Zooms and primes

[Patrice]

I've had my D700 for a bit now and since I've retired I have been simplifying my 'Go To' photography kits. I now try to keep two kit bags ready for a grab and go moment. Both kits are assembled around my D700.

Zoom kit. This bag contains an SB800, a 17-35 2.8 AFD, a 28-70 2.8 AFD, a 70-200 2.8 AFS VR, and a Kenko TelePro 1.4 teleconverter.

Prime kit. In this bag I keep an SB600, a 28 2.0 MF, a 50 1.8 AFD, a 85 1.4 AFD, a 135 2.5 MF and a rare 300 4.5 (non IF) MF.

Sometimes I really go light and just bring a D700 (grip off) with the 28mm in a ready case along with a little SB400 in my pocket. My walk around kit is the slimed down D700 and a 24-120 4.0 (only new lens bought in years) with a SB800 in a jacket pocket.

I'm really liking what the D700 can do and have absolutely no hankering for an updated body anytime soon.

I've been building up to these two kits over a few years, every lens purchase was considered in term of price/performance/build/usefulness. The process started when I got an F4s quite a few years ago. It was bought as a kit with a 35-70 f2.8 which was let go in favour of the later 28-70. I don't want or need a 24-70 nor a 14-24 for that matter. Newest and greatest is not always the only option. Stepping off the upgrade road frees up resources for other interests. (Sea kayaks, telescopes, beach front land and Harleys are not cheap.)

My wife has settled on a D70, SB600, 18-70 AFS: we've had this since the D70 was a current model, she likes her kit and does not want to change anything.

 

[Derrel]

I've recently been shooting more and more out of a fanny pack with the D3x and 45mm f/2.8 P-Nikkor, a SUPER-small,manual focus lens, the 24mm f/2.8 AF-D, the 35mm f/2 AF-D, and the 70-300 f/4.5~5.6 VR AF-S G zoom, an for low light and highest sharpness, the 85mm f/1.8 AF-S G Nikkor prime. The lenses I keep in the two "waterbottle pockets" that are on either side of the fanny pack's main body. I'm pretty averse to the monster zooms like the 24-70 or 28-70 f/2.8 AF-S....they are just sooooo freaking "big", and also heavy. I use the older-style Nikon rear lens caps, which lock together with the lugs on the tops, and duct tape each pair of rear caps together, which keeps two small lenses together as ONE unit for storage, or retrieval. Works great! I JUST recently bought the 50mm f/1.8 AF-S G Nikkor, and already do NOT LIKE its size OR its lens cap/filter size...it does NOT integrate well...the older 50mm f/1/8 AF-D is probably going to be the lens that gets CARRIED and SHOT more when working out of this fanny pack setup.

The beauty of using an "all 52mm filter thread" kit from wide-angle to normal (24,35,50) is that only ONE size of polarizer is needed...and one size of lens cap. And any lens will fit in any location. As soon as one lens becomes significantly FATTER than the others, storage and carry become much more of a mental and practical issue...a fatter-than-the-rest lens will often NOT effortlessly slide back into the lens holding pockets with one hand, but must instead be FORCED DOWN into a pocket, and also forcibly extracted from said pocket.

 

[bratkinson]

I guess I could separate my 3 zooms and 3 primes into separate kits too. But I keep them all together and simply pack/take what I need for each shoot shortly before I go. Sometimes it's just 1 body + lens, and sometimes I'll add one more lens on my belt in a Lowepro case.

As for filters, I only have 2 at present, and carry appropriate step up rings so I have everything covered except for the CPL on my 16-35 f2.8L with its 82mm filter size! If I need a CPL for a wider shot, I better have my 24-105 with me, or simply hold the 77mm CPL in front of the 16-35 and crop in PS!