My gear:
Lenses
NIKKOR 15mm f/3.5 AIS
NIKKOR 18mm f/3.5 AIS
20/1.8S
NIKKOR 20mm f/2.8 AIS
AF-S NIKKOR 20mm f/1.8G ED
24/1.8S
NIKKOR 24mm f/2.8 AIS
PC-E NIKKOR 24mm f/3.5D ED
26/2.8
NIKKOR 28mm f/2.8 AIS
AF NIKKOR 28mm f/1.4D
28/2.8 (SE)
AF-S NIKKOR 28mm f/1.4E
35/1.8S
40/2.0 SE
Voigtlander 40mm f/2.0 Ultron SL II
50/1.8S
50/1.2S
NIKKOR 50mm f/1.2 AIS
NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8 AIS (Japanese Version)
AF-S NIKKOR 50mm f/1.4G
58/0.95S Noct
AF-S NIKKOR 58mm f/1.4G
NIKKOR 58mm f/1.2 AIS (Looking to buy)
AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8
85/1.8S
85/1.2S
AF-S NIKKOR 85mm f/1.4G
AF NIKKOR 85mm f/1.4D
NIKKOR 85mm f/2.0 AIS
NIKKOR 85mm f/1.4 AIS
NIKKOR 100mm f/2.8 Series E
AF-S NIKKOR 105mm f/1.4E
NIKKOR 105mm f/2.5 AIS
NIKKOR 105mm f/1.8 AIS
AF DC-NIKKOR 135mm f/2D
NIKKOR 135mm f/2.8 AIS
NIKKOR 180mm f/2.8 AIS
AF Micro-Nikkor 200mm f/4D IF-ED
NIKKOR 200mm f/4.0 AIS
AF-S NIKKOR 400mm f/2.8E
NIKKOR 400mm f/5.6 AIS
AF-S Fisheye Nikkor 8-15mm 1:3.5-4.5E ED
AF-S NIKKOR 14-24mm f/2.8G ED
AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8E ED VR
AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8E FL ED VR
Cameras
Z9 (2)
Z 7ii (2)
D850
Z fc
D800
I will be replacing the 14-24 2.8G, 24-70 2.8E, 70-200 2.8E, 20 1.8G, 24 3.5PC, 50 1.4G, 85 1.4G and 400 2.8E with the 14-24 2.8S, 24-70 2.8S, 70-200 2.8S, 400 4.5S and 400 2.8TC in the next month or two.
Like any first love, and like most memories that time has slowly worn away, my greatest sentiment is for the FM3a. Back then, I got lenses for it on e-bay like the 24/2, 35/2, 50/1.8 and the great 105/2.5. Yes, the very lens that Steve McCurry used for his most famous portraits. As time went on, I had to honestly admit that this beautiful camera would be a dust collector in my hands. And that would be a shame, so I passed it on.
At the moment, I probably still have the strongest emotional attachment to my D500. This is despite the fact that I already shoot with a Z9. It's just a camera that has been through a lot with me. And it has never let me down! Would you believe I've never had to clean the sensor on it? Just a maintenance-free workhorse.
I gave my last DSLR away last year, so these days just shoot a Z7II. Currently with 3 Z mount lenses (14-30, 24-200 and a Voigtlander 40 f/1.2) and 2 F mount (70-300E and 50 f/1.8 G - which I've not replaced with a Z 50 mainly because it's not a focal length I use that much). Will expand this set gradually (longer being the obvious way), but not feeling any great rush at the moment.
Another OVF devotee here... only a small kit compared to others:
D500
10.5mm f2.8 DX Fisheye
12-24mm f4.0 DX
18-140mm f3.5-5.6 DX*
70-200mm f2.8 VRII
105mm f2.8 Micro AF-D
80-400mm f4.5-5.6 AF-D
TC14 II
*to be augmented/replaced by 24-70mm f2.8G when the savings allow:)
Keep up the great work, Photography Life!
Always an excellent read!
I have several different, mostly old Nikon Bodies and a decent amount of lenses for everything. D50, D300, D3, V1s, V2, J1, J5 and the newest is a Z50.
@jeff WOW, I thought I had a big lineup. That's impressive! LOL
www.photographic-central.blogspot.com
The D7100 Got me into photography and I absolutely loved it.
Changed to a D810 when moving to full frame but eventually switched over to mirrorless due to wanting a lighter kit.
Started with the Z6 and now have the Z7. I love these cameras and personally I prefer the EVF myself but I still miss the handling and extra customisation of the D810, I even miss the memory banks over the PASM dial though I'm probably in a minority there!
Current set up is :-
Z7 Just about perfect for landscapes, not so good when it comes to Fast wildlife, really interested to see what the Z7iii or Z8 might offer.
Z 24-120 F4 S
Z 100-400 F4.5 - 5.6 S
Z 24-200 F4 - F.6.3 ( perfect for lightweight hiking)
Z 17-28 F2.8 (This is my newest aquisition and I love it. Much prefer it over the 14-30 f4)
D500
D90
D40
Lovely colours from the D40, so light, so easy to use. With the 35mm f1.8 DX lens it goes everywhere with me.
My first "real" cameras were an F3 and soon after an F3HP, plus a 50mm f1.4, a 28mm f2.8, and an 80-200 f4.5. I was living overseas and shooting a lot of travel photos (I have thousands of slides), and I used these cameras until about 1998. For business purposes, I started buying the "new" digital cameras. My first one was an Olympus D600-L, which I suppose was "the latest" at that time, but I remember not liking it all all. Then came the Coolpix 950, then the Coolpix 5000.
My first DSLR was the D70s, which I got as a kit in Best Buy in 2005 with the 18-70 kit lens. I didn't much like the D70s either, and I confess that when it came out I didn't fully understand that it wasn't a full frame sensor. I didn't do much hobby photography at that point, and just ended up with a series of Canon compacts, which were easy to carry around and which meant I'd at least take more family photos. My favorite compacts were my last two: Canon G7X II and Fuji X30. I haven't used the G7X in several years, but I still occasionally use the Fuji X30 because it has a lot of cool features and the color is terrific.
In 2017 I came back to photography with a new passion. I got 5 cameras over the next 5 years, plus a lot of lenses. My first was the Coolpix P900, later replaced by the P950. Yeah, I wanted to take moon photos and other very long distance shots. These cameras are incredible fun and I still use them a lot. After a year with the Coolpix, I got a D7500, then as I came to love bird photography so much, I got a D500 mainly because of its AF system. I use it mostly with my Sigma 100-400 or 150-600. I use my D7500 with shorter lenses, macro, astro etc. I have a lot of FF lenses, especially my Nikkors from the 1980s, so I got intrigued with being able to use them on a FF camera. I read of all the love for the D700 and found a perfect and barely used one a couple of years go at a fantastic price. I absolutely LOVE the D700, the images are very different from my other two cameras, and I like everything about the D700 except perhaps the weight. I also love the layout of the physical camera controls, and the only fairly new camera that resembles it is the D500. But I wish all cameras had the button layout of the D700. I use it for a lot of different purposes, but mostly landscapes.
Final comment: All my Nikon cameras and lenses still work perfectly. I remember when I bought my F3's Nikon claimed the LCD on it would work for at least 10 years. Well, still working 42 years later! I love the construction of the old manual lenses. They're mostly so small and lightweight, so beautifully made. I even bought a few more of the 1980s manual lenses when I found great deals on them so at this point, I think I went overboard with them.
It would be fun if our user profiles had a way to list all our equipment like was on DPR!
Z 17-28 F2.8 (This is my newest aquisition and I love it. Much prefer it over the 14-30 f4)
@maranoblet Can you tell what you prefer about the 17-28 f/2.8? I plan to get a ultra-wide zoom in the (near) future, and while I tend to the 17-28, the 14-30 is still an option.
My current Nikon setup consists of:
Nikon Z6
Nikon Nikkor Z 14-30mm f/4 S
Voigtländer 35mm f/2 Apo-Lanthar Nikon Z version
Nikon Nikkor Z 50mm f/1.8 S
Nikon Nikkor Z MC 105mm f/2.8 VR S
Nikon Nikkor Z 400mm f/4.5 VR S
Nikon Nikkor Z TC-1.4x
However, I still own quite a few lenses from analog times and adapt them, as well as the matching analog bodys for it.
Canon New F-1 AE
Canon nFD 20-35mm f/3.5 L
Canon nFD 85mm f/1.2 L
Canon nFD 135mm f/2.8
Canon nFD 200mm f/2.8
Novoflex NIKZ/CAN Adapter
Mamiya 645 Super + AE Prism-Finder
Mamiya 645 Sekor C 80mm f/2,8 N
Mamiya 645 Sekor C 150mm f/3.5 N
B.I.G. Mamiya 645 to Nikon Z Adapter
and additionally some old M42 optics of my father, with which I started photography in the late 70s.
Pentax Spotmatic II
Ricoh TLS 401 Dual-Viewfinder
Auto Rikenon 28 mm f/2.8
Pentax SMC Takumar 35 mm f/3.5
A. Schacht Ulm M-Travenar 50mm f/2.8 R
Auto Rikenon 55 mm f/1.4
Carl Zeiss Jena 58 mm f/2 Biotar Q1 Pre-Set
Vivitar Series 1 70-210mm f/3.5 VMC Macro Focusing Zoom
Enna München Tele-Ennalyt 300 mm f/5.6
Novoflex NIKZ/M42 Adapter
love the lightweight
It's cracking for astro (not that I do much of that)
67mm filter size instead of the 82mm of the 14-30. I use Kase circular filters and you have to use 95mm filters to avoid vignetting which are huge on my 24-200 that has a 67mm filter thread. I now use 77mm filters across the lenses.
F2.8 helps you get a bit more creative. And is better for internal /low light shots (but 17mm isn't as good as 14mm in that respect)
I can't see any real discernible difference optically between the 14-30 and this lens (not a pixel peeper though)
I hated the collapsible feature of the 14-30 and the 24-70 though it's probably a daft reason not to like the lenses.
Very close min focus
Autofocus seems on par to me.
Miss not having a M/A switch though.
I can't see any real discernible difference optically between the 14-30 and this lens (not a pixel peeper though)
As a certified pixel peeper, I can confirm your findings! In the lab, we measured the 17-28mm f/2.8 and 14-30mm f/4 to be very similar in sharpness - the two lenses each had their better and worse areas, but they were comparable overall.
Thanks for your detailed answer! So basically, the only reason to get the 14-30 are the 3 extra mm on the short end. I think I'll stick with my plan and get the 17-28 as soon as the good sales come up.