Recommend older Nikon lenses for d7200

[otherprof]

I’d appreciate recommendations of older Nikon lenses that would be a good match for my d7200. i’m most interested in primes and short or moderate zooms. I have a 35 1.8, the 10-24mm, and a 50mm 1.8d, all of which I am very happy with - the last I bought for $79 refurbished by Nikon..
I’m most interested in street shooting.
Thanks in advance.

 

[cgw]

The 35mm is not at all bad for street. Have you shot it that much not to like it? For wider on the d7200, you’re looking at 24-28mm to get 28-35mm field of view. Not a fan of zooms for street—too many shots missed while pumping for framing. YMMV, as always.

 

[otherprof]

The 35mm is not at all bad for street. Have you shot it that much not to like it? For wider on the d7200, you’re looking at 24-28mm to get 28-35mm field of view. Not a fan of zooms for street—too many shots missed while pumping for framing. YMMV, as always.

Thanks for the response. I like the 35 1.8 for street shooting, but I’ve become intrigued by all the great old lens finds mentioned lately, and the great prices. It’s more of a treasure hunt I’m on than filling a glaring need. One of the reasons I upgraded to the d7200 was the in- body focus motor, which allows using old Nikon auto focus lenses. Getting the old 50 1.8 D really got me hungry for more.

 

[Derrel]

28-80mm Af-D.... not the G Series, but the D Series lens . Very inexpensive and yet amazing performance.I have shot it on all cameras since the D2x in 2005, and most recently on the Nikon D800. You can buy it for $35 or so on the used Market. Amazing performance. Be aware that the G Series is not the same Optical formula. You can read about it on Ken Rockwell. This lens is now almost 30 years old, and so it is difficult to find online reviews of it, but Ken has one. I bought a refurbished unit back in 2001 at a Nikon sponsored event.

 

[Derrel]

The 35-70 f/3.3-f4.5 AF-d is fairly small and fairly light. It was my first autofocus lens ever. It should be priced around $45 or so, and I found it is quite good.

 

[Derrel]

The 80 to 200 mm f / 4 Ai-S is quite a sharp zoom lens. This is the last manual focus version and it has 62 mm front filter diameter, and it works quite well with the Nikon 6-T close-up lens added. This was at one time one of the world's best tele zoom lenses, and today you can find a used copy of this wonderful manual focus zoom lens for probably around $65 to $90. I bought a really clean copy back in 2012 for $75 I believe it was, and I used it on the 24 megapixel D3x for about 6 months, until I was able to locate a copy of the somewhat uncommon 80 to 200 mm f /2.8 AFS.

 

[otherprof]

28-80mm Af-D.... not the G Series, but the D Series lens . Very inexpensive and yet amazing performance.I have shot it on all cameras since the D2x in 2005, and most recently on the Nikon D800. You can buy it for $35 or so on the used Market. Amazing performance. Be aware that the G Series is not the same Optical formula. You can read about it on Ken Rockwell. This lens is now almost 30 years old, and so it is difficult to find online reviews of it, but Ken has one. I bought a refurbished unit back in 2001 at a Nikon sponsored event.[/

28-80mm Af-D.... not the G Series, but the D Series lens . Very inexpensive and yet amazing performance.I have shot it on all cameras since the D2x in 2005, and most recently on the Nikon D800. You can buy it for $35 or so on the used Market. Amazing performance. Be aware that the G Series is not the same Optical formula. You can read about it on Ken Rockwell. This lens is now almost 30 years old, and so it is difficult to find online reviews of it, but Ken has one. I bought a refurbished unit back in 2001 at a Nikon sponsored event.

Thank you so much, Derrel! This sounds like a great choice for me.

 

[Don Kondra]

If you want to splurge the AF 105mm f2.8 can be had for about a 1/3 of the VR version. The D model started production in 2009 and can be had for ~ $300.

Cheers, Don

 

[jcdeboever]

The 80 to 200 mm f / 4 Ai-S is quite a sharp zoom lens. This is the last manual focus version and it has 62 mm front filter diameter, and it works quite well with the Nikon 6-T close-up lens added. This was at one time one of the world's best tele zoom lenses, and today you can find a used copy of this wonderful manual focus zoom lens for probably around $65 to $90. I bought a really clean copy back in 2012 for $75 I believe it was, and I used it on the 24 megapixel D3x for about 6 months, until I was able to locate a copy of the somewhat uncommon 80 to 200 mm f /2.8 AFS.

I have one per Derrel's recommendation. Just splendid.

 

[Derrel]

The 55mm f/2.8 AF or AF-D micro nikkor is an interesting lens which can be had for a reasonable amount of money. In terms of good performance the 180 m m f / 2.8 AF or AF-D is a very high quality lens. at one time I owned both concurrently and I could not detect any difference in actual performance between the AF or the AF-D. The earliest of Nikon AF series 180mm lenses have slippery plastic barrels and are often noted as "early" in sales nomenclature. It was not too long before Nikon recognized that their narrow,front-mounted focusing rings and shiny black plastic barrels were not appealing to customers. The Nikon autofocus lenses made in the first couple of years had these hard, plastic, narrow, ribbed focusing rings, but later lenses switched over to a more traditional, wider, rubber- coated focusing ring. My 35-70 3.3-4.5 had the hard, narrow ring, but I got used to it.

 

[otherprof]

28-80mm Af-D.... not the G Series, but the D Series lens . Very inexpensive and yet amazing performance.I have shot it on all cameras since the D2x in 2005, and most recently on the Nikon D800. You can buy it for $35 or so on the used Market. Amazing performance. Be aware that the G Series is not the same Optical formula. You can read about it on Ken Rockwell. This lens is now almost 30 years old, and so it is difficult to find online reviews of it, but Ken has one. I bought a refurbished unit back in 2001 at a Nikon sponsored event.

No good deed goes unpunished! I have a couple of questions about buying the lens: I've never used e-Bay, but do find a number of examples of the lens available there. Is the general experience with e-Bay good? Also, there are some examples from Japanese sellers with "mint'" and "excellent++" ratings for the lenses. Any experience with buying from sellers in Japan? (There was one described as "mint" for $71)

 

[Derrel]

I have bought a lot of photo gear from eBay but all of it was lighting -related. I have never bought a single lens from Ebay that I can recall. I have bought almost all of my used lenses from Portland Oregon's Pro Photo Supply, and so I have had the luxury of a first-hand examination of a used lens. I have bought a couple from independent sellers off of Craigslist. I have also bought a few used lenses from an amazing store located in Oregon called Focal Point Photography which is in my old hometown of Dallas, Oregon. Mike Lowery was the founder and proprietor of the store, but after about 35 years in business , earlier this year he sold it to a young man who had been in his employ for about seven years I guess. Focal Point has a wide array of used camera lenses, but they don't really do selling over the internet, but I can assure you it is a first-rate photo gear store, and I highly recommend checking them out. As far as a 28-80mm AF-D for $71 from Japan, I think that sounds reasonable for a lens that is truly in mint condition.

I have found that "buying condition" as they say has paid off, but one of the best lenses I ever had was a beat-up 135mm F2 afd defocus control that a local area newspaper professional had carried daily for about 10 years. Even though it was well-worn, it was an exceptional lens.

I have heard that some of the lenses from Japan are truly mint or otherwise in very fine condition, which is something collectors prize. Japan has lots of people who collect photo gear. I see lots of great-looking lenses and cameras for sale on eBay advertised as being from Japan, but as I said I did have an outlet for my used camera needs and I have not bought lenses from eBay.

 

[Derrel]

85mm f /2 AI-S... SMALL!

Here it is on the far right, shown with its lens Hood attached. On the far left is 85 mm f/1.4 AF-D with its screw in lens Hood. In the middle is the 85mm f/1.8 AF-S G Series, also shown with its snap-on lens Hood.

One aps-c option might be 24 mm f/2.8 AF-D

 

[jcdeboever]

The only place on ebay I recommed is Roberts camera. You can type this in the ebay search engine.... seller:robertscamera and you can see their listings. They also have a website that usually offers the exact same product but for a little less... Used Photo Pro...UsedPhotoPro

They are accurate, maybe even a little consevative in their ratings and have 90 day warranty.

 

[Designer]

I have a couple of questions about buying the lens: I've never used e-Bay, but do find a number of examples of the lens available there. Is the general experience with e-Bay good? Also, there are some examples from Japanese sellers with "mint'" and "excellent++" ratings for the lenses. Any experience with buying from sellers in Japan? (There was one described as "mint" for $71)

I've bought around a dozen used lenses off eBay, and I've had mostly good experiences.

There is a learning curve on eBay, so you should learn to read the entire listing, pay attention to certain terms, and shop long enough to give you some background for each model item you are considering.

I will say that on average, equipment from Japan is the cleanest of the group. I won't buy a camera body from Japan, due to Nikon's reluctance to service non-U.S. cameras. I usually don't bid on auction items, preferring instead to "buy now", so I know the bottom line. Yes, I can and have bid on auction items, but I'd just rather not.

Bear in mind that shipping from Japan is not cheap, so be sure to add in the cost of shipping. The merchandise takes only a few days longer than something in the U.S. Sometimes the shipping is included, and those offerings will get my attention right away.

With any item offering, be sure to scroll down the page to read the details, and watch for "red flags" in the text. If I'm shopping for a lens, and I am wanting a very clean example, I will shy away from anything that looks as if it may have been abused. (frankly, items from the U.S.) Also; things like fungus could degrade the contrast of a lens, so it will depend on what I'm looking for whether I will consider it.

(anecdote) I once bought a lens with (quite small) balsam separation, and it was shown in the photos, but when it arrived, I could not see the separation. I don't know how he got such an excellent photograph to show something I cannot see in person.

The one time I got a poor deal, I bought a lens (U.S.) that broke about a year later. Not a huge deal, and it still works, so I gave it to my son and bought another of the same model.