Help picking lens to keep with D7100: I made the move to FX with the D750 a few months back. Plan to keep a D7100 to have a second body and take advantage of the crop factor without...

tjphxaz Loc: Phoenix, AZ

I made the move to FX with the D750 a few months back. Plan to keep a D7100 to have a second body and take advantage of the crop factor without loss of MP count. I previously had earlier models of Nikon DX bodies.
I plan to sell a D5100 which was the backup for the 7100 and also some or all of the following DX lenses - All Nikkor:
AF-S DX 18-200 mm f/3.5-5.6GII ED VR
AF-S DX 18-300 mm f/3/5-5.6G ED VR
AF-S DX 55-300 mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR
I have the following Nikkor FX lenses: 16-35 f/4; 28-300 f/3/5-5.6; 50 mm f/1.4; 70-200 mm f/2.8; Sigma 150-600 mm f/5-6.3 Sport.
I understand all of the FX lenses would work fine with the D7100 - correct? If so, is there any reason to keep any of the DX lenses and, if so, which one(s)?
Thanks, in advance, for your input.

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

tjphxaz wrote:

I made the move to FX with the D750 a few months b... (show quote)

Well, that seems to be a question, nobody can answer better than yourself. You are the one that used these lenses, so you should know why, or why not!!!!

MarkD Loc: NYC

I would keep the 18-200 or the 18-300 whichever you like better, and sell the other two. That gives you one lens that covers from wide-angle to telephoto.

oldtigger Loc: Roanoke Virginia-USA

tjphxaz wrote:

I made the move to FX with the D750 a few months back. Plan to keep a D7100 to have a second body and take advantage of the crop factor without loss of MP count. ...

dump the AF-S DX 55-300 mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR

f8lee Loc: New Mexico

The only reason(s) to keep one of the DX lenses would be for convenience - the 18-300 would actually give you a wider effective range of view and is also much smaller and lighter than the 28-300 FX. That is, if you sometimes plan to carry around the 7100 with one lens that might be the combination to use (so you get the wider wide angle side of the 18-300). On the other hand, if you see yourself always toting about both bodies and don't mind switching lenses a bit more, then there is no real reason to keep the DX lenses at all since they are all pretty much redundant.

tjphxaz Loc: Phoenix, AZ

MarkD wrote:

I would keep the 18-200 or the 18-300 whichever you like better, and sell the other two. That gives you one lens that covers from wide-angle to telephoto.

OK but I guess my main question is: Won't the FX lenses work fine on the 7100? The FX 18-300 should work fine and provide an effective 27-450 mm focal length for example. Just trying to validate my thinking.

glgracephoto Loc: Arlington, WA

With what you now have, not including the DX lenses, you have just about everything covered. The only one I might keep, so that you'd not lose the wide angle due to crop factor on the DX, is one of the 18-200 or 18-300 DX lenses. Since you already have the longer zoom ranges covered, may as well sell the longer 18-300 and get more back for it, as the 18-200 resale prices aren't that much now.

tjphxaz wrote:

I made the move to FX with the D750 a few months b... (show quote)

tjphxaz Loc: Phoenix, AZ

tjphxaz wrote:

OK but I guess my main question is: Won't the FX lenses work fine on the 7100? The FX 18-300 should work fine and provide an effective 27-450 mm focal length for example. Just trying to validate my thinking.

My bad, the FX is 28-300 and on the DX body should give 42-450 mm.

terry44 Loc: Tuolumne County California, Maui Hawaii

Yes they will work I used the fx lenses on my D7100 and still do though I have moved up to a D 800 the D7100 still gets plenty of use

tjphxaz wrote:

OK but I guess my main question is: Won't the FX lenses work fine on the 7100? The FX 18-300 should work fine and provide an effective 27-450 mm focal length for example. Just trying to validate my thinking.

MarkD Loc: NYC

tjphxaz wrote:

My bad, the FX is 28-300 and on the DX body should give 42-450 mm.

The 18-200 or 18-300 gives you a 27mm equivalent wide-angle. The 28-300 gives you only 42mm on the wide side.

mikeroetex Loc: Lafayette, LA

glgracephoto wrote:

With what you now have, not including the DX lenses, you have just about everything covered. The only one I might keep, so that you'd not lose the wide angle due to crop factor on the DX, is one of the 18-200 or 18-300 DX lenses. Since you already have the longer zoom ranges covered, may as well sell the longer 18-300 and get more back for it, as the 18-200 resale prices aren't that much now.

I'd keep the 18-200 for the wide end on D7100. :thumbup:

jfn007 Loc: Close to the middle of nowhere.

Personally I would keep the 18-300mm lens.

jcboy3

tjphxaz wrote:

I made the move to FX with the D750 a few months b... (show quote)

There are several reasons to keep DX lenses for DX cameras:

1. They are smaller and lighter. Designed for DX sensor, the lenses are smaller and lighter than similar FX lenses.

2. In some cases, they are sharper than FX lenses on DX cameras. Since they are designed for DX sensor, they can be sharper. FX lenses are designed to produce a substantially larger image circle, and the DX sensor is sampling a small area of the image circle, which means the sharpness will be less if the DX sensor is sampling below lens resolution.

The 18-200 is sharper than the 18-300, so I would keep it for the wide range of the D7100. If you really want to get to 300mm, then keep the 55-300 as well. The lens you don't need is the 18-300.

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

tjphxaz wrote:

I made the move to FX with the D750 a few months b... (show quote)

Actually there would be no good reason to keep any of them other than redundancy. You have all the focal lengths covered with the FX lenses which are much better quality than the DX lenses you list anyway.
Enjoy the D750, its a wonderful camera!

Db7423 Loc: Pittsburgh, PA

MarkD wrote:

I would keep the 18-200 or the 18-300 whichever you like better, and sell the other two. That gives you one lens that covers from wide-angle to telephoto.

My opinion as well. ;)