rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

I regularly shoot with a D800e. Most of the time, I use a 28~85 Nikkor. The other times, more than likely, the 28~300 Nikkor. I'm in the process of upgrading next month. I just purchased the lens portion of that upgrade and it's a 24~70 Nikkor.

Consider that you are going from a crop sensor to an FX camera. So, there is some equivalency issues when comparing lenses you are currently using to what you will, hopefully, be using in the future.
--Bob

cytafex Loc: Clarksburg MA

I have a 24-120 for my D810. It has a nice zoom range and fairly sharp. I find the Samyang 24 stays on more these days.

george19

Maybe 30 years ago there was no such thing as a wide angle zoom (or they were really really expensive, but I always wished for one when looking at the catalogs). Similarly, no zooms transited 50 mm. The closest thing was a Nikkor 50-300. I took one apart once. The huge break in the early 70s was the Vivitar 70-210 (or so) for under $300.

So I’m still wary of image quality on high ratio zooms, especially that transit 50 mm.

But... I use the Nikkor 24-85 for 90% of my shooting on the 810, and also am thinking about upgrading for quality. Nothing specific as much as GAS.

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

You will note that the Nikkor 24-70 f2.8 is essentially two zooms in one. If you watch the lens barrel and also peek inside through the objective lens, you will see that there is one set of movements on the wide side of 50mm and a completely different set of movements on the telephoto side. This results in that lens being a combination of a 2:1 wide angle zoom and a 1.4:1 (approximately) telephoto zoom. That's why it provides performance that is so different from many other lenses that cross 50mm.

Dvullemier Loc: Eastern Shore Maryland

14-24 2.8
24-70 2.8
70-200 2.8
85 1.4
50 1.4

jbk224 Loc: Long Island, NY

Of course everything depends upon your 'style'. I now keep the 24-70 on most of the time. The 16-35 works nicely for my wider needs. And the 70-200 f4 has been great for outdoor family. I just went with the 28-300 for my 'travel' partner as I did not want to carry around my entire kit. The jury is still out as I am now going through my pics. I do have some great shots. But to your question....I would not use the 28-300 as my 'standard' lens. I also started out with the D70 then D700 with the 18-200. It was my travel lens. But then I realized the IQ was not suitable for the D700 and I demanded more. I also had the 28-70 which was great, but 'noisy' with the video. When I moved to the D810, I found that the glass needed to be as good as I could afford. Hope this helps.

george19

When I repaired the Nikkor 50-300 in 1979, it had a brass barrel with 2 slots in it. One slot provided linear motion with respect to rotation, and other had a non-linear shape. Cam followers rode in those slots and moved 2 different elements (or sets of elements) within the lens, accomplishing zoom (and maybe focus). When the lens got dropped on its nose, it mangled the follower bushings, as I recall less than a quarter inch in diameter.

Anyway, I can imagine a lens with 3 or 4 cam slots, and even a dwell (the slot would be circumferential for a portion), to make this work. Maybe I could visit a design studio to gain some comfort.

SAVH Loc: La Jolla, CA

If you check back through UHH postings, you will get the full gamut of opinions and will, in the end, have to decide for yourself. Probably the best thought is to rent the lenses you are thinking of to test. For my two cents, I have the D-800 which I have had for years and now the D-850. I use the 28-300 Nikon zoom regularly especially on travel. I have made a number of 20X30 prints from shots from that lens that have been very good. It is a very convenient lens to use as the proverbial "walking around" lens. The versatility of the zoom range is especially handy when you really don't want to carry several prime lenses. I agree certainly that the Nikon 24-70 is a sharper lens but it does not reach out far enough for me when I need it. I use the 24-70 extensively when I know I don't need to reach out to get the pictures such as indoors. If you have to make a convincing presentation to your home CFO (I am familiar with the task) consider shooting first for a D-850 - they really are impressive.
Scotty

don1047 Loc: Colorado

I have a D810 and I use the 16-35 and 28-300. Works fine for me.

saxman71 Loc: Wenatchee

I have a d810 and the 24x120 MM, f/4 lens that came with it. It is a decent lens and I use it frequently. Feel free to check out my shots of the Palouse in eastern Washington that I posted on UHH last spring. All those images were taken with that setup. With that said, I am slowly moving towards a full slate of Tamron lenses. I have the 15x30 MM, f/2.8, the 70x200 MM f/2.8 and I recently purchased the 150x600 G2 lens for my birding activities. I have come to like these Tamron lenses quite a bit. They produce fine images at nearly half the cost of their Nikon counterparts. When I save a few more pennies I plan to buy the Tamron 24x70MM, f/2.8 to round out my collection.

Tronjo Loc: Canada, BC

My advice to you will be to gather some statistics of the zoom range you use with your 18-200 now and from there figure out which lens to go with. When I had D810 I was mostly using 24-120 F/4 when traveling, but I was missing the 2.8 aperture. After one of there travels in Europe, the FL statistics showed that less than 7% of the shots were made with FL over 70mm. As a result, my traveling lens now is 24-70 F/2.8.

Thomas902 Loc: Washington DC

"...I'm curious as to what lens most people use on their D 810's..." starlifter I see we are nearly neighbors.... Towson, MD is a delightful community... What's even more interesting is that we both have exactly the same birthdays! small world... Ok just because we share birthdays here's what I've discovered works on my D810... Please keep in mind I shoot commercially so I have a heavily biased agenda that comes from same...

Since my revenue stream is primarily from studio portraiture and editorial fashion I use the AF 85mm f/1.4D Nikkor for full length and the AF 135mm f/2D DC for 3/4 length... For beauty I use my soccer lens the AF-S 200-400mm f/4 IF ED VR (which also lives on my all my FX bodies for outdoor sports.) However I'm when I'm feeling lazy for shooting sports I'll use the AF-F 200-500mm f/5.6E VR which is also excellent but no match for the 200-400mm however so much easier to handle...

For shooting events? the AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8 IF ED VR II Nikkor and the AF-S 24-85mm F/3.5-4.5G VR Nikkor plus SB-910 Speedlights (a bunch of the them) with Phottix triggers/receivers

Now the shocker... Personally I have found the D810 to be an incredible DX body... in it's DX crop mode it yields results virtually equal to the D4s in decent lighting conditions... and is so much easier to use than the much heavier Pro D4s... The only down side it that the D810 really isn't a pro-level body since it lacks superb weather sealing... i.e. I would never shoot it in heavy rain and is why I still cherish my D3 (yes I have to shoot soccer in the rain.)

For DX work the Sigma 50-150mm f/2.8 EX DC OS HSM is actually far better than the 70-200mm f/2.8 VR II (yes I've tested them both and the Sigma blows the Nikkor away)... same with the Sigma 17-50mm f/2.8 EX DC OS HSM which seriously out preforms the very pricey AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8... In both cases you certain DON'T get what you paid for...

Oh, there is a hack (hidden in the D810's documentation) that allows you to mask in the DX crop area (just like in the "real" Pro-Bodies albeit you'll lose focus point illumination and another serious reason why the D810 really is only a high end "Consumer Grade" body)...

Absolutely LOVE shooting the D810 in DX... a D4s at a fraction of the price... yep has the exact same processor and focusing system... albeit you only have 7 fps at best which certainly isn't at the D4s level (but enough for my work). Where the D4s shines is in extreme low light (which I'll only use speedlights for)

Hope this helps starlifter albeit since I don't have a clue as to what genre you are interested in please realize the above mentioned are heavily biased toward commercial work...

Below is what you get from the awesome AF-S 200-400mm f/4G IF ED VR... I cherish that optic like no other (except maybe the AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8G ED IF VR II which rocks for so many scenarios... thus I would push you toward a refurbished (by Nikon USA) copy of this lens more than any other... Additionally I would push you toward a Nikon Speedlight... It will give you more versatility than any optic ever could... I assist many commercial shooters in my (our) market area and they all (without exception) rely on either speedlights or strobes.... If you stay in this game long enough you will ultimately realize that it is lighting not optics that takes one's work entirely to the next level...

I wish you well on your journey starlifter

AF-S 200-400mm f/4G IF ED VR

(Download)

greenwork Loc: Southwest Florida

I find that the 28-300 is a great general purpose lens on the D810. It may not be as sharp as the 24-120 but it does good enough for most casual shots. Either way, enjoy the D810 - it is a marvelous piece of equipment.

rchadlock Loc: Plano, Texas

It depends on what you are shooting. I have the D810 and shoot horse races....the 70-200mm 2.8 and the 24-70mm 2.8 are my go-to's. It will stop the action and both lenses work well in low light/night situations.

uhaas2009

From the d7000 to d810 what a difference. I have an older DX 2.8 18-55mm it’s a beauty-on any camera. I wanted a quick, cheap FX lens so I decided for a 28-80 3.3-5.6 G.....lol......sure it’s 100% plastic but it works great what I can’t always say about “better Nikon glass”....still looking for my next beauty glass