romanmel7 Loc: New Hartford, NY

Hello Everybody.

I have been following this forum for years and this is my first question. You folks have cost me a of money in the past, but due to your expertise, none of it has been wasted. Thank you! Now I would like your opinions.

I am not a pro, but have over a terabyte of photos on my hard drive. I shoot mostly in RAW and shoot landscapes, people and wildlife, when I can get close enough (never had a lens longer than 300 mm in focal length on my D300). In other words, pretty much anything not requiring a studio. About a year ago, I upgraded from a Nikon D300 to the Nikon D750 with a kit f/2.8 24-120 mm lens, my only full-frame lens. I have been thrilled with the improvement in image quality of the the combination, especially in low-light situations. I do have a beef with the lens however, since there is a noticeable distortion in the upper left area of the image, especially at wider angles (heads get noticeably elongated if they have the misfortune of falling into this area).

I have a few trips coming up and it is time to buy an f/2.8 24-70 mm lens (don't want to carry around a number of primes, and this range covers 80% of the shots I take). I know about the Nikon trinity and am considering the Nikon model without VR, because my hands are still steady and to save a few bucks. So here is my question: What am I giving up if I "settle" for the Tamron, Tokina (no image stabilization either) or the new Sigma ART lens?

breck Loc: Derbyshire UK

resale value, and the match of a Nikon lens on a nikon camera

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

Post a couple of examples of these images at high resolution and make sure to check "(store original)" before adding the attachment.

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

The "prestige" of the name and the resale value ..... and the 24-120 is an f4 ....

JPL

Good question. I think you are making a bad decision in getting the tamron 24-70 as that range is already covered by your nikon 24-120 lens. As you may have noticed the distortion in the lens is most at wider angles and that is to be expected from a lens in this range. If you think your lens is exceptionally bad you should take it to the seller and ask him for another copy of the lens or to have nikon look at it. But I expect that what you are noticing is just the typical wide angle effect in the corners.

If I were you I would keep this lens and look at the nikon 200-500 lens for the wildlife instead of the tokina 24-70. Hope this helps.

davidrb Loc: Half way there on the 45th Parallel

Your intent to make an investment is what you will give up.

romanmel7 Loc: New Hartford, NY

Thanks. I am moving toward replacing the 24-120 lens with a 24-70 lens and eventually a 70-200 lens. I would either keep the 24-120 as a walk around lens or trade it in/sell it when buying the longer zoom. I am looking for the Forum's experience with the 3rd party lenses and I guess I am interested in feedback on the new Sigma ART version. I see B & H now has it available for sale. Anyone have experience with it?

JPL

I have no personal experience with the Sigma art lenses but hear nothing but good about them Have an old friend who has one and is very pleased with it. You do not have to worry about lenses in the Sigma ART series. They are excellent.

romanmel7 Loc: New Hartford, NY

Thank you!

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

It is now time to think out of the box and get a real lens. Get a Zeiss manual focus T* lens for that D750. You can save some money getting these fine lenses off ebay mint in the box. Make sure you get the ZF.2 version of the lens, these lenses have a chip in the lens that will allow metering and focusing confirmation on your big and beautiful D750. You will be very pleased with the color and sharpness of these lenses. I would suggest your first lens be the Zeiss 28mm f2.0 T* ZF.2 lens.
And, from now on, repeat after me, "I am a confident photographer, I take great shots with my D750, I do not buy toys made by Tamron or Tokina, I buy big boy lenses made by the experts at Nikon and Zeiss."

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Maybe nothing. Tokina "...outperforms Nikon at half the price."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fC3IWsQ_Ms
https://petapixel.com/2016/07/06/tokina-24-70-f2-8-outperforms-nikon-lens-less-half-price/
http://www.ishootshows.com/2010/10/18/comparison-review-tamron-28-75mm-vs-sigma-24-70mm-f2-8/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HV9ju8LmRfU
http://www.diyphotography.net/great-24-70mm-f2-8-shootout-pits-nearly-identical-canon-nikkor-pentax-sony/

Best lenses for the D750 -
https://www.google.com/search?q=best+lens+for+d750&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS716US717&oq=best+lens+for+d750&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i60j0l4.4271j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Gorzek

Your noticeable distortion sounds like the design of the lens. It is not problem, but a fact of the difference between a rectilinear and curvilinear wide angle lens design. Look it up on "Wikipedia". Overlook the normal "BS" from many "Hogs". All the Best, Don Gorzek, Professional Photographer since 1964.

Jim-Pops Loc: Granbury, Texas

I was also having a hard time deciding what brand to choose. I purchased the Nikon f/2.8 24-70 mm lens no VR several months ago. I looked at all the reviews and never saw anything negative about Nikon and that became the driving force in my decision. I then wanted to try and figure if I wanted to spend the additional money for the VR. Several reviews indicated the non VR was a better lens because of sharpness. Sharpness is very important to me and saving the money made it a non issue. I have used f/2.8 without any problem hand held. I try to keep shutter speed at a min of 60 to keep any vibration and movement out of the picture. You mentioned your hands are steady so I don't think you will have any problems. I have shot with ISO 800 and above to increase shutter speed when needed without any noticeable noise. I am using a Nikon D750 as you. You might decide to purchased a used one from B&H photo or Adorama but if you do I would get one rated high 9+. This would save you about $300 and it still come with a 30-90 day warrantee.

BTW I have Nikon's 24-120 lens. Mine, as I think yours, is a f/4.0 not 2.8. This lens is not built with the same standards as the one we have been talking about. The 24-120 is not near as sharp.

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

One of the advantages to the newer Tamrons and the Sigma Art line is the ability to fine tune focus and other functions of the lens in ways that are simply not possible with other lenses. You do need to purchase a dock in addition to the lens, but it is well worth it. I prefer the Sigma global line myself, but the new Tamrons are doing very nicely.

breck Loc: Derbyshire UK

How can noticeably distorted head shapes be "not a problem" I am sure anyone I photographed and offered them a distorted head shape would be upset and consider it a major problem, I am also pretty certain this noticeable distortion is not standard on this lens I know several professional photographers using it with no problem or distortion of a noticeable amount