About to switch to Nikon.

Evening all,
I'm about to make the change from my Pentax K5 to a full frame camera and right now the D800 is leading the list.
My initial kit will probably be a wide-angle zoom, a nice 50mm, and a 70-something telephoto.
But before I go and drop some serious coin on the Nikon 17-35mm f/2.8, is there any alternatives I should be looking at?
A good 80-90% of my shooting is Wide to Normal, so its an area I'm happy to invest in - I just dont want to be spending money when there is other alternatives.

Cheers,
Lurch

The 14mm - 24mm is an incredible lens, I use it a lot. I normally only use primes, but it is that good. I use a 35mm as a normal ( if you used a 50mm on you 1.5 crop Pentax, then this would be the equivalent. After years of experience I realized for the photography I do, I need the depth of field. I don't use a telephoto much, so the 70mm - 300mm is light and inexpensive... And really sharp for a lens that cheap. As I said, I really don't use that long of a lens any more... Puts too much atmosphere between me and the subject. You will be astounded with the performance of the D800, it is magnificent. JD

Yeah, the 70-whatever I was looking at would probably be the Tamron USD

You can ease into the 17-35 range by

buying

18-35 which has rumor to be very sharp and less than 750 dollars..

or the

16-35 F4 at 1400 dollas

you won't go wrong with the 17-35 2.8

or you could go a bit older with a used 20-35 for a while, a very fine lens, but run around 800 dollars.

Thanks for the tip.
I've read about the 18-35. It is supposedly just as sharp as the 17 but with a bit more distortion.
Anyone know how good the LR lens profile is for this lens?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Smoke signals.

Lurch said:

Thanks for the tip.
I've read about the 18-35. It is supposedly just as sharp as the 17 but with a bit more distortion.
Anyone know how good the LR lens profile is for this lens?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Smoke signals.

Click to expand...

I doubt that it will have a lens profile available this early.

Welcome to the forum. Great recommendations already.

For practical purposes, I use the Nikon 16-35mm f4 VRII with my D800E and it is just awesome when it comes to landscape. I can't vouch for the other lenses since I have not tried them. My alternate choice would be the newer Nikon 18-35mm. If money was not an object, the Nikon 14-24mm f2.8 would be it but I prefer using the 77mm lens filters that I use with my other lenses.

Other lenses to consider:

Nikon 24-70mm f2.8
Nikon 24-120mm f4 VRII
Nikon 28mm f1.8G

The 17-35 is an older design and isn't the best choice on the D800. You would be better off with either the 16-35 or the 14-24. The 14-24 is supposed to be better in the center and has very low distortion. The 16-35 is a little weaker in the center but is supposed to have better corners than the 14-24, more distortion at the wide end, has VR and accepts screw-in filters. They really are 2 different beasts.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Thanks for your help guy. I think I've settled on the 24-85, the 50mm 1.5G, and a Tamron 70-300 USD. When money allows, I'll add some fast primes in to the wider mix (That new Sigma 35mm is looking good )

24-85 is great - it is a workhorse lense and it is so versatile. You probably don't use to change your lense much if you have that baby slapped on. I would get that and a few primes with lower stops.