starlifter Loc: Towson, MD

I'm curious as to what lens most people use on their D 810's. I may be only dreaming but I'm going to run it by my chief financial officer about upgrading from my D7200 and I'm looking at the D810. I see it most often paired with the 24-120. That seems short as I use the 18-200 on my D 7200. Any opinions would be appreciated.

BebuLamar

The 28-300 would give you about the same view as your 18-200. Personally those 2 have too much zoom range and I wouldn't use them.

starlifter Loc: Towson, MD

Thanks for your reply, I love the pics from my 18-200. Maybe it's what I use most of the time and haven't seen what a prime lens would do. What would you use on the D 810?

Tomfl101 Loc: Mount Airy, MD

As a Canon photographer I may be wrong but I believe the 24-120 with a consistent f-4 aperture is a very fine piece of glass. Definitely sharp wide open and well constructed compared to the average "kit" lens from Nikon. That would be my choice.

BebuLamar

I don't have the D810 but I have the Df which is full frame. I use the 24-85mm lens for about 90% of my pictures. If I were to buy a different one it would be the 24-70 for better quality but I do not need more zoom range.

traderjohn Loc: New York City

If you were to buy a Nikon, say 28-300 MM lens by itself would there be the same disdain for the same lens often sold as the dreaded Kit" lens with Nikon cameras??

Ed Chu Loc: Las Vegas NV

this topic comes up regularly, it seems; I use a 28-300; but then, my goal is portability. for me, good enough is good enough; some say the lens is great, others do not; looks good enough to me ( and, if it looks good enough to you, that's all that counts ). Rent one and try it out

Country Boy Loc: Beckley, WV

It is kind of a question that would be answered differently by each person. It depends on your shooting pattern and the range of items you photograph. Just remember everyone tells you what they use not what they would use if they had anything they wanted. If you need more range on your 7200 the same thing should hold true with the 810.

starlifter Loc: Towson, MD

Thanks

Colinus

I mostly shoot w/ the 24-120 and rarely need more reach. If I want wider range , astrophotography or good sunstars, I use the 20mm f1.8. Mostly, I shoot landscape and astro. Check your photos to determine at what range you spend most of your time and decide based upon your habits.

starlifter Loc: Towson, MD

Thanks. That was very helpful.

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

Nikon lenses in order of overall sharpness in my experience:
1 24-70 f/2.8
2. 24-120 f4
3. 28-300
Notice that the longer the zoom range, the less sharp they become.
Compromises were made in achieving this range.
I shoot a lot of events and portraits.
The 24-70 I use when sharpness is critical or I need that extra stop of light. (I don’t have any modern primes)
The 24-120 is on the camera most of the time and it’s really pretty good. Great range for what I do.
The 28-300 is convenient though I rarely use it.
It’s noticeably less contrasty than the others and not as sharp on the long end.
For portraits, I use a 70-200.

Strodav Loc: Houston, Tx

I have a similar story moving from a D7200 to a D500 to a D800, now a D850. Before moving to a high res full frame ask yourself how will you see / utilize the capabilities of the camera. For your D7200 at 6000 x 4000 pixels and printing at 300 pixels / inch you can produce stunning 20" x 13" prints. A D7200 is actually overkill if you are only showing your work on social media, but there are other advantages you may need like low light performance and better AF systems. To your question, to use the quality capabilities of the camera I recommend you look into the trinity of 14-24mm f2.8, 24-70mm f2.8, and a 70-200mm f2.8. Add a fast prime like a 50mm f1.4, good quality portrait lens in the 85mm to 120mm range and macro in the 100mm range and you will be able to utilize the full capabilities of the camera.

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

I believe that you will be happy with the D810. Its technology is sufficiently up to date, and its usability (in my opinion) is just about the best of the higher end Nikon DSLRs. You don't say, however, what it is that you mostly do with your camera/lens combination. At 36MP, you have capability for quite a bit of "electronic zoom" by cropping your images, if you use a sharp lens and work carefully to produce sharp images. You can easily crop a 300mm frame from an image captured at 200mm and have close to 24MP left.

Most here will tell you that using a "super zoom," (one with more than about a 4:1 or maybe 5:1 zoom range) is going to take back from you a lot of the image improvement that you gained from the D810. That said, you can use just about any full frame lens on your D810. You will have to decide, based on your usage pattern, print size requirements, and personal expectations, whether "pretty good" is OK or whether you want to target for optimum performance. I have a few older lensess that I still use in some very specific situations, but generally use "gold ring" level lenses on my D810.

starlifter Loc: Towson, MD

Thanks for all your replys.