Which Lenses to Purchase for Nikon D800E?

[chontrell]

I have now decided to purcase a Nikon D800E, and created the budget for it. I want to work initially on portraiture and Landscape photography. I asked my brother what lenses I should buy. He owns a Nikon D300 and employs the following lenses in his work:

1) Nikkor 14-24mm, f/2.8G ED,
2) Nikkor AF-S 24-70mm, f/2.8G ED,
3) Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm, f/2.8 ED VR II

My brother suggested I buy the same lenses. However, I read somewhere that Nikkor AF-S 85mm, f/1.4G lens is a fantastic lens for portraiture. I want to have this lens but I should drop one of the above lenses I guess. Does anyone have an idea? Maybe some other lens combinations you can suggest?

Thank you!

Chontrell

[Mark von Kanel]

Ahhh the Nikon holy trinity, widely accepted as THE 3 lens's to have... You can hear all sorts of things, at the end of the day its what you are comfortable with in the end. Your talking a huge investment here and so why not borrow your brothers and see haw you get on.

I have the 105 macro which is also a nice portrait lens for FX but it wont stop me buying the other 3, after all 50,000 pro nikon shooters cant be wrong!!!

[Letrow]

Chontrell, what do you use right now for your photographs? Something not Nikon? You are migrating to a top notch camera and lenses, so I am just curious.
You mention some very good lenses here and I suppose you have tried them out. My biggest problem with these would be the weight (if I would take all of them with me on a trip).
The 85mm is supposed to be very good, but your 70-200mm might be suited for portraiture as well, so that is something to find out first maybe.

[chontrell]

Ahhh the Nikon holy trinity, widely accepted as THE 3 lens's to have... You can hear all sorts of things, at the end of the day its what you are comfortable with in the end. Your talking a huge investment here and so why not borrow your brothers and see haw you get on.

I have the 105 macro which is also a nice portrait lens for FX but it wont stop me buying the other 3, after all 50,000 pro nikon shooters cant be wrong!!!

Mark, me and my brother live apart; me in England and he in Cyprus.

[chontrell]

Chontrell, what do you use right now for your photographs? Something not Nikon? You are migrating to a top notch camera and lenses, so I am just curious.
You mention some very good lenses here and I suppose you have tried them out. My biggest problem with these would be the weight (if I would take all of them with me on a trip).
The 85mm is supposed to be very good, but your 70-200mm might be suited for portraiture as well, so that is something to find out first maybe.

Peter, the camera I am using at the moment is a Nikon N60 film camera with Sigma 28-105mm zoom lens.

[herbert]

Hi Chontrell,

This will be an expensive purchase so don't rush. As you cannot borrow from your brother then it may be a good idea to rent the lenses. There are several places in the UK that offer 3 day rental for lenses such as these for about £50-100. Since you are in London you may be able to pick up/drop off in person and save on postage.

I would suggest to analyse the focal length from your current photos to see what you use for portraits. But N60 does not imprint information on the film and so you are out of luck here. One more reason to switch to digital.

Alex

[dubaiphil]

With 12MP on a D700, my Carl Zeiss 35mm whips my 24-70mm f2.8 - by a good margin. If manual focus doesn't scare you then they could be worth a look...

[Manfred M]

Chontrell - I have the three lenses you list for my D800. The 14-24 is the one I use least of the three and I tend to be a super-wide angle lens junkie. The 24-70mm is the one I use most, followed by the 70-200mm, I had a look at the 85mm lenses and opted for the f/2 105 DC instead, as I find the 85mm a bit short for the way I shoot. I have looked at an 85 and would probably go for the f/1.8 85mm, just because of the way I would use it, just because of the massive price difference.

My suggestion would be for you to get the 24-70mm and the 70-200mm and see where these two are lacking before you decide one way or the other. I already had these two (purchased in anticipation of getting the D800), and I opted for the 14-24mm a few months after getting the D800.