the lens.  My favorite way to show that this whole concept of a lens not having enough "resolution" or whatever buzzword is used, is by using my 1967 55mm f/1.2 Nikkor that had a bad bad fungal problem.  I tore this lens down and cleaned it heavily and irradiated it in UV for a couple days to kill off anything that was left.  It produces tac sharp images on my D800 and I am sure film as well.  I recently used it as one of my favorite lenses when shooting in the Houston Space Center.  Nothing like shooting period equipment with period lenses on a new camera.  I actually finally tried shooting using the distance scales on the lens with some amazingly sharp results.

heartyfisher

D800 pixel rich ?  Meh.. the D7000, D3200, D5200  has higher pixel density than the D800 ... maybe we should all get $2000 + lenses for those cameras ?

adamz

with d800 is the skill that counts not the lens as in most cases the lens is good and technique sucks. I've shot over 10k snaps with my d800 and n24-70/2.8 and will never say that this lens is not enough for d800.

adamz

OMT - d700, d3s, d300 may hide Your technique, d800 will expose it w/o any hesitation.

haroldp

I use on my D800e (All Nikon lenses) :
24-70 f2.8
24-120 f4 VR
24 f1.4 G
35 f1.4 G
50 f1.4 D
14-24 f2.8
105 f2 DC
70-200 f2.8 G VR1
200-400 f4 VR1

Every one of them does justice to the D800e when properly used (supported, focussed etc.) some need to be stopped down a little (the 50 to f4, the 35 to f2.8, the 24 to f2, the 70-200 to f4, the 24-120 to 5.6 and the 24-70 to f4) for absolute best results.

Even the 70-300mm f3.5-5.6 VR looks good when stopped down to f8.

In all of these cases, the D800e images are slightly cleaner than the D3x images (we are talking extreme pixel peeping here, casual observers would see nothing). Therefore the lens is benefiting from the extra resolution, or lack of AA filter, in either case a higher frequency cutoff.

The D800e alo gives me a 15 mp DX sensor when I need it.

Any lens will do better on a higher resolution sensor.

In recent tests, the only film that out resolved a good FF sensor (the Leica 18 mp M9), was ISO 25 monochrome technical film, and even that was close. Nobody would use this film for photo's, it is used to burn semiconductors, and has no grey scale. ISO 100 color film isn't even close. Don't even think about ISO 400 color film in comparison.

My D3x quickly showed me what was wrong with lenses that I thought were near perfect on film for years (actually decades). This is not even considering correction of lateral and axial CA in camera or post processing.

If we worry more about content, composition and technique , we will get better images. Very few of us are good enough that modern equipment is our limiting factor.

Regards ... Harold

Golf007sd

aiviews Are you in the market in getting the D800 or do you own it? What type of photography do you do? Tell us a bit more about yourself and what you intend to use the D800 for so that we can better steer you toward a lens...mostly given by those that own and operate a D800.

That aside, the 24-70 2.8 is IMHO up to any task you have in mind...you should rent one and see for yourself. Lenses and its intend usage, moreover, the results that it delivers the photographer is very subjective. Who is to say which is better...say for portrait photography...the Nikon 24/35/85 1.4G; the 85 1.8G; the 105 2.8 Macro; the 24-70 2.8, the 70-200 2.8; the 200 f/2; the 300 f/2.8; the Zeiss Makro-Planar T* 2/100 ZF.2; etc..etc. So long as you, and if you are a paid profession, your client is happy, then that is all that matters. 

aiviews

@shawnino Thank you for referring to the thread about 135mm. Hope the "marriage" would shortly become a pleasant reality. Best wishes!

@Msmoto Many thanks for your time and appreciate your reference. Best wishes.

@TaoTeJared Appreciate your thoughts. I have seen and read that 24-70 is strong between 30 - 60, wider than that, distortion and CA are heavy, longer than 60 it is softer. Good by f/5.6 ; above f/5.6 contrast starts losing by diffraction and at f/8 or higher diffraction effects set in. This forms the basis when I mentioned 24-70 suffers in D800. I agree with you that advanced bodies like d800 are supposed to extract more from lenses than its predecessors. Would you suggest d800 will make the best out of 28-300 ?

@macsavageg4 : Thanks for sharing your experience. Inspiring slice from life.

@heartyfisher : I suppose 36.3 Mega pixel is superior sensor to the ones you mention.

@adamz : Glad to have your comments and well put. Thanks. My point was d800 brings to light the limitations of the lenses used with it and even the 24-70 is not spared. There is softness around the edges at some FL/aperture settings. If the best results out of 24-70 can be derived only from f/5.6-8, then how well would lenses like 24-120, 28-300 perform with D800?

@haroldp : Many thanks for your feedback and totally agree with your words ....... "If we worry more about content, composition and technique , we will get better images".

PB_PM

@aiviews: The best corner to corner sharpness from the 24-70 has always been in the F5.6-F8 range, that has nothing to do with the D800. One can see weak boarder sharpness with the 12MP sensor of the D700, or any other modern Nikon DSLR. Each lens has a set of characteristics, and the newer higher resolution cameras do expose these shortcomings more so, if you do a lot of pixel peeping.

We have a choice as photographers, work with the imperfect gear we have, or sit around complaining about it. Personally, I prefer to work with it.

aiviews

@PB_PM. : Thanks for the post.

aiviews

Hello everyone,

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I believe I got my answer regarding this subject and would like to move on with my D800 + 24-70 + 28-300 combo.

Wishing you good light all through the years ahead and best wishes for prosperous new year.

Thanks.

haroldp

If you have the 24-70, the 70-300 VR is better than the 28-300 VR at almost any part of the overlapping range.

The 24-120f4 VR and the 70-300 VR (with D800e or D3x) are my 'light' vacation kit and cover most circumstances with some overlap so I am not constantly changing lenses.

f 5.6 is quite good with the 24-120 at all lengths and on the 70-300 up to about 150mm from which point f8 is solid out to 300 mm.

Edge / corner sharpness is worried about way too much. Unless shooting landscapes at infinity, or brick walls, the chance of anything at the edge being both of interest or in the plane of focus, rounds to zero.

Thousands of serious or professional photogs were quite happy with their 70-200 f2.8's (VR V1) until the blogosphere pointed out it's corner weakness.

I still use mine, and for the above reasons never noticed or cared about the corners.

Regards ... H

Msmoto

All the lenses have their glitches.  I shot a building with the 24mm f/1.4 G Nikkor which was back lit by the sunset.   This is a very sharp lens, but near the edges the chromatic aberration was almost shocking.  The straight lines of the dark building, the bright sky...wow.

Now, when viewed from a distance which is considered "normal viewing distance" or about 1 -1 1.5 times the diagonal of the image, one does not see any disturbing effect.  The real problem was in post processing I used a mask to pull the sky density down and the mask enhanced the effect of the CA of the lens.

So, my point is that image recording has limitations and even the very best optics have problems.  Our job, "should we take it", is to do the best we can with what we have.  The high resolution capabilities of the D800 sensor actually IMO make this easier.

Godless

All the lenses have their glitches.  I shot a building with the 24mm f/1.4 G Nikkor which was back lit by the sunset.   This is a very sharp lens, but near the edges the chromatic aberration 

Stop down just a bit, and the CA will go away..

haroldp

Capture NX2 does an excellent job of eliminating CA both axial and lateral. Since most CA is not visible as color fringing, but as a general loss in 'sharpness', this has the effect of actually improving resolution (unlike gaussian sharpening) .

That is one of the reasons I continue to use NX2 for Nikon raw processing.

I use PS CS-5 and ACR for Leica work.

Regards ... H

SkintBrit

It may be an over simplistic reply, but I would have thought that any of Nikon's Gold ring "N" lenses would be OK?

MikeGunter

Hi,

The easiest way to solve this is to look at the lens page from Nikon:

http://www.nikonusa.com/en/Nikon-Products/Camera-Lenses/All-Lenses/index.page

They have a FX limiter to show all FX lenses, too.

They should work very well with the D800.

My best,

Mike

heartyfisher

@shawnino Thank you for referring to the thread about 135mm. Hope the "marriage" would shortly become a pleasant reality. Best wishes!

@Msmoto Many thanks for your time and appreciate your reference. Best wishes.

@TaoTeJared Appreciate your thoughts. I have seen and read that 24-70 is strong between 30 - 60, wider than that, distortion and CA are heavy, longer than 60 it is softer. Good by f/5.6 ; above f/5.6 contrast starts losing by diffraction and at f/8 or higher diffraction effects set in. This forms the basis when I mentioned 24-70 suffers in D800. I agree with you that advanced bodies like d800 are supposed to extract more from lenses than its predecessors. Would you suggest d800 will make the best out of 28-300 ?

@macsavageg4 : Thanks for sharing your experience. Inspiring slice from life.

@heartyfisher : I suppose 36.3 Mega pixel is superior sensor to the ones you mention.

@adamz : Glad to have your comments and well put. Thanks. My point was d800 brings to light the limitations of the lenses used with it and even the 24-70 is not spared. There is softness around the edges at some FL/aperture settings. If the best results out of 24-70 can be derived only from f/5.6-8, then how well would lenses like 24-120, 28-300 perform with D800?

@haroldp : Many thanks for your feedback and totally agree with your words ....... "If we worry more about content, composition and technique , we will get better images".

I didnt post this section above but it appered in the comment box, I have
posted it to save someone else the troubel to retype it .. if they
would own up to it ! :-)  - Heartyfisher

Msmoto

Glitches do appear, I am certain Peter is working on the "mystery posts" 

I had a photo on PAD show as posted when I was not on the computer, nor anywhere near.

SkintBrit

Hi,
The easiest way to solve this is to look at the lens page from Nikon:
http://www.nikonusa.com/en/Nikon-Products/Camera-Lenses/All-Lenses/index.page
They have a FX limiter to show all FX lenses, too.
They should work very well with the D800.
My best,
Mike

Hehe Mike, that's even more simplistic than my response! I think the general question though was not "which lenses will WORK with the D800?", but "which lenses will do the camera JUSTICE?" There is plenty of older FF glass that I'm sure is not quite up to the mark now.

Godless

"which lenses will do the camera JUSTICE?" There is plenty of older FF glass that I'm sure is not quite up to the mark now.

I guess it´s a matter where you draw the line of acceptable image quality. 

For the most demanding pixel-peepers, I would suggest the 1.4G Trinity, 14-24 and the G series supertele primes. And some of the Zeiss glass (15mm/2.8, 21mm/2.8 and 100mm f/2.0 Makro) 

Correlli

I find it hard to believe that the resolution difference between a D800 and a D700 is so big that it requires special glass. I mean in area it is 3 times the pixels but resolution wise (one dimension) it is only 1.7 times. So something like a hair that is resolved with 3 pixels on my D700 will have 5 pixels on a D800. That does not sound that much more.

Maybe I need to get a D800 to see the difference myself - for scientific purposes only of course!