Built in Obsolecence

Pistnbroke

I like a wide angle ..the 14mm Samyang on the D850 is my favorite but I recently bought two Sigma 10-20mm on a 20% off from Camera Jungle and sold both on ebay for a good proffit .Then I spotted the Nikon AFP 10-20mm at a very good price . Furthur investigation shows that it wont work on my old D3200 ( I keep one camera out the safe for easy use ..I call it Crap Cam) or my low shutter count D7200 so I am thinking hey my cameras are being made obsolete. New nikon lenses will be AF-P. Going back to the D40 and up all the cameras will work with "old style" DX lenses but not now . I have been screwed by Nikon.
Where do I go before my bodies become doorstops...D3500? No good for birds . So I am stuck with either a D7500 ,20mp and one SD or a D500 again 20 MP .
Totally Screwed.

NSXTypeR

AF-P lenses aren't new, they've been around for a while. Some older bodies have partial compatibility with the AF-P lenses. I know the D7000 can meter and AF with the AF-P 70-300, but can't turn off VR. It's definitely annoying and I would call it planned obsolescence hastened by lazy updates. I think the D7100 and D7200 were both updated to include AF-P coverage and the D7000 wasn't. Nikon really ignores their DX cameras, so I'm not really that surprised. That being said, with the Z50 coming out, I think FX/DX lenses have crashed in prices and I don't mind picking up a D7500 and 70-300 AF-P later on when they discontinue DX production.

CaMeRaQuEsT

Your D7200 will be 100% compatible with your 10-20 AF-P after a firmware update. You just won't be able to turn off VR. OTH, I had a Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 that wouldn't AF in LV with my D7200, no matter what firmware the D7200 rocked, the 10-20 needed a firmware update that only an official Sigma service center could install and I am at least $100 in round trip shipping away from one. I'm sure your D3200 is still awesome coupled with many other lenses, or you can trade it up for a much better D3300 for not much dough.

mhedges

I can confirm the 10-20 does work fine on the D7200 once it has the proper firmware, although as mentioned VR is always on. I should say that the results I got with that lens were only so-so sharpness wise. Possibly due to the VR issue.

For the D7000 and the 70-300 AF-P, I think it only works with the FX version. I don't think it can AF the DX version.

NSXTypeR

mhedges said:

I can confirm the 10-20 does work fine on the D7200 once it has the proper firmware, although as mentioned VR is always on. I should say that the results I got with that lens were only so-so sharpness wise. Possibly due to the VR issue.

For the D7000 and the 70-300 AF-P, I think it only works with the FX version. I don't think it can AF the DX version.

Found it. Here's a breakdown of AF-P compatibility.

http://dslrbodies.com/lenses/lens-articles/general-nikon-lens-info/understanding-the-af-p.html

Apparently the D7000 is compatible with the AF-P FX 70-300mm, they just don't keep the same focus point. The DX 70-300 AF-P is compatible too, you just can't turn off VR as you need to dig through the menu for that. I've been thinking about picking it up, so maybe a Christmas present later on haha. I've enjoyed using the 70-300mm FX, but I found it's been weaker than I've liked in AF speed and sharpness at 300mm. Maybe I'll trade it in and get $100 out of it.

To be very honest, considering how large lenses can get for DSLRs, the 70-300 and the 105mm macro are about as big as I'm willing to go with lenses. Any larger and I feel like I'll just leave them at home.

Edit- Just as an aside, comparing the old FX and new FX lenses, seems like the newer one is 15g lighter and focuses down to 1.2m. The old one focuses down to 1.5m. The gear head in me is twitching...

mhedges

NSXTypeR said:

Found it. Here's a breakdown of AF-P compatibility.

http://dslrbodies.com/lenses/lens-articles/general-nikon-lens-info/understanding-the-af-p.html

Apparently the D7000 is compatible with the AF-P FX 70-300mm, they just don't keep the same focus point. The DX 70-300 AF-P is compatible too, you just can't turn off VR as you need to dig through the menu for that. I've been thinking about picking it up, so maybe a Christmas present later on haha. I've enjoyed using the 70-300mm FX, but I found it's been weaker than I've liked in AF speed and sharpness at 300mm. Maybe I'll trade it in and get $100 out of it.

To be very honest, considering how large lenses can get for DSLRs, the 70-300 and the 105mm macro are about as big as I'm willing to go with lenses. Any larger and I feel like I'll just leave them at home.

Edit- Just as an aside, comparing the old FX and new FX lenses, seems like the newer one is 15g lighter and focuses down to 1.2m. The old one focuses down to 1.5m. The gear head in me is twitching...

Thanks!

For the VR - Nikon promised firmware updates allowing menu controlled VR operation but they never happened. I think the D7500 is the only 7XXX camera that has it.

If you aren't happy with the sharpness of the FX version then I wouldn't bother with the DX. The DX is much worse. And it's really not much smaller. I like the FX one a lot, but I was never happy with the DX, especially at 300mm. If you want a small cheap tele zoom for DX get the 55-200 VRII version. It's really good. Super small and quite sharp.

Interesting that you say that about the focus speed of the AF-P. I've found the raw focus speed to be quite fast. But it does seem to hunt more than it should, IMO.

NSXTypeR

mhedges said:

Thanks!

For the VR - Nikon promised firmware updates allowing menu controlled VR operation but they never happened. I think the D7500 is the only 7XXX camera that has it.

If you aren't happy with the sharpness of the FX version then I wouldn't bother with the DX. The DX is much worse. And it's really not much smaller. I like the FX one a lot, but I was never happy with the DX, especially at 300mm. If you want a small cheap tele zoom for DX get the 55-200 VRII version. It's really good. Super small and quite sharp.

Interesting that you say that about the focus speed of the AF-P. I've found the raw focus speed to be quite fast. But it does seem to hunt more than it should, IMO.

No problem. I definitely agree with Thom Hogan, figuring out which bodies are compatible is maddening.

No, I would not get the AF-P DX, I'm transitioning all my lenses to FX as Nikon are likely going to support FX bodies a fair bit longer than DX bodies. I was commenting on the old 70-300 FX, I've never used the FX AF-P. Focus hunting is definitely a problem, but I don't know if that's because the D7000 is a fairly old camera. From what I hear there's a good increase in focus speed with the AF-P lenses. Seems like focus point metering issue isn't too big a deal and in theory the D7000 is 99% compatible with the 70-300 FX AF-P.

You know, I would have wished Nikon developed F mount lenses for longer. I can also imagine Nikon would never update certain lenses now, like the 200mm macro now that Z-mount cameras are out.

mhedges

NSXTypeR said:

No problem. I definitely agree with Thom Hogan, figuring out which bodies are compatible is maddening.

No, I would not get the AF-P DX, I'm transitioning all my lenses to FX as Nikon are likely going to support FX bodies a fair bit longer than DX bodies. I was commenting on the old 70-300 FX, I've never used the FX AF-P. Focus hunting is definitely a problem, but I don't know if that's because the D7000 is a fairly old camera. From what I hear there's a good increase in focus speed with the AF-P lenses. Seems like focus point metering issue isn't too big a deal and in theory the D7000 is 99% compatible with the 70-300 FX AF-P.

You know, I would have wished Nikon developed F mount lenses for longer. I can also imagine Nikon would never update certain lenses now, like the 200mm macro now that Z-mount cameras are out.

Ahh. Well then I would absolutely recommend the FX 70-300 AF-P. I think it's great. Super sharp.

NSXTypeR

mhedges said:

NSXTypeR said:

No problem. I definitely agree with Thom Hogan, figuring out which bodies are compatible is maddening.

No, I would not get the AF-P DX, I'm transitioning all my lenses to FX as Nikon are likely going to support FX bodies a fair bit longer than DX bodies. I was commenting on the old 70-300 FX, I've never used the FX AF-P. Focus hunting is definitely a problem, but I don't know if that's because the D7000 is a fairly old camera. From what I hear there's a good increase in focus speed with the AF-P lenses. Seems like focus point metering issue isn't too big a deal and in theory the D7000 is 99% compatible with the 70-300 FX AF-P.

You know, I would have wished Nikon developed F mount lenses for longer. I can also imagine Nikon would never update certain lenses now, like the 200mm macro now that Z-mount cameras are out.

Ahh. Well then I would absolutely recommend the FX 70-300 AF-P. I think it's great. Super sharp.

Thanks, I've heard a lot of positive reviews on the FX 70-300 AF-P. I'm going to wait a little while longer until Black Friday to see if there are any crazy deals.