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Advice on buying a lens? (Nikon)

Go big or stay home!
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mollyc said:
ETA: I think @r.harris1 also uses a Z camera.
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I am still clutching my d850 but have had a few shoots with some friends’ Z bodies and loved the experience and image quality. I’m definitely interested in their announcement on the 14th :) . The native Z lenses seem, for the most part, to be stellar and the FTZ experience was fantastic.
 
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Excited for my Z50! Comes today but the FTZ adapter doesn't arrive until next week unfortunately.

Tangent, but does anyone have any good tips on where to sell a used lens?
 
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FocusAndEarnIt said:
Excited for my Z50! Comes today but the FTZ adapter doesn't arrive until next week unfortunately.

Tangent, but does anyone have any good tips on where to sell a used lens?
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did you buy one of the kit lenses with it?

I usually sell gear on private (paid for) photography forums or sell back to a store for store credit on new gear. You get less selling to a store but way less hassle.
 
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Clix Pix said:
Be careful about buying third-party lenses, though, as some of them, especially older ones, will not work with the FTZ unless there is some sort of firmware update provided either by that lens manufacturer or Nikon. I read this on Nikon Cafe when someone who has just purchased a new Z7 posted wondering why some of his older third-party lenses aren't working with the FTZ and some of his older Nikon lenses suddenly no longer AF. Maybe that's not important to some people, but it certainly would be to me if I were plunking down money for a new system in the expectation that I could magically use all my earlier gear....
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Yes, The Sigma big tele's for sure have firmware issues. I fell for that one.

The good thing about the FTZ is that it means you can get the benefits of a mirrorless body for live view, focus assistance on MF lenses etc, but also you can enjoy the F-Mount back catalogue.... as more people move to the Z mount, F mount lenses become even more affordable. Which is great if you are not a purist wanting native mount only.
 
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Apple fanboy said:
As much as I’d love to be buying new glass, right now the priority is fencing. Still waiting for the guy who came last week to give us a quote. We have a third contact recommended to us, but he’s not returned our call as yet.
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Fencing stolen property? or garden? :cool:
 
mollyc said:
yes, the adapter does add VR to non-VR lenses (although you are right only on the 6/7 and not the z50). This is from the Nikon page I linked above.
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Sorry for being a pedantic git but the FTZ allows lenses not fitted with VR to benefit from the in-body stabilisation where available in the body. The adapter doesnt in and of itself add VR. Further, like Sony, it is only 3 axis VR not 5 if the lens is not natively VR equipped.

Also, tip, if the lens is unable to communicate its focal length to the body, for example an M42 mount or such, then you need to tell the body in the settings what focal length you are attaching otherwise it doesnt enable the in body stabilisation. Now, there is a caveat in that if it is still set for the last focal length used, for example you put on a 50, told it there was a 50 on, then took it off and fitted a 21mm without changing the setting, it would still operate the VR as if the 50mm was still on it. When you use focal lengths that are close to each other this is not so much of an issue but if you had a 90mm for example then switched to a 28mm without changing the lens length in the settings, then image blur would occur as a result - this gem did my head in for days!

Of course as soon as you put a lens on that the body can talk to, it overrides all of this and it is easy peasy.
 
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gkarris said:
Nikon, being so late in the game, used prices are still sky-high.

I bought a used Sony A6000, which is great, for body only $200... Kit lenses were $100 each.

A used Nikon Z50 (apsc equivalent) is $720... and used kit lenses are $310 and $230.

So the Sony system I got used was $400, and a Nikon Equivalent would've been $1260 - way, way beyond my budget.

Used Z6 & Z7 is way way out there compared to Canon EOS FF Mirrorless.
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Watch carefully, on October 14th a load of fanboys are going to dump their Z6 and Z7s as the new generation are expected to be announced. That will mean the first gens will get cheaper.

BUT..... the Z6 and Z7 have a single XQD/CFExpress slot (gen 2s might have 2 slots, one of which an SD hopefully). XQD and CFExpress cards are offensively expensive right now so factor that into any thoughts - 64GB XQD £150 in the UK and the reader is a p*ss take at £39...
 
kenoh said:
Watch carefully, on October 14th a load of fanboys are going to dump their Z6 and Z7s as the new generation are expected to be announced. That will mean the first gens will get cheaper.

BUT..... the Z6 and Z7 have a single XQD/CFExpress slot (gen 2s might have 2 slots, one of which an SD hopefully). XQD and CFExpress cards are offensively expensive right now so factor that into any thoughts - 64GB XQD £150 in the UK and the reader is a p*ss take at £39...
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Thanks for the heads-up, that strange card slot's the deal-breaker...

If I was to go FF, it would be Sony or Canon...
 
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gkarris said:
Thanks for the heads-up, that strange card slot's the deal-breaker...

If I was to go FF, it would be Sony or Canon...
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I think any of the three are a great option, Nikon, Canon or Sony but yes, I think an A7iii or an EOS R are very good options - Canon have managed to compact the 70-200mm quite nicely.
 
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FocusAndEarnIt said:
Excited for my Z50! Comes today but the FTZ adapter doesn't arrive until next week unfortunately.

Tangent, but does anyone have any good tips on where to sell a used lens?
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I have usually traded in my lenses at the camera shop in person or sold to someone I know locally, which is for me much easier than dealing with online transactions -- especially this last time, when I traded in a fair amount of gear when making the switch from Nikon to Sony. Shipping all of that to some place online would've been more than a hassle! Yes, one gets a little less than they might if selling to someone online, but in the end it is so much easier.

Prior to the transaction, I prepared a listing of all the items, with their complete descriptions, and gave that to the camera shop personnel in advance, which provided them the time and opportunity to review the list and prepare a quote for me. Also I told them what I would like to buy, so they could ensure that they had each of those items in stock as well. A few days later, when they were ready and I was ready, I packed up everything and transported it to the store, they examined each item and then we moved on to the reason I was there, buying the new gear..... It was a rather busy day filled with mixed emotions!
 
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Not on the topic but a response to a couple of threads............

I've noticed here and in a couple of other threads that some of us (including me) are a little irritable. There is plenty going on in the word that is VERY stressful, and a lot of it is not going away anytime soon. We all come here to enjoy one another and what we do. Please, let's not lose sight of that.
 
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deep diver said:
Not on the topic but a response to a couple of threads............

I've noticed here and in a couple of other threads that some of us (including me) are a little irritable. There is plenty going on in the word that is VERY stressful, and a lot of it is not going away anytime soon. We all come here to enjoy one another and what we do. Please, let's not lose sight of that.
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I agree, so I'll just keep posting ridiculous zoom lens photos to lighten the mood. :D
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Looks like one guy might have his leg crushed if his tripod gives way!
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mollyc said:
I would always encourage people to research their lens options before buying them. Nobody wants to put a Dx lens on an Fx camera. But newer Tamron and sigma lenses can have firmware updates for Z compatibility.

and lots of people have found new life for old manual focus lenses with the addition of focus peaking.
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I agree that focus peaking can be very helpful. It isn't perfect however. For quick snaps where I don't have the option of taking my time I will rely on it. I've personally found that the major advantage of the EVF for manual focus lenses is the ability to magnify the image in the EVF and adjust focus based on the magnified image. Whether hand held or on a tripod, this technique usually results in superior results compared to relying on focus peaking.
 
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kallisti said:
I agree that focus peaking can be very helpful. It isn't perfect however. For quick snaps where I don't have the option of taking my time I will rely on it. I've personally found that the major advantage of the EVF for manual focus lenses is the ability to magnify the image in the EVF and adjust focus based on the magnified image. Whether hand held or on a tripod, this technique usually results in superior results compared to relying on focus peaking.
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I shoot Lensbaby often and love focus peaking with those. But I do find I still get unusable images with FP, probably due to high contrast, but my keeper rate is much higher with FP than not having it.
 
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