Upgrading my D7100 kit lens.

[Horoscope Fish]

Excuse my ignorance (stupidity) how do you know if your lens is FX? and would an FX lens make any difference on a DX body? I won't be looking to move from the D7100 for a long, long time if ever.

DX lenses carry the "DX" label on the lens itself and in the nomenclature (e.g. Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR). If there is no label, it's an FX lens.

FX lenses transmit a larger circle of light, needed to cover the larger full-frame sensor of FX cameras, so when you use an FX lens with the smaller DX sensor you're using the center-most part of that circle of light. The center is considered the "sweet spot" because it's the sharpest and has the most contrast.
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[carguy]

Two lens that keep popping up are Sigma 18-35mm and Sigma 17-50mm, if anyone has any thoughts on them?

I use my Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 (non-VC) on my D7100 frequently for a walk-about lens. At under $300 (used), I find it to be a great value.

 

[hrstrat57]

I really like the lineup you have. I suppose flipping the 18-105 for an 18-140 makes sense.

My thought would be consider playing with some Nikkor Ai primes. Perhaps a wide prime might inject some fun into your kit. As we all know the value of AF is questionable in wide lenses anyway due to increased DOF.

 

[Don Kuykendall_RIP]

Excuse my ignorance (stupidity) how do you know if your lens is FX? and would an FX lens make any difference on a DX body? I won't be looking to move from the D7100 for a long, long time if ever.

I think Horoscope Fish answered this but I will add...... FX lenses tend to be much higher quality since FX cameras are much more demanding. They also tend to cost a lot more. In this case I think you do get what you pay for.

 

[salukfan111]

Might just be me but that article confused me. Found it hard to navigate and get any sense from. But thank you I'll try reading it later again hopefully make more sense of it.

When Samyung and Sigma lens are rated above Ziess Distagons something is fishy.

 

[salukfan111]

I think the key point is, if there isn't a 'walkabout' lens out there in my price range that will make a marked difference in image quality then I may be better off sticking as I am. Appreciate everyones' input.

Why don't you get a 28-85mm zoom? You will love it and the 60 dollar ebay price is hard to beat.
If you want to spend a bit more on ebay, then a 24-85VR or 35-70 f/2.8 are a bit better. Back before Lightroom and Photoshop a lot of people thought the 35-70 was quite a lens.

 

[salukfan111]

Excuse my ignorance (stupidity) how do you know if your lens is FX? and would an FX lens make any difference on a DX body? I won't be looking to move from the D7100 for a long, long time if ever.

Shoot whatever lens you want on the 7100 since it is DX they all work.

 

[J-see]

When Samyung and Sigma lens are rated above Ziess Distagons something is fishy.

It's normal that not all Zeiss score highest in any ranking. Distagons are older technology and at some levels can't compete with the quality a current Sigma or even Samyang delivers. Even the newest Milvus line only has a couple of lenses upgraded to the current standards, the others are optically the same old version and not necessarily the best lens available in those focal lengths.

 

[Horoscope Fish]

When Samyung and Sigma lens are rated above Ziess Distagons something is fishy.

The ever increasing power of technology, and the ever dropping costs of acquiring it, has leveled the playing field.

Have you *actually* handled/shot with, say, a Sigma 50mm f/1.4 Art series lens?
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[DMcL]

This deal almost seems too good to be true

Sigma 17-50mm f/2.8 EX DC OS HSM Lens for Nikon Mount Brand New 0085126583552 | eBay

Brand new Sigma 17-50 F2.8

 

[salukfan111]

The ever increasing power of technology, and the ever dropping costs of acquiring it, has leveled the playing field.

Have you *actually* handled/shot with, say, a Sigma 50mm f/1.4 Art series lens?
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Not yet. I've owned several Sigma and they weren't impressive in build quality or sharpness. The stories about the aperture blades will keep me away from buying the art lens but I would shoot someone else's (I loan out and borrow lots of lens). I sort of expect a lens should last 30 years and doubt they'll be many arts kicking around in 5 years.

I am coming around on Tamron and looking forward to their new primes. I have their 15-30mm which is awesome. If I didn't have the Nikkor 70-300 VRG and 180 f/2.8, I'd be looking into that 70-200 tamron.

 

[skater]

The ever increasing power of technology, and the ever dropping costs of acquiring it, has leveled the playing field.

Have you *actually* handled/shot with, say, a Sigma 50mm f/1.4 Art series lens?
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I haven't. But friends of ours just had a baby, and the photographer was shooting with a D800 and a Sigma Art 50mm (I asked). I haven't seen results yet other than a few on the camera display, but those looked great.

 

[Horoscope Fish]

I've owned several Sigma [lenses] and they weren't impressive in build quality or sharpness.

I could say the same about many Nikon lenses...
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[salukfan111]

I could say the same about many Nikon lenses...
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How many 30, 20, 10, 5 year old pro lens from Sigma still kicking around or showing up on ebay for sale?
Bad Nikons are easy to avoid and figuring out which to buy is easy as well. Tons of old screw drive pro glass for sale because the lens last and have good build quality.

 

[GolfTango]

I really think the kit 18-140mm is a perfect all around lens for the D7100. Much better optics than the 18-105 or 18-200mm in my opinion. Hard to beat for the value.

Arashiyama Bamboo Grove by William Lombardi, on Flickr

 

[salukfan111]

Thanks for that information. I will pick up the 18-140mm for my Father.

 

[Horoscope Fish]

How many 30, 20, 10, 5 year old pro lens from Sigma still kicking around or showing up on ebay for sale?
Bad Nikons are easy to avoid and figuring out which to buy is easy as well. Tons of old screw drive pro glass for sale because the lens last and have good build quality.

That's just flawed logic. First I'm not saying there aren't plenty of great Nikon lenses. Second, how many good Nikon lenses there are for sale on eBay really has nothing to do with anything; it certainly has no bearing on the quality of current production Sigma lenses or how many there will be for sale in, say, 10 years. I mean, if the technology needed to make these current production lenses has only been around for a few years, how COULD there be tons of these lenses for sale on eBay when they've only existed, for two?
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[salukfan111]

Horoscope
I'm sure you are correct and hopefully the lens have some staying power, maybe if any still work in 5 years I will buy one. I do plan on checking out those new Tamron primes and that 100mm Tokina I keep hearing about. I've got no problem buying third party stuff.

I'm one of those weird people that give out lens as gifts and lend camera gear to friends/family so I go thru a lot of gear. I would already have one of those Sigmas if I felt I wouldn't take a bath in 3 or 4 years if I decide to sell.

 

[DonnieZ]

Another vote for the Sigma 17-50 DC OS HSM EX.

I have one and it's a pretty solid little lens. I'm no pro, but the build quality of the lens feels good and of course you're paying for the fixed f/2.8 throughout the zoom range. I picked it up from one of the eBay sellers selling it for slightly over USD$300, I'm sure it was a gray market lens. However, the Amazon price was like $469, so I figure that was enough of a risk/reward to move forward with the eBay purchase.

The one quirky thing about it is that it zooms backwards compared to my other Nikon lenses. If you want to zoom tighter, you rotate left instead of right.

Here's a link to Jared Polin giving the lens a pretty comprehensive review on YouTube. If you don't want to sit through it all, basically he gave it an 8/10 when priced at $669 (4 years ago..) but advised to buy the Nikon 17-55 f/2.8 if you had the chance to pick one up for $150 more used. However, at $310 I think this lens is a steal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=as9YxgONIQI