What lens woud you pair with the D700?

JerryPH · Oct 20, 2008

This one is easy... for general use the 24-70 F/2.8 is the one to have there. For portraiture work, the 85mm F/1.4.

Tolyk · Oct 20, 2008

JerryPH said:
This one is easy... for general use the 24-70 F/2.8 is the one to have there. For portraiture work, the 85mm F/1.4.

Fantastic choices

Joves · Oct 20, 2008

JerryPH said:
This one is easy... for general use the 24-70 F/2.8 is the one to have there. For portraiture work, the 85mm F/1.4.

I agree as well. And the best thing is it will be close to on budget.
Also using a DX lens on full frame is plain stupid, the image quality loss is terrible. If you have DX lenses then stay with cropped sensors. Full frame is for alot of us who have all or, the majority of ours are film lenses. Now if you have money to burn then going full trame and, refitting is no problem.

JerryPH · Oct 20, 2008

Thanks gents, its always nice to get a confirmation. Right now, it may be over the budget, but in 6-12 months, you can bet that it may possibly be within that 4500 dollar US budget. Not so much on the lens side as on the camera side will you get price drops.

Not only that, but with this combo, you are looking at a potentially incredible level of results... if your knowledge level matches the equipment.

Kegger · Oct 20, 2008

4 lenses for my picks...

14-24 2.8
24-70 2.8
70-200 2.8
300 2.8 with internal focus

And of course all must have VR.

JerryPH · Oct 22, 2008

... and you've also far exceeded his maximum budget without even including a camera... lol!

shivaswrath · Oct 22, 2008

JerryPH said:
Thanks gents, its always nice to get a confirmation. Right now, it may be over the budget, but in 6-12 months, you can bet that it may possibly be within that 4500 dollar US budget. Not so much on the lens side as on the camera side will you get price drops.

Not only that, but with this combo, you are looking at a potentially incredible level of results... if your knowledge level matches the equipment.

very true - the body is already down some $300 off of original list ($2699) . . . .with the A900 being release at $2999 (and FF), as well as the 5DII (around the same pricing?), the D700 will be "forced" to come down further! Sigh, maybe even as "low" as $1999?

Tolyk · Oct 22, 2008

I'm not a big fan of the 14-24 and don't feel I really need one that wide with a full frame camera anyway *shrug* Just my preferance.

Parkerman · Oct 23, 2008

JerryPH said:
This one is easy... for general use the 24-70 F/2.8 is the one to have there. For portraiture work, the 85mm F/1.4.

Yea, I think I have determined that I will be going with the 24-70. I imagine I would use it and the 50mm a lot. I would use the 50mm more if I actually had autofocus right now, cause i love the lens. And then one day invest in the 85mm. I don't think it is something that I would buy right away though.

Just wondering.. would you suggest the kit lens with the D700 at all? I've heard that its not really good.. But if the prices dropped on it to say somewhere around 3 grand, would you get it? Or would there be another lens worth the money between the kit and just the body.

shivaswrath · Oct 24, 2008

D700 is $2500 today on Amazon.

Kit lens is apparently soft and not worth the $500 from what I've heard. . .

Kegger · Oct 24, 2008

He can pick any of the four. lol

JerryPH · Oct 24, 2008

shivaswrath said:
D700 is $2500 today on Amazon.

Kit lens is apparently soft and not worth the $500 from what I've heard. . .

It's been at just under 2500 at various places around on the net for the last couple months. I'm waiting to see what it hits just after Christmas when most vendors are in the "ok, Christmas rush is over, it's time to start hurting till spring sales return" mode.

JerryPH · Oct 24, 2008

Parkerman said:
Just wondering.. would you suggest the kit lens with the D700 at all?

Never. I would NEVER purchase a kit lens for any camera, much less something like the D700. That would be like buying a Ferrari and then putting on $8 bicycle tires on it. :lmao:

Even if I did not have ANY lenses and had the money for the D700 and the kt lens, its not that much longer to save for a PROPER lens. I would get the D700, and leave it out on my desk without a lens all day everyday and let it drive me nuts. Consider that an awesome way to motivate me to get the money for the at least one PROPER lens that this camera really deserves. You are going to do this ANYWAY, so why toss the money for a kit lens out the window? You KNOW that el-cheapo lens will never touch the D700 afterward anyways!

Right now, I am very lucky in a way. I currently have the following FX-ready lenses:

- Nikkor 85mm F/1.4
- Nikkor 70-200VR F/2.8,
- Nikon 50mm F/1.8,
- Sigma 105mm F/2.8 prime

Of course I also have 4 more DX lenses that could be used on a D700, as well with some penalties in file size.

So it will be no inconvenience for me to order the D700, toss in the battery grip and 1-2 extra batteries all in one shot and get the 12-24 and 24-70 lenses in one shot a month or two later (if I did not already have the money aside for the full boat like I do, but hen again, I've been planning this for the last 6 months... lol).

Parkerman · Oct 24, 2008

Yea, I have been trying to plan mine out a good bit ahead of time. I think here is what I plan on getting so far.

D700
Nikkor 24-70 f/2.8
The battery grip [what battery should i get with it?]
Probably an 8 gig memory card.

Any other accessories anyone would suggest? Depending on the total budget at the time I may pick up another flash. Currently I have one SB-600

JerryPH · Oct 24, 2008

Well, on my shopping list I have:

- D700
- The MB-D10 Nikon battery grip
- Nikkor 12-24 F/2.8
- Nikkor 24-70 F/2.8
- At least 3-4 SanDisk Extreme IV 8gb cards. I go through 2-3 8gb cards at a wedding or busy shooting day so easily at 10mp already, wait till it ups to 12.3MP and 2 just won't be close to enough, 3 would be iffy on my busier days.
- Two EN-EL4a batteries
- The EN-EL4a charger

Though the SB-600 is a great workhorse, I feel the SB-800 is a better flash if you can find them for a good price. The SB-900 is even better, but I have a major issue paying $500 for a flash that is merely marginally stronger than a SB-800... and besides, I plan to add another 2 more SB-600s to my current bank of two SB-600s, one SB-800, one Metz C45 and two 120volt studio strobes (I love off camera flash... lol!).