Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Disorderly" data-source="post: 77530" data-attributes="member: 10297">First, the current 70-200mm does have VR.&nbsp; Second, as you might expect from a lens that costs 10x the 55-300mm, the quality is dramatically better in every respect.&nbsp; This is a fantastic lens.&nbsp; (I have the previous version, which also has VR.) Be aware that it's also a heavy lens; you'll feel the extra mass after shooting a little while.And one final point: you're mixing up the angle of view calculations of your crop sensor.&nbsp; A 70-200mm lens on a crop sensor camera has the angle of view equivalent of a 105-300mm lens on a full frame camera like the D800.&nbsp; Similarly, the 55-300mm would require the equivalent of 82-450mm on full frame.&nbsp; So what you're losing in zoom range is 55-70mm (not a huge loss) and 200-300mm (might be huge, might not; it depends on whether the cheaper lens gives you anything worth writing home about).&nbsp; If that's an issue, consider buying a TC-14 teleconverter.&nbsp; Adding that to the 70-200mm gives you 100-280mm, the equivalent of 150-420mm on your crop sensor.&nbsp; You lose a stop of light (max aperture of f/2.8 becomes f/4) but won't lose much quality.Just to clarify, lens focal lengths don't change between crop sensors and full frame (or smaller sensors like the J1 for that matter).&nbsp; All that changes is the angle of view, so the same focal length feels longer.&nbsp; The only difference between a DX lens and an FX lens is whether it's able to provide light to the whole sensor.&nbsp; So a 50mm DX lens (if one existed) would look exactly the same as a 50mm FX lens on a crop sensor camera, and the only difference on full frame is that the DX lens wouldn't fill the whole image area; you'd get a circle of image with a big black ring around it.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Disorderly, post: 77530, member: 10297"] First, the current 70-200mm does have VR. Second, as you might expect from a lens that costs 10x the 55-300mm, the quality is dramatically better in every respect. This is a fantastic lens. (I have the previous version, which also has VR.) Be aware that it's also a heavy lens; you'll feel the extra mass after shooting a little while. And one final point: you're mixing up the angle of view calculations of your crop sensor. A 70-200mm lens on a crop sensor camera has the angle of view equivalent of a 105-300mm lens on a full frame camera like the D800. Similarly, the 55-300mm would require the equivalent of 82-450mm on full frame. So what you're losing in zoom range is 55-70mm (not a huge loss) and 200-300mm (might be huge, might not; it depends on whether the cheaper lens gives you anything worth writing home about). If that's an issue, consider buying a TC-14 teleconverter. Adding that to the 70-200mm gives you 100-280mm, the equivalent of 150-420mm on your crop sensor. You lose a stop of light (max aperture of f/2.8 becomes f/4) but won't lose much quality. Just to clarify, lens focal lengths don't change between crop sensors and full frame (or smaller sensors like the J1 for that matter). All that changes is the angle of view, so the same focal length [I]feels[/I] longer. The only difference between a DX lens and an FX lens is whether it's able to provide light to the whole sensor. So a 50mm DX lens (if one existed) would look exactly the same as a 50mm FX lens on a crop sensor camera, and the only difference on full frame is that the DX lens wouldn't fill the whole image area; you'd get a circle of image with a big black ring around it. [/QUOTE]

Verification