sumo Loc: Houston suburb

Recently I was taking photos of our grand kids jumping/swimming. Kept adjusting settings. Bump up the speed from 250 to 500 to 1000, Bump up ISO,
lower the F stop. Never could get a good picture. Either too dark or blurry or both. Couple more just washed out and just way too soft. Not a keeper in the bunch
I was using a 18-250 sigma lens, 3.5-6.3 on my Nikon 600.

All still shots were just fine.

Could be my ability to adjust on the fly. Just a very slow focus lens

Soooo I thought to myself. Get a fixed f stop lens (the lower number the better) that I don’t have to worry about and get a zoom with some reach.

I’m basically an advanced amateur at this. Been at it 60 years tho. therefore,
after a few more hours of reading UHH and other sites, I purchased this lens from Nikon…

I read on UHH some folks call this a prime lens since F-stop is fixed…
I didn’t think a prime lens could change from 24mm to 70mm…like I said Im an old amateur at this

67skylark27 Loc: Fort Atkinson, WI

You have a lens with a low f stop now, but that does not mean it's fixed.
You are still able to shoot f8, f11 etc. Plus you have a zoom lens also.
It's a super awesome lens and of high quality. But if you wanted to
shoot indoors at a faster shutter speed a prime lens is what you are
after - specifically a 50mm f1.8 would have done the trick at about 200 bucks.
A faster shutter speed will lessen any blur as you can shoot at f1.8 and maybe
a 1/200 shutter speed at iso 500 or so.

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

Of course you're absolutely right, it is a zoom lens, a prime lens is a single/fixed focal length lens!

DaveO Loc: Northeast CT

Just a thought, but I would also make sure that you are optimising the focusing capabilities of your camera. AF-S vs AF-C, etc. Steve Perry has a lot of helpful information that may be of interest to you.
https://backcountrygallery.com/secrets-nikon-autofocus-system/

martinfisherphoto Loc: Lake Placid Florida

Understanding Exposure 3rd edition by Bryan Peterson, the best money you will ever spend in photography.... Sounds like most of the problems are user related. You can't purchase you way out of it. Please get the book that will make photography a breeze for you....

vonzip Loc: cape cod

You just explained how he could purchase his way out of it. vz

Strodav Loc: Houston, Tx

Camera settings and technique have as much to do with getting good shots of moving subjects as the lens you use. You didn't say if it was an indoor or outdoor pool, but I see you are near San Antonio, so I'll assume outdoor (my daughter opened her pool about a month ago here in the Houston area). You might want to try AF-C, either 9 or 21 focus points, matrix metering, 1/1000 sec, f/8, CH (continuous high speed shutter at 5.5fps) and auto ISO ranging from 100 - 1600. Technique is critical especially holding the camera steady and avoid mashing the shutter button. Focus on your subject's face and anticipate where your subject is going to move holding the shutter button 1/2 way so it is constantly refocusing. I believe that lens has vibration reduction (OS to Sigma), which should be on. Another possibility is to close down the aperture to f11, even f16 for more DOF, zoom out a bit, go to AF-S and focus in the area of the action, and just hold the down the shutter button and you will get some nice shots, but might have to crop a bit.

I take the same kind of shots with a D7200 (24mp) with a Nikon 18-140mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens with no problems.

With that said, I have the Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8, which is an absolutely excellent lens. Very versatile, fast with impeccable image quality. Very good portrait lens. It is actually rated higher than the Nikon version on DxOMark.com. You can use it with a 1.4x or even a 2.0x teleconverter for more reach.

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

I have to wonder why you were using a crop sensor lens on your full frame camera to begin with? Not the combo to use if you wanted any kind of good results. The Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 is a GREAT lens, but as you have found its quite pricey. Had you asked for recommendations in advance I would have suggested you look at the Nikon 24-120mm f4 VR Nano, its also a great lens on your body at a much more reasonable price point.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

That's a very good lens. Did you compare prices at different sellers?

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

Nikon has two lenses that are as sharp as primes throughout their range, but they are heavy and expensive. The Nikon 24-70 and 14-24 are examples of Nikon Genius. And yes, they are zooms, but they are as sharp as primes throughout their range. But at a price.

pila

This is my preferred lens for wiggly kids. Continued auto focus is also a consideration.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

It's a damned good lens, but as you suspect, it is a fixed maximum aperture zoom, not a prime lens! Primes have ONE focal length. (Lots of folks get confused over this, or loose with words, or both.)

The 24-70mm f/2.8 is the classic professional, fixed maximum aperture, wide angle to short telephoto zoom lens. I call it a "rubber normal." It is the most used zoom in my kit. (I use a 12-35mm f/2.8 on Micro 4/3, which has the same field of view range, at 1/4 the weight and half the cost.)

Pros call the full frame 24-70 the middle range of the holy trinity of zooms... the wide one is either 14-24mm or 16-35mm f/2.8. The long one is 70-200mm f/2.8. You can get longer zooms, and zooms with a wider range of focal lengths, but these three are the best you can get for most uses other than field sports and wildlife work.

Zooms with fixed maximum apertures are larger, heavier, and more difficult to design than zooms with variable maximum apertures. They work great in a studio with all manual flash equipment, since you can zoom without changing the exposure if you're working wide open.

But a variable max aperture zoom can be sharper, better corrected from distortion, CA, etc., at a given price point, and lighter/more portable. The annoying part about the variable aperture is that the dimmest aperture is at maximum magnification, where you need the fastest shutter speed to avoid camera shake.

jmarshall1956

I have that same lens and used it on my D3200 and D7500. I shoot a lot of kids soccer games, horse riding and dogs playing. I have never had the problems you mentioned and the difference may be that I have trusted the camera in Sport mode - it seems to do a better job than I can in any of the program modes. My shots always seem pretty good with stop action and good contrast/color. Have you tried the camera in Sport mode?

Bill P

Gee, said this yesterday and here it comes again. This reminds me of the mechanic that says your car needs new muffler bearings and he can put them on for only 500 dollars.

A Prime lens was never a zoom with a constant f stop. A prime is a lens of but one focal length.

This is another ignorant use of a term from the same people that consider that a circular polarizer is so called because the front turns around, assuming that the front of a linear polarizer doesn't move. That's a person that need some photo education.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC