Lens manufacturer recommendations

[Thantos]

Hi all,
I was wondering if anyone wanted to share their thoughts on different lens manufactures and the rating of them! I am looking for some new prime lenses for my Nikon D90 and am wondering who I should purchase from? Nikon, Tokina, Tamron, Phoenix, Sigma, and so on..... Is there really a difference in the quality? and if so how much? I do not mind paying a little more for a better product but how do you know how they all rate? Whats everyone's thought on this!

And is there a difference between Nikkor and Nikon lenses? Some say yes some say no... Whats the real deal?

[ajith.rajeswari]

Hi,
If you are looking for Nikkor prime lenses lenses esp 50mm and if you are on budget you can go for "AF NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8D".

~Ajith

[Bill44]

Nikkor is what Nikon call their lenses. As far as I'm concerned if you have a Nikon camera then use Nikon lenses.

[crisscross]

I suspect that with the D90 you would find eg the top grade Sigma lenses perfectly adequate. However if in due course you go up to full frame ( D700 or D3 ) and more pixels you might wish you had stuck to Nikkor. Similarly the differences might only become noticable if you were printing larger than A3 on pro printers.

You are thinking of spending serious money, so also best to look at 3 or 4 reviews of lenses on a shortlist and also try to find photographers with them to ask individually (eg using pbase search for the lens).

There is also the poor man's back door, using DxO for conversion which analyses the real life deviations of most lenses and allows auto-correction of them. (more in PP thread)

[The Analog Kid]

The best advice I was ever given is to buy the best glass I can afford as, pound for pound, it makes more difference than the camera body it's attached to and you'll probably have the lenses a lot longer than any given camera body (especially if it's digital).

I've just moved up to a D700 from a D300, (which my wife now has). I used a 17-55mm f2.8 most of the time on the D300. As I can't afford the equivalent FX lens for the D700 at present, I'm using my Nikkor 'primes' 24mm f2.8, 35mm f2.0, 50mm f1.8 and 85mm f1.8. (I already had these and use them in conjunction with my F100).

The D90 is a good body and, unless you can afford the Nikkor 17-55mm f2.8 (a bit of lump but razor sharp), I'd go for the Nikkor 18-70mm f3.5-4.5. Okay, it's a bit slower but I got one when I bought my D70 years ago and I've only just traded it in. I've had some great A3+ prints made from the files where I used this lens and it performed impeccably. It's also available for under £200.

The other lens I'd go for to compliment the 18-70mm is the Nikkor 70-300 'VR'. You should be able to get both (new) for around £600 and, unless you need faster glass, I doubt you'll regret buying either. Even if you do need the extra speed, the D90 will perform perfectly adequately at ISO 800 - which will give you 2 stops.

At the other end of the deal is the re-sale values. I don't know of any independent manufacturer's lenses that will hold their value as well as a Nikon or Canon.

[Geoff F]

I am with Canon and always used to buy Canon lenses but recently I purchased some of the better rated Sigma equipment when Canon either didn't produce what I wanted or were excessively expensive. I am happy with this Sigma equipment but wouldn't touch their 'bargain basement' gear.

For an independant quality review try this site http://www.photozone.de/nikon--nikkor-aps-c-lens-tests

[d3debian]

I have Canon lenses for my Canon body. No third-party lenses.
This decision is partly based on the idea when problems arise i can put my problem by Canon.
I was afraid that, in case of problems with third-party-lenses, the lensmanufacturer send me to Canon and Canon send me to the lensmanufacturer. At the end none of both might help me.

Canon gives in their photo-editing software (DPP) tools to correct lensdistortion. Only for Canon lenses. I don't know about Nikonsoftware but with my motivation i want to give you 2 arguments to consider.

[Colin Southern]

I have Canon lenses for my Canon body. No third-party lenses.

This is my personal philosophy too (and I stick with L-Series lenses).

[Felipe]

Hi.

I'm a Nikon user, always been. I'd been a "no-third-party-lens" guy, but now I own a Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 and I'm extremely satisfied with it.

My point is: get what you need and not what the overinformation available on the net tells you to. I mean: are you a pro photographer who shoots for a living? Do you shoot every day, all year-round? Do you make big (I mean BIG) prints? Yes? You need THE best available lens. A Nikon, of course, fast, sharp, big, expensive. You can't get wrong on that.

The answer is no? You can't afford any of those? Don't worry. U still can make a hell of good photos with third party lenses. There are plenty of reviews on the internet that tells you that MTF curves are important, but they're not. People are not making pictures of brick walls, or little paralell lines either. You shoot people, nature, animals, landscapes, buildings, birthdays, your nude girlfriend... real stuff. Many good third party lenses can help you to get what you want for a half what an original Nikon costs. Your creativity and imagination is way more important than the brand of your lenses.

Congratulations on your new D90. Great camera.

Felipe

[The Analog Kid]

I couldn't agree more with Felipe. Buy the best you can afford. If you can buy the best (usually proprietary brand lenses such as Nikon, Canon, etc.) then buy them. However, buying the better quality independent lenses such as Sigma, Tamron and Tokina isn't so much of a compromise.

Happy shooting. Paul.

[rpcrowe]

Both Nikon and Canon produce excellent lenses however, both these companies offer cheaply made lower level lenses which are not as great. The price is usually an indicator of comparative quality.

On the other-hand; Sigma, Tamron and Tokina produce lower grade lenses but, they produce excellent lenses also. As an example, I love my Canon "L" lenses but I also love my Tokina 12-24mm f/4 ATX and my Tamron 90mm f/2.8 SP Macro lens. These two lenses will equal anything in the Nikon or Canon battery of lenses.

Just saying "I would not use anything but Nikon or Canon lenses!"; doesn't ensure that you will be shooting with the best glass; just as shooting with third party glass doesn't necessarily mean you will be using a less desirable lens.