Should I buy D810 kit with 24-120mm VR lens?

tylerbyun

Why they sell a kit only with this AF-S NIKKOR 24-120mm f/4G ED VR Lens.
Is this lens good for general purpose lens for travel,
Is it good enough to pair with D810 for higher resolution quality picture?
If not what's the best companion lens for D810 for landscape, portrait and wedding?
Thanks

spraynpray

Hi tylerbyun, welcome to NR.

The 24-120 VR is the ideal single lens solution for the jobs you list above, but of course there is a long list of lenses that are better for landscape or portrait.

Make sure you af fine adjust it on your body and you're done.

Pistnbroke

Well spraynpray knows what I am going to say ....I do weddings and have owned 2 x 24-120 lenses ...I used one on a wedding and it was just not long enough particularly for those ring on the finger shots ..changed for a Nik 28-300 which is the best of the three available (Sig tam Nik) Due to the reduced depth of field on FX most of your wedding shots will be at F8 particularly at the altar. For portrait which is traditionally done at about 85 mm I am not happy with the 24-120 .It has a terrible dip in IQ at 85 mm ..look on your DXO graphs....for traditional landscape which I don't do is 24mm wide enough? Sadly if you are looking at zooms the FX line up is poor the only lens giving a good IQ throughout the range is the 24-85 VR . Cheap but a bit on the short side. 24-70 even shorter. For wedding landscapes I use the Samyang 14mm which is so sharp you can just crop it to 28mm or more.
If I recall correctly Spray sent his lens back to Nikon as he was not happy and it returned "transformed"
I agree with Spray that you must with any lens have your fine focus spot on and if its a new lens check the fine focus again after about 500 shots .I recently purchased a D810 body for £1400 ..just under $2000

spraynpray

All correct there Pistnbroke. I actually have my 70-200 on my backup D7100 hanging on my other hip and that gets the ring shot or my partner does with one of his long primes so I don't count that as a fault. You are right, my copy of the 24-120 was very average until Nikon worked some magic on it. Happy bunny now though.

Personally I am happy to stitch a pano for any (very rare) wider than 24mm landscapes as I am not a fan of too wide a shot because unless they are to be be printed HUGE, one can't see enough.

Pistnbroke

Good points SNP but I stitch 14mm pics together for interiors !! Everyone to his own as long as the bank manager is happy.

TriShooter

My experience with the AF-S NIKKOR 24-120mm f/4G ED VR Lens was similar to spraynpray. Before calibrating this lens I considered it to be below my expectations from a quality perspective, even though I loved the range of the lens.

After I fine tuned the lens' autofocus using the Reikan AF tuning software, FoCal, all was fine. For whatever reason calibrating this particular lens made a huge difference in the image quality; much more of a change than I have noticed with any of my other Nikon glass. I've used it on 5 FX bodies, including the D800, and very happy with this lens after calibrating it.

Pistnbroke

I think Trishooter we must be careful not to misled some readers...you said you calibrated it ..I think you mean you set the fine focus adjust to be correct at 120mm where fine focus is most critical. What Nikon did for Spraynpray was to make adjustments to the internal computer to keep the focus adjust setting consistent through the whole range . You cannot do this yourself.
Every lens benefits from fine focus adjustment.
Sprays experience was on a D750 mine on a D810 and all my lenses were grey. If I bought a 24-120 genuine lens I would send it back and say the fine focus was inconsistent through the range and ask them to adjust.

tylerbyun

As an amateur, this is a serious upgrade for me from point and shoot to D810 with
24-120mm lens. I see mixed reviews on this lens that make me hesitate to buy.
My question is then how can I have this lens calibrated? If I do not buy this lens, my next choice is 24-70 and it is very pricey. What would you recommend otherwise?

spraynpray

To be honest, the difference between P&S and D810 and 24-120 is so huge, the difference will not be obvious to you for a long time and you can just send your body and lens to the repair centre and get it adjusted under warranty. Fergetaboutit.

tylerbyun

What if I change 24-120mm lens to 24-70mm for my D810 ?
24-70 has a very good reviews.

spraynpray

If you think the 24-70 has a wide enough range, go for it but it is a lot shorter than 120.

Pistnbroke

24-70 fine for landscapes ,fine outside a church ....no good inside . Why do you need the overlap ? Just buy the 24-120 and send it in saying fine focus varies though the range then you know you have the best possible 24-120 .You will see mixed reviews because even in pro cameras many owners don't know about FFA don't know how to do it and you will always get a surfit of complainers. The DXO shows green everywhere on the sharpness chart which is what you want .

haroldp

I have both 24-70 and 24-120. I mostly use the 24-120, remembering to close to 5.6 at 120mm, and am very happy with the results, and I am fussy.

IQ (like computer speed) is only interesting when it is not good enough. After that, other factors become important.

The 24-70 is very slightly sharper than the 24-120, but I have to be at 100% on a screen to see it and there is much more to a photograph than that. If I have to crop a 24-70 image to the 120mm FOV (or even 90mm), then the 24-120 is a lot better.

I now do weddings with 24-120, and even a DX crop gives very acceptable results.

You must focus fine tune this lens as it had the widest variation on my camera bodies of any Nikon lens I have used.

tylerbyun

Hello Pistnbroke,
THanks for the advise. I'm wondering if I have D810 fine-tuned with 24-120 lens,
then when I use other lenslater, I have to fine tune again for that specific lens ?

spraynpray

No. Every lens you get will be stored in your cameras memory and recognised when fitted to the camera. You can download the manual from the website and read it before you buy.

Pistnbroke

doing the fine tune is not a problem..In its crudest terms photograph an object at 120mm about 20 ft away ( I often use the grain on a lump of wood) at settings -20 -15 etc to +20 . You will soon see on your computer screen where approx. the best setting is . I often don't use F4 as the picture may not be sharp enough to tell ..I go for 5.6. When you have the right ball park say +10 you can lay 24 in a ruler on the floor with a pencil across it at 12 in and shoot down at about 30 deg focusing on the pencil. Study the ruler markings on your computer and adjust as indicated.You will easy see where the markings go out of focus behind the pencil and in front of it.You want the pencil in the middle. Re check after about 500 shots ..I had one 24-120 move significantly as it ran itself in during the first 500 shots at a wedding .

Nikoniser

The Nikon 24-120 is a great all purpose lens, and the bundle deal is very good and worth doing. HOWEVER I think it is a bit of a waste of a D810 if that is the only lens you ever plan to use on it, I would get a D750 as it is a better match for the lens ( not a s sensitive to lens quality and better high iso performance ) I would implore you if you get the D810 to pick up an 50mm f1.8 or a 85mm f1.8 as well, the D810 really sings with a quality prime or pro zoom on it ( brighter viewfinder, less noise, sharper pictures ) I personally use a 24-70 f2.8 on my D810 as my zoom, the Nikon 50mm f1.8 and Nikon 85mm f1.4 as my short/walkaround primes, and a Sigma 180mm f2.8 Macro and Nikon 105mm f2.8 as my portrait primes.

rmp

For me, nothing beats the 810, 24-70/f2.8 combination.

ChrisW

Before buying the 24-120 I read the following review amongst others: https://photographylife.com/reviews/nikon-24-120mm-f4g-vr
Having been using the lens on an 810 for some 12 months, mainly for landscape/townscape, I find the essentials of that review hold good. I did consider the 24-70, but its weight and dimensions pretty much rule it out for me as a walkabout lens. I have also gone for the 70-200, a comparably sized lens to the 24-70, for occasions when I need greater reach; but I don't 'walk about' with it. In terms of quality, the 24-120 doesn't shortchange the D810.

Nikoniser

Yes, that photography life review of the 24-120 is shot on a D3s, a 12 mpix camera. You can see in the 100% crops of the ISO 12233 chart he shoots he is not getting even close to resolving the center of that chart. The D810 will resolve the center of that chart in pin sharp detail, here it is on a 24-70mm https://www.flickr.com/photos/125129318@N06/19479328580/sizes/o/

tylerbyun

Thanks

Pistnbroke

Your other mind bending question is are you going to end up as a person with a D810 and a bag full of lenses ?? that's not my way ..all that juggling with lens caps in the rain etc. apart from a bad back and looking a geek ....D750 well it depends how quiet you want to be particularly at weddings , the D810 is super quiet....you will always regret being at 24 MP when you could have had 36... The lens is not the only thing determining picture quality ...if you shoot JPEG you will need to sort the picture controls as the camera comes from the factory set soft..( we can help you with that) .If a RAW shooter software is needed. from what is being said I think its buy the 810/24..120 and if not happy send it to Nikon and then enjoy.

Nikoniser

PistnBroke, The D810 is really for people who are going to be using the camera in a very specific way, and it requires shot discipline and the right lenses to get the best out of it. If you put a f5.6 superzoom on it, shoot it handheld, you will see very little advantage at all over a D750. If you put it on a tripod and shoot landscape or arcitechture with an f2.8 14-24 or a 20mm f1.8 prime it will be wonderful. If you shoot studio or product work and can control the light it is wonderful. If you shoot Macro or Wildlife outdoors in good light and want pixel density with better DR than the DX sensors it is wonderful. If you move the D810 out of its operating window which I would define as quality tripod or handheld shutter speed 2-3 times lens mm, iso 1600 and below, pro F2.8 zoom or quality prime lens, the advantages disappear and D750 does a better job ( better high iso performance, autofocus works in lower light levels, much less sensitive to a lenses as pixel pitch is lower ) , you can save money. I am not trying to be elitist, just a realist.

Pistnbroke

You forgot the OP said he wanted to do weddings..
You need a quiet D810
You cannot use a tripod
You cannot use a prime
You would get insufficient depth of field below f8 in the service
I think the D810 is the best choice for the op and then he can do all the other things you mention as well.

foxrider68

I got it with the D750 and overall really enjoy it. I would like to look into fine tuning it but for my hobby use its amazing out of the box. I love it outdoors and with lots of natural light. I also picked up an 85 1.8g and prefer that in my house. Our walls are tan and a lot of our furniture and decor is dark. I can get the exposure there but at a higher ISO. The benefits of a prime and having more than F4 standout for me indoors as I can always tell from my library just by looking which lens created the shot before going into editing. I do love the VR as well but that also doesn't help me indoors with moving kids. I would buy it all over again but I am glad it's not my only option.

heartyfisher

The 810 is an excellent wedding camera from all the reviews I have seen.. Quiet, excelent af tracking, face tracking, colours ... etc.. etc ...
the 24-120 for wedding ?? Hmm it will depend on the style of the Photog.
but the 24-120 will cover most things... however a wedding Photog should have at least 2 cameras and lenses and at least 2 people.... so that should allow for a very wide variety of styles .. so I guess you really could use any of maybe 20-30 nikkors or a dozen or so of non nikkors ..