Want to Buy: Nikon D800

[Bob Gundu]

The 14-24mm is the bomb.

I'm going to get a 50mm 1.4G to start.

Any other lens suggestions? I'm mostly a fan of primes. But will consider good fast zooms.

[Evin Grant]

The new 24-120 F4 VR is quite good for a "walk around" lens. If money is not an issue the 24/35/50/85 1.4Gs are only second to Leica IMHO. The new 28 & 85mm f1.8Gs have been getting great reviews if you want to save some $.
Of coures the 14-24/24-70/70-200 if2.8 zooms are workhorses and superb, even better than the primes in some areas (CA control).
Or you could just go crazy like me and get them all

[Joseph S.]

I read some reviews on that 14-24mm. Everyone's just nuts about that lens. There was one guy who posted that he switched from Canon to Nikon after 18 years just because of that lens. Most of the reviews also mentioned how heavy the 14-24mm is. Maybe they should mount an RPP 25mm (I know, different things, but funny).

I'll check out the rest too. I was actually considering the fixes 1.4G's, but the prices are crazy.

Hope the Nikon Epic mount comes out. Is the only option the Optitek ProLock?

[Bill Goehring]

Evin,

Have you had a look at or heard anything about the 50mm f/1.8 G versus the f/1.4 G?

[Bob Gundu]

The new 24-120 F4 VR is quite good for a "walk around" lens. If money is not an issue the 24/35/50/85 1.4Gs are only second to Leica IMHO. The new 28 & 85mm f1.8Gs have been getting great reviews if you want to save some $.
Of coures the 14-24/24-70/70-200 if2.8 zooms are workhorses and superb, even better than the primes in some areas (CA control).
Or you could just go crazy like me and get them all

Ha ha. I have those three zooms too. I work as a photography so it's easy to justify them.

[Brian Iannone]

Finally. Welcome to the club...

=D

After doing some comparison shots between the D800 and my old 7D, I've decided to sell the 7D as I just can't shoot with it anymore. The images look like mush compared to the D800s resolution.

The new 24-120 F4 VR is quite good for a "walk around" lens. If money is not an issue the 24/35/50/85 1.4Gs are only second to Leica IMHO. The new 28 & 85mm f1.8Gs have been getting great reviews if you want to save some $.
Of coures the 14-24/24-70/70-200 if2.8 zooms are workhorses and superb, even better than the primes in some areas (CA control).
Or you could just go crazy like me and get them all

Would you say that the f/1.4Gs are moderately or significantly sharper than the 24-70mm?

I just rented a 24-70mm and have been using it with the D800 for a few days. I have to say, there's quite a bit of barrel distortion and vignetting. Though, most of it disappears after running the image through Photoshop's Lens Corrections filter.


Also, for anyone who's considering getting some 64GB memory cards for their DSLRs, I'd highly recommend going with SanDisk's Extreme Pro SDXC cards rather than their CompactFlash ones. The SDXC cards have much faster write speeds and just marginally slower read speeds, though it's not noticeable when transferring data off.

Here are some benchmarks:

SDXC


CompactFlash

[Bob Gundu]

The distortion is minimal after 30mm That's why the 14-24 is a great companion. Almost zero distortion at 24mm.

[Brian Iannone]

The distortion is minimal after 30mm That's why the 14-24 is a great companion. Almost zero distortion at 24mm.

The 14-24mm looks great. Which is why I'll be picking one up shortly. :D

[Matt Gottshalk]

You guys are gonna make me dump my 5dmkii.

[Evin Grant]

Just scored a D800E, time to do some side by side.

Brian, the 24-70 is very sharp, especially at f4+, the primes have better distortion control but more lateral CA, both are easy to fix.
I needed to calibrate my 24-70 AF to the D800 to really get everything out of it, or manual focus in live view. Corners will be better on the primes though.