Which Nikon lenses should I buy??

[jon erwin]

Hey Nikon guys,

Which are your four favorite lenses?

[Steve Sherrick]

50mm 1.4, 17-35mm zoom, 85mm 2.0 or 1.4

[Kenn Michael]

I just fell in love with the 28-70mm 2.8 zoom.

Must have primes, 35 1.4, 50 1.4, 85 1.4. The 105 1.8 is beautiful as well.

All my primes are older AIS lenses.

[Kwan Khan]

Must have 17-35mm and 80-200mm

[Jason Murphy]

Also, gotta put a shout out for the 55mm 2.8 Micro/Macro lens. It's a beauty.

[Henk van den Doel]

We also use the 50mm but then the 1.8. I've read great stories about the 1.4, but the 1.8 delivers stunning results as well. It's the best lens we have at the moment and an absolute bargain.

[Steve Gibby]

I'm not strictly a "Nikon Guy", but I do own and use several Nikon lenses on my RED cameras. I also use multiple cine lenses, and even B4 HD zooms with the RED B4 adaptor.

I shoot a lot of adventure travel, alternative sports, wildlife, and cultural productions. The Nikon lenses I use are:

400mm f3.5 ED AIS, with 1.4x or 2x at times
180mm f2.8 ED AIS, with 1.4x or 2x at times
50-300mm f4.5 ED AIS zoom
17-35mm f2.8 AF-S zoom
24mm f2.8 ED AIS
14mm f2.8 D ED AF

I've been very happy with the performance of Nikon lenses with my RED cameras. I also use a Canon FD 150-600 f5.6L zoom which has a Century PL mount conversion and the images have been stellar with it.

I use all these 35mm still lenses without a matte box, and with screw on ND filters, except in the case of the 14mm, which uses rear cut gel filters in a bracket.

Hope this helps...

[Nicholas Shields]

We use a nice selection of Nikons:

Primes:
16 2.8 Fisheye
35 1.4
50 1.2
85 1.4
135 2.0

Zooms:
17-35 2.8
28-70 2.8
80-200 2.8

The 50 1.2 is my personal favorite, but they all perform very well. The zooms breath a little, but the true problem is holding focus as they zoom - best as variable primes.

Nick.

[Corrado Silveri]

My personal favorite is definetely the 50mm f1.4...

[hunterrichards]

I really like the 14mm f2.8 ED and the new 24mm f3.5 PC-E and of course the 50mm f1.4 (and 24mm f2, and 85mm f2) The 300mm f2.8 is also a great lens. Oops, didnt mean to list that many lenses...

[Mark Phelan]

I'm not strictly a "Nikon Guy", but I do own and use several Nikon lenses on my RED cameras. I also use multiple cine lenses, and even B4 HD zooms with the RED B4 adaptor.

I shoot a lot of adventure travel, alternative sports, wildlife, and cultural productions. The Nikon lenses I use are:

400mm f3.5 AI-s with 1.4x and 2x at times
180mm f2.8 AI-s with 1.4x and 2x at times
24mm f2.8 AI-s
14mm f2.8 ED
50-300 zoom

I've been very happy with the performance of Nikon lenses with my RED cameras. I also use a Canon FD 150-600 f5.6L zoom which has a Century PL mount conversion and the images have been stellar with it.

I use all these 35mm still lenses without a matte box, and with screw on ND filters, except in the case of the 14mm, which uses rear cut gel filters in a bracket.

Hope this helps...

Steve, a question for you: how well do the teleconverters work for you? I have the same converters and was wondering if they played nice with the Red.

[dhazelrig]

I'm personally in love with the Nikon 85mm f1.4. It is such a sexy lens. Use it for close ups when two characters are having a conversation and you'll see what I mean. I prefer the newer AF version because it's built like a tank and I also use it on my still Nikon.

Cheers,

-D

[Steve Gibby]

Steve, a question for you: how well do the teleconverters work for you? I have the same converters and was wondering if they played nice with the Red.

The TC-14B 1.4x is quite good with the 400 f3.5 on RED. It is crisp through all f stops of that lens, but especially the mid-range. The 400 3.5 is a very clean lens optically, which really helps. The TC 301 2x with the 400 on RED is OK with the wider f stops, but really comes into its own in the mid-range, between f5.6 and f11, which is where I'm usually at for nature and sports shooting with that setup.

Bottom line: in my experience both converters play very nice with my REDs, especially the TC14B.

I don't rent my equipment, I do a lot of mobile hybrid cine/EFP production where a MB and FF are not essential, all of my productions are non-union, and my core goals are to get excellent images while maximizing technology and minimizing expenses - and the better 35mm still lenses help me accomplish all of those goals with my REDs.

[jon erwin]

So can you throw on AF as well as MF lenes with the RED adapter?

[dhazelrig]

So can you throw on AF as well as MF lenes with the RED adapter?

You can use any AF lens with the red in manual mode.

[Steve Gibby]

I'm not a Nikon "expert", but here's my take on this:

They just need to be the lenses that have an auto/manual switch and a manual iris ring. Some newer series of Nikon lenses, like the 14-24 zoom for instance, will mount on the adaptor, but unfortunately they only have a M/A switch for focus, and no manual iris ring, so on a dumb adaptor they're not feasible for quick and effective use. That's a bummer in the case of the 14-24 zoom and a few other optically excellent Nikon lenses, because I'd really like to use them on RED - if only Nikon would make other versions of those same lenses that include a manual iris ring.

Again, almost any Nikkor lens that has the A/M switch and a manual iris ring is fully usable with the dumb mounts, the exception being some of the old highly-invasive fisheye lenses.

[jaadgy akanni]

I'm not a Nikon "expert", but here's my take on this:

They just need to be the lenses that have an auto/manual switch and a manual iris ring. Some newer series of Nikon lenses, like the 14-24 zoom for instance, will mount on the adaptor, but unfortunately they only have a M/A switch for focus, and no manual iris ring, so on a dumb adaptor they're not feasible for quick and effective use. That's a bummer in the case of the 14-24 zoom and a few other optically excellent Nikon lenses, because I'd really like to use them on RED - if only Nikon would make other versions of those same lenses that include a manual iris ring.

Again, almost any Nikkor lens that has the A/M switch and a manual iris ring is fully usable with the dumb mounts, the exception being some of the old highly-invasive fisheye lenses.

Gibby, could you possibly be the only Reduser who hasn't yet heard of Doug's RED Nikon mount modification for use with G lenses (including DX)?
Here's the link: http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=17820
http://www.reduser.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=6844&d=1219169667
http://www.reduser.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=6845&d=1219169667
http://www.reduser.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=6846&d=1219169667

[Steve Gibby]

Gibby, could you possibly be the only Reduser who hasn't yet heard of Doug's RED Nikon mount modification for use with G lenses (including DX)?
Here's the link: http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=17820
http://www.reduser.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=6844&d=1219169667
http://www.reduser.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=6845&d=1219169667
http://www.reduser.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=6846&d=1219169667

You've been around RED User for awhile so you should know that I'm very aware of all developments and accessories for RED. Yes, I've definitely heard of Doug's RED Nikon mount. My post is in reference to using the RED Nikon mount (which I use), for which you need lenses with manual iris rings, such as the lenses I listed in each of my posts. Read my post again where I specifically qualified my info in the main paragraph saying "on a dumb adaptor", and in my post-closing sentence saying "with the dumb mounts".