Best lens

[earlecia5]

What's the best lens for a Nikon D70s. I'm looking to take portraits, wedding pics. Ect. Any ideas....

 

[cgipson1]

Nikon 70-200 2.8 VRII. (or the 24-70 2.8.. depends on what and how you shoot, really!) And since you even have to ask, you may not be ready to shoot anything professionally!

 

[480sparky]

There is no such thing as the 'best' lens. If there were, it would be the only one on the market.

 

[cgipson1]

There is no such thing as the 'best' lens. If there were, it would be the only one on the market.

OK.. I should have added an "IMO"! :greenpbl: ( I thought he might look them up, and find the prices interesting! ) lol!

 

[table1349]

The best portrait lenses are top quality primes above 70mm. 85mm is very popular if you have the room to use it. Yes, I know there are going to be posters jumping in about zooms. Zooms, even top quality zooms are not as sharp a top quality prime. Top quality zooms will provide you two things, convenience of a zoom and good to very good quality optics. I use zooms when I can't frame the shot with a prime due to the location. Then thing I found with portraits, if you start with a tack sharp lens, you can always soften it in post processing if you wish. You can't make a soft lens sharper.

A wise old photographer once told me. "The best zoom is your own two feet."

 

[2WheelPhoto]

The best portrait lenses are top quality primes above 70mm. 85mm is very popular if you have the room to use it. Yes, I know there are going to be posters jumping in about zooms. Zooms, even top quality zooms are not as sharp a top quality prime. Top quality zooms will provide you two things, convenience of a zoom and good to very good quality optics. I use zooms when I can't frame the shot with a prime due to the location. Then thing I found with portraits, if you start with a tack sharp lens, you can always soften it in post processing if you wish. You can't make a soft lens sharper.

A wise old photographer once told me. "The best zoom is your own two feet."

You beleive thats holds true for the modern zooms? I shoot both primes and zooms (my own and others), and when I'm shooting prime its not because its "sharper". I agree with cgipson1

 

[cgipson1]

I think primes may be a touch sharper than even the top end zoom lenses that are available... but the difference is only noticeable when pixel peeping at full 100% magnification (and minimal even then!). If I am doing portraits with a relatively static subject distance, I use my primes. If I am in a situation where there are multiple subjects I need to catch, and there will be varying subject distances... I will go zoom every time, just for the convenience and speed it allows.

There are a lot of people that shoot weddings with multiple primes.. and do great work. I prefer multiple zooms (although admittedly I have not shot a wedding in 25 years or so, and have no intentions of doing so)

There are a lot of people that turn out excellent portraits using only zooms... I will use zooms or primes, depending on the shots I am after!

I think the whole "Primes is better" elitism is no longer as valid as it once was..... but that is my opinion, so it is only worthwhile to me. No one else has to agree.

 

[chuasam]

I tend to stick mostly to my zooms. I use my primes when I really need that f/1.4 kind of light gathering.

 

[table1349]

The best portrait lenses are top quality primes above 70mm. 85mm is very popular if you have the room to use it. Yes, I know there are going to be posters jumping in about zooms. Zooms, even top quality zooms are not as sharp a top quality prime. Top quality zooms will provide you two things, convenience of a zoom and good to very good quality optics. I use zooms when I can't frame the shot with a prime due to the location. Then thing I found with portraits, if you start with a tack sharp lens, you can always soften it in post processing if you wish. You can't make a soft lens sharper.

A wise old photographer once told me. "The best zoom is your own two feet."

You beleive thats holds true for the modern zooms? I shoot both primes and zooms (my own and others), and when I'm shooting prime its not because its "sharper". I agree with cgipson1

No, I know it is true with modern zooms. My 200mm f2.0L is sharper than my 70-200mm f2.8 II L at 200mm. My 135mm f2.0L is sharper than my 70-200mm f2.8 II L at 135mm. Were talking apples to apples here with top quality glass.

 

[KmH]

Zoom lenses have made great strides over the years but the fact they zoom limits how sharp they can be relative to primes.

The gap gets narrower, but the laws of physics as we know them today preclude the gap ever going away completely.

For the OP. For doing both portraiture and weddings you need multiple lenses.

The D70s uses a CCD image sensor and compared to today's DSLR's having CMOS image sensors, the D70s comes up short in ISO performance. One can use lighting for doing portraiture to compensate for the lower ISO performance, but many wedding venues don't allow the use of supplimental lighting.

Consequently wedding pros often use both the $1900 Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S Nikkor Wide Angle Zoom Lens

and the $2400 Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II AF-S Nikkor Zoom Lens For Nikon Digital SLR Cameras

But for someone on a budget there are a couple of less expensive alternatives:

The $1110 Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8D ED AF Zoom Nikkor Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras

and the $670 Nikon 24-85mm f/2.8-4.0D IF AF Zoom Nikkor Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras

You can spend less by buying refurbished or used lenses.

 

[Judith57]

Nikon 70-200 2.8 VRII.

 

[tailofspence]

OP,
You might also want to look into the 17-55 f2.8 since you have Dx in place of the 24-70; I bought it mainly cause it was cheaper

 

[2WheelPhoto]

OP,
You might also want to look into the 17-55 f2.8 since you have Dx in place of the 24-70; I bought it mainly cause it was cheaper

He mentioned portraits, we know a 24-70 will serve him better as anything below 50mm just isn't best for portraiture no matter what size sensor the image is hitting. When I had my D7000 cropper my 24-70 lived on the long end, rarely used at 24

 

[cgipson1]

+1 on what 2Wheel said!

 

[tailofspence]

OP,
You might also want to look into the 17-55 f2.8 since you have Dx in place of the 24-70; I bought it mainly cause it was cheaper

He mentioned portraits, we know a 24-70 will serve him better as anything below 50mm just isn't best for portraiture no matter what size sensor the image is hitting. When I had my D7000 cropper my 24-70 lived on the long end, rarely used at 24

HaHa! Good catch! For some reason I just read and retained the "etc." portion of OP's list... my apologies!