14-24mm Quandry

I am loving the D600, and am re-evaluating the glass I have now that I'm shooting full frame. The 14-24mm f2.8 has been on my list, and I've had my eye on a refurb for a while. I love that Adorama has added the 1 year to the Nikon warranty via their VIP service, but as I was about to pull the trigger this morning that little item at the bottom called NJ Sales Tax, which I never have to deal with when using B&H or Amazon, just brought my refurb to within $100 of new. Now, I have options, such as shipping it to a friend across the Delaware in PA, but I'm now wondering if it's just not better to bite the bullet and go new. Yes, I know of other refurbs on eBay that come in at $300 under. But with this kind of investment I'd like to go with someone I know.

Not sure I'm looking for advice or just a nudge. Or just mulling things over out loud? LOL

Make sure its the glass you want as I just recently got rid of mine. At 14mm it is very wide and I personally prefer shooting at 24mm and above. I considered the 16-35mm at the time and settled for the 14-24mm second hand with no issues at all.

Bello - it's definitely something I want. I have a Sigma 8-16 DX format that lives on my D7000 for landscapes (roughly a 12-24mm in FX). I could use it in DX mode on my D600, but it's not a bright lens and limits what I can do in low light, or for things like astrophotography. And I hate losing MP's. These things hold their value so well that I wonder whether the couple hundred dollars saved buying used is worth the tradeoff on the 5 year warranty since I do not plan on selling it?

I was lucky to get mine from a colleague so knew the condition. All my other lenses were bought new.

I'd go with new at that price point for the warranty and piece of mind. I generally only offer 2/3 retail on anything used I'm interested in. If it's not a great deal, it's not worth the risk (unless you know the seller).

I am just getting the new 24-70 f2.8 to go with the 80-200 f2.8 to outfit the new D600 and I was wondering with there being such little difference in the focal range of the 14-24mm, why not just go go with the 14mm fixed focal lens? I do understand that you get that zoom capabilities but do you really notice it for such a small focal difference?

It's only 10mm difference, but there's a 20 degree difference between 14mm and 24mm, and that's a lot of territory when you get that wide. Considering that the 14mm is only $300 cheaper (about 15%) and a D series lens, it's almost a no-brainer to go for the flexibility of the zoom, and that's before I even look at what they're saying about image quality, autofocus speed, etc.

my vote, if the price is within 300 dollars for this quality of lens,, would be NEW! the delta is just not enough. This lens is produced in low volume, and not enough used copies to make the price difference enough to consider used. Serious Glass, Serious Weight, no outside filter, dangerous curve on the front element, but already reaching Nikon Legendary state, so,, super..

I am going to rent it sometime before setting up a saving account on that lens.

If you're going for an UW zoom, there is simply no comparison to anything else. I looked at the 14mm prime also, but I believe the 14-24 still gets higher marks. At that price, the prime should beat the zoom, but reviews don't indicate that. I like the 16-35 f4 too, but the 14-24 is the king. I'm holding out to see if Nikon builds the 18 or 20mm 1.8g which they submitted a patent for.

Try to do this again. (Tried to reply to this but keep having trouble with the sign in? ) The price is not my concern with my question. I do understand that there is a price difference but at this level of lens it is not a concern. what is more of a concern is the quality of the lens. So from what I am hearing is that the quality of picture is better with the zoom lens than it is with the fixed lens?

Drew Wat said:

Try to do this again. (Tried to reply to this but keep having trouble with the sign in? ) The price is not my concern with my question. I do understand that there is a price difference but at this level of lens it is not a concern. what is more of a concern is the quality of the lens. So from what I am hearing is that the quality of picture is better with the zoom lens than it is with the fixed lens?

Click to expand...

In this case, the zoom is actually rated higher than the prime, which is very uncommon.

I am surprised to hear that but in that case the zoom is what I will be going for. Thanks for all the help.