srt101fan

"When you need a microscope to tell which is better, neither is better."

Strodav Loc: Houston, Tx

I really enjoy watching Tony and Chelsea and, for the most part, I agree with their perspectives, but they don't always get it right. This is one of those cases.

klaus Loc: Guatemala City, Guatemala

First of all, everything Tony Northrup says you have to take with a grain of salt!!!

You can safely mount (with a few rare exceptions) all Nikon (and third party) F mount FX and DX lenses on your camera .

All Nikon F mount lenses (FX and DX) with the AF-S or AF-P designator are fully compatible and will work great with your D-3400.

Older AF and AF-D lenses will meter and set aperture but will only manual focus since your camera does not have a built in focus motor like the D7xxx series and D500 DX cameras.
The 50mm AF-D lens you have coming will therefore NOT autofocus on your camera.

You have the idea of FX lenses being inferior on a DX camera backwards.
Since only the center portion of the lens is used on DX it will actually perform better on a DX camera.
The sharpest part of any lens IS THE CENTER SECTION!

You pretty much duplicated lenses with the 35mm and 40mm primes you have coming. The 40mm is not very popular since it is too short a focal lens for macro. You have to get very close to your objects which can create unwanted shadows. Also shooting insects will be difficult since they are easily disturbed. A good Macro would be for example a 90mm Tamron or 100mm Tokina even on a DX camera and can serve double duty as portrait lenses.

If your 70-300mm (you didn't specify) is the older AF-D design it will also not autofocus on your camera.


OK, I now will try to answer your questions in order

Is [ Nikon AF-P DX NIKKOR 10-20mm f/4.5-5.6G VR ] my best option for getting a wide angle?
There is a wide array of decent wide angle lenses available from Nikon and third party manufacturers like Tamron, Sigma and the Tokina line of lenses (11-16, 11-20, 12-24, 12-28, etc.).
They all work great on your camera but make sure you get a model with the built-in focus motor.

Is there a prime 10mm for DX?
There are some third party manual focus options from Korea.
Not something I would put on my camera.

Is there a 50mm prime for DX?
Yes any Nikon 50mm AF-S (FX) lens will work absolutely great on your DX camera.
The Nikon AF-S 50mm f/1.8 is one of my favorite portrait lenses on my D3300 and D7200. Very sharp and nice BOKEH.

Is the 50mm prime, above, about 75mm on a DX?
It will always be a 50mm lens but on DX it has the field of view of a 75mm lens.
BTW., your 35mm DX lens will behave like a 52mm lens and your 40mm DX like a 60mm lens because of the crop factor. It does NOT matter that they are DX lenses!
They will actually work on an FX camera but because they are physically smaller (designed for the smaller DX sensor) they will show severe vignetting on FX on larger apertures.

What would be some interesting discontinued lenses to consider?
WIth your D3400 you are somewhat limited with older lenses since it does not have the built-in focus motor.
I would stay away from older lenses anyway since they might have had a rough life and could be mechanically unreliable or have fungus.

Should I avoid CX lenses, unless I don't mind a recalculated focal length?
CX lenses are much much smaller than F mount lenses and therefore INCOMPATIBLE with F mount cameras.
There is an adapter to mount F mount lenses on a Nikon 1 camera but NOT the other way around.

When a lens is advertised as FX/DX, are they assuming one will recalculate the focal length for DX?
As explained above the focal length on the lens DOES NOT CHANGE!
Only the viewing angle is tighter making it look like a longer lens on DX (by the 1.5x calculated crop factor) .

This one looks promising: [ Tokina AT-X PRO 11-16mm f/2.8 SD MF DX IF AF Lens ]
I own it and it is a beast! Very well made, very sharp (rivaling primes!) and very heavy.
You do have to be careful with the positioning of lights (or the sun) because you can easily get unwanted flare.

I hope this answers all your questions (and raises some new ones)!

cr1218

Much to absorb, many thanks! Will read carefully and experiment liberally!

cambriaman Loc: Central CA Coast

I love my Nikon 28-300mm.

cjc2 Loc: Hellertown PA

Tony Northrup is entitled to his opinions, even if they are WRONG. FX lenses are, usually, better than DX lenses on a DX exactly BECAUSE you are only using the CENTER, SHARPER portion. Also, a FX lens allows you more flexibility should you ever decide to migrate to FX. Best of luck.

NCMtnMan Loc: N. Fork New River, Ashe Co., NC

You have indicated that you have the 18-55mm DX Nikkor coming and also want to know about a ultra wide angle. I went through this same process several months ago. I also have the 18-55mm DX. I decided on the Nikkor DX AF P 10-20mm because a 10-20mm or an 11-24mm FF lens would effectively be a 15-30mm or 16-36mm on my D7200. This was already covered by my 18-55mm, so I would just be replicating.

mkiegold86 Loc: New York, NY. U.S.A.

I have the 10-24DX and the 18-140mmDX so there is some overlap but there are shots I couldn't get without the wide end of the 10-24mm.

wetreed

Your 18-55 is effectively a 27-83 so it doesn’t duplicate. The Nikon-10-20 is a great lens and the best value anywhere.

yorkiebyte Loc: Scottsdale, AZ/Bandon by the Sea, OR

50mm prime: Nikon AF FX NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8D (oops, FX lens) Uhhhh oh.... Did you say this was a "D" lens? I'm pretty sure the D3400 will not focus this lens. The "G" lens will work fantastic though!!

yorkiebyte Loc: Scottsdale, AZ/Bandon by the Sea, OR

Oooppps! Noticed you talked about the "D" no focus issue also!!

Real Nikon Lover Loc: Simi Valley, CA

When I bought my first DSLR it was a D200 then a D300. Through the life of those 2 cameras my go to lens was the 18-200 DX VR. I never regretted it, never had a problem with it, capture great, crisp and sharp photos with it both wide and zoom. I still own it even thoughI bought a D810 and an array of FX lenses. Ocasionally I will break out the D300 and shoot with it or take as back up. Bottom line... 18-200 is good quality Nikon glass. Perhaps a refurb?

Flash Falasca Loc: Beverly Hills, Florida

the center of the lens is the good area !!

klaus Loc: Guatemala City, Guatemala

The 18-200 might have been a good lens on a 12MP camera but today's 24MP DX cameras without the low pass filter (like the OP's D3400) will brutally show the flaws of any lens.
I have a D3300 and D7200 and switched to short range zooms (i.e. Tokina 11-16 f/2.8 and Tamron 17-50 f/2.8) for exactly that reason. My much beloved 18-105 was great even on my old 16MP D7000 but it was soft on the D7200 at all apertures even after calibrating the lens to the body. I now shoot mostly with the the above mentioned zooms and Nikon 35mm, 50mm and Tamron 90mm Macro primes. The Tamron 90mm f/2.8 Macro also doubles as a very capable portrait lens.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

If Tony Northrup told me what time it is, I'd pray I had an accurate watch to check the time for myself. That video should probably be "20 things I get WRONG and continue to do so".
--Bob