Bridge Loc: Southern New Hampshire

Hello
I am waiting to purchase a Nikon D750 (or it's replacement) most of the offers for this camera come with a "kit lens".
should I purchase it with the kit lens and then purchase a "prime" lens either 50mm or perhaps 85mm ?? I believe These lenses
have a larger aperture such as F1.5, F1.8. Thanks for your input, it is appreciated

jrcarpe Loc: Jacksonville,AR

I shoot with a Canon 70D and have both the 50mm 1.4 and the 85 1.8 along with the Tamron 16/300. I love both prime lens.
the prime

D.T.

I would not get the kit lens; When you are buying the body,try to get a deal on the better lens as a substitute and get the better lens for a little more money-be stubborn and haggle or shop elsewhere. Cry once (when you buy it!) rather than being stuck with the kit lens you will most likely never use once you buy the one you originally should have bought. After your ability to focus on your subject, the lens quality, resolution, and maximum f stop (so to have Bokeh when you want it) are the key transferors of your subject to your negative/ digital memory card. Again, cry once (over your initial cash outlay, then smile for evermore).
D.T.

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

The only "kit" lens available with the D750 is a Nikon Gold Ring Pro lens, their 24-120mm F4G VR Nano, its a really good lens at a great price in the "kit" deal. Not as fast as primes, which have their place, but you would never regret owning one! People who do not know this lens have never used it and it is GENERATIONS ahead of the plastic kit lenses included with entry level cameras.
By the way, the 24-120 is also the ONLY "kit" lens Nikon offers with their D810 36MP cameras as well, and it resolves that 36MP sensor very nicely, even better on the 24MP D750. Get it!

jackinkc Loc: Kansas City

Why not purchase a first class zoom lens and then see if you can tell any meaningful difference between it and a "prime" lens?

mas24 Loc: Southern CA

I don't know what the kit lens is with the full frame D750. I'm sure it is a zoom. You can't go wrong with owning at least one prime lens, IMO. I own a 35mm f1.8 and 50mm f1.8 for a DX camera, along with 2 zoom lenses. If I owned a full frame camera, I would go with the 85mm prime lens. It's an great lens for portraits on a full frame camera. Good luck in your choice.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

You don't actually get better resolution on a lower mp camera.

jackinkc Loc: Kansas City

A prime lens should produce "better" images than a kit lens, but not much better, if any than a top level zoom.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Most fast lenses are primes. But many fast lenses have questionable image quality when used wide open. Chromatic aberrations, corner and edge sharpness, coma, vignetting and other issues plague all but the most expensive and well-designed primes. The clear benefit is that once you close a lens down 2 stops from max aperture, they get really good. If you start at F1.4, that means the lens will be great at F2.8 - F4. If your max opening is F4 or smaller, quality doesn't really happen until F8, and in some cases even smaller, then diffraction starts to impinge on image quality.

In my experience, aside from mediocre build quality, many kit lenses do provide great results at F5.6-F8, in some cases indistinguishable from a prime lens. A fast F1.4 prime lens used at F2.8 is going to be considerably better in many cases than a lens with a max aperture of F2.8 used wide open. The quality of a good pro-level zoom is often so good that it is hard to see any significant difference between it and a prime lens at the same focal length. There was a time when zooms were considered awful alternatives, and for good reason - they were pretty awful. But today, we have excellent examples of both, as well as less than stellar examples of both. These are just my observations that come from years of experience - it's best to avoid using a broad brush to paint one type of lens as better or worse than another - look at each lens individually on it's own merits.

kd5jbk

Personally I would go with the kit lens especially if you don't know what you are going to shoot. I started with the kit 18-55 and the 55-250. After I had a few outings and family functions under my belt I started to consider a prime lens. I used a program called exposure plot to analyze the focal lengths that I used most often. I found that I pretty much stayed around the 50-55mm range. Wide angle stuff is just not my vibe. So I got a 50 1.8 for my first prime. I still use the 55-250 kit lens most of the time as I have found I like the perspective of the longer focal lengths (and chasing the kids at a distance so I can get some candid shots instead of them just posing) and really use the 50 1.8 for low light and artsy fartsy stuff. Sure the kit lenses are slow and the IQ is decent but (and I am making an assumption that you are a newbie)I think that a kit lens would serve you better right now until you get your feet under you and get some more practice in. Besides if you get the kit lens and are thinking about a prime just set the zoom to the focal length of the prime that you are considering and tape it down then go shoot with it for a while. You might be surprised at what you learn about your style/subject matter/needs etc. I wouldn't just go and buy a lens based on what everyone else says to get without having some idea of what you want to do and what focal length you like. A prime lens might be your thing, then again, it might not. That's the beauty of a kit lens. You can get an idea of how you like each focal length BEFORE you just jump right in and buy a lens that you might not even use. The only way to figure all this out is get out there and shoot!

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

Depends on the kit lens included, Nikon has been offering the 24-120 lens with that camera. I would not refer to this lens as a typical KIT lens.

olsonsview

As a couple Nikon users already mentioned: The "kit lens" is a pro user lens. That 24-120 F4 lens is a keeper, and a great walk around lens when exploring a new city. That range is plenty for most images unless you strictly do wildlife, then just add a longer zoom to compliment it? I have the older variable F stop version, and maybe am lucky to have a tack sharp one? It is a good lens for parties with family, or just going for a walk to take pictures. I hope to get the f4 version some day when I can get permission from my CFO. I was really surprised when I saw that lens offered as a kit lens for the D750. I never saw such a fine lens offered at a reduced two-fer price. I have a D750 as well, great camera, you will not regret getting it.

Lance Pearson Loc: Viriginia

The answer is: It depends on what you want to shoot, the environment you shoot in and the quality of images you want out of it. If you want Nat. Geo quality you are going to go directly to the best pro lenses you can buy regardless of their astronomical cost. If you are starting out the pro kit lens sounds terriffic. One you know how much you are going to use the camera, where and how for what purposes then you can tailor your lens purchases from there. I have a couple dx kit lenses but never use them anymore because I did what I just said. Only mistakes I've made with my Nikon lens purchases was twice buying Tamron lenses the latest a 150-600mm to try big long zoom. It is just not as sharp as the Nikon equivilent and maybe even Sigma's knock off lense are better. I can make it work but it takes much extra effort to do so. I won't buy any more Tamron lenses.

NikonCharlie Loc: Kansas USA

That 24-120 f4 is my workhorse zoom, it's a fantastic lens and I own two. Absolutely recommended. There are other versions of Nikon 24-120, which or so-so or less, be sure to buy the f4 gold ring lens.

Robert Bailey Loc: Canada

https://www.dxomark.com/Lenses/Nikon/AF-S-NIKKOR-24-120mm-f-4G-ED-VR-mounted-on-Nikon-D800E__814


www.dxomark.com has tested the 24 to 120 zoom and gives it a score of 25 (which is more or less equivalent to 50%)
which is actually not too bad for a zoom kit lens. The Nikon 18 to 55 kit lens gets a pitiful score of only 15 (more or less equivalent to 30%).