Nikon lenses Question

Today I went to the camera store to buy a lens for my new Fuji S5 DSLR.
Confusion over what represents a "good" lens prevented me from buying one.

I wanted a "DX" lens and the ones the store had were all plastic mounts.
My question is: Are all DX mount Nikon lenses plastic?

I need a "standard" zoom lens. I cannot afford the F2.8 FF offering for
$2000 so I thought I'd get the well regarded (by reviewers)18 -200 AF-S.
It too was a little out of my price range for now, having just bought
the camera. I figured then, that having borrowed a AF-S 18 to 70 DX lens
to take a couple of shots and found it pleasing, I'd look in that range.

Everything in the sub-$600 range the store had to offer had plastic
mounts. This concerned me enough to put off buying until someone other
than a sales assistant could shed some light on the issue.

If anyone can recommend a lens or assure me the plastic mounts are not
like other "plastic" mounts, I really would appreciate it. The camera
was half it's usual price due to a model run-out. Otherwise I'd never
have afforded it. The lens issue will, I suppose continue to dominate my
ownership for some time to come. Thanks in advance.

JH

On Wed, 15 Oct 2008 10:28:23 +1000, Jurgen wrote:

Today I went to the camera store to buy a lens for my new Fuji S5 DSLR.
Confusion over what represents a "good" lens prevented me from buying one.

I wanted a "DX" lens and the ones the store had were all plastic mounts.
My question is: Are all DX mount Nikon lenses plastic?

I need a "standard" zoom lens. I cannot afford the F2.8 FF offering for
$2000 so I thought I'd get the well regarded (by reviewers)18 -200 AF-S.
It too was a little out of my price range for now, having just bought
the camera. I figured then, that having borrowed a AF-S 18 to 70 DX lens
to take a couple of shots and found it pleasing, I'd look in that range.

Everything in the sub-$600 range the store had to offer had plastic
mounts. This concerned me enough to put off buying until someone other
than a sales assistant could shed some light on the issue.

If anyone can recommend a lens or assure me the plastic mounts are not
like other "plastic" mounts, I really would appreciate it. The camera
was half it's usual price due to a model run-out. Otherwise I'd never
have afforded it. The lens issue will, I suppose continue to dominate my
ownership for some time to come. Thanks in advance.

JH

I have about 7 Nikon and Sigma for Nikon lenses, and they all appear to be
metal. There is a plastic ring that holds the contacts, but the base is metal.
Sometimes it's hard to tell the material because there isn't much to examine,
being covered up by other parts.

"Jurgen" wrote in message
...
Today I went to the camera store to buy a lens for my new Fuji S5 DSLR.
Confusion over what represents a "good" lens prevented me from buying one.

I wanted a "DX" lens and the ones the store had were all plastic mounts.
My question is: Are all DX mount Nikon lenses plastic?

I need a "standard" zoom lens. I cannot afford the F2.8 FF offering for
$2000 so I thought I'd get the well regarded (by reviewers)18 -200 AF-S.
It too was a little out of my price range for now, having just bought the
camera. I figured then, that having borrowed a AF-S 18 to 70 DX lens to
take a couple of shots and found it pleasing, I'd look in that range.

Everything in the sub-$600 range the store had to offer had plastic
mounts. This concerned me enough to put off buying until someone other
than a sales assistant could shed some light on the issue.

If anyone can recommend a lens or assure me the plastic mounts are not
like other "plastic" mounts, I really would appreciate it. The camera was
half it's usual price due to a model run-out. Otherwise I'd never have
afforded it. The lens issue will, I suppose continue to dominate my
ownership for some time to come. Thanks in advance.

I have 3 Nikon DX lenses (the 18-200 and 18-70 that you mention, and the
10.5mm AF Fisheye). All have metal mounts. The 18-70 certainly was never
over $600 or anything like it. It was, I think, the original DX lens and
came as standard on the D70, back at the Dawn of Time. If you can find one
new or 2nd hand, it would be a good choice until you get the 18-200 or even
after (it's obviously not as versatile as the 18-200, but is a good
mid-range zoom, and unlike the latter has very little distortion at 18mm).

But DX lenses are in general cheaper lenses, so its not surprising that many
of the cheaper DX lenses have plastic mounts. I'm sure they would have
plastic mounts for the traditional reason, that it's cheaper than metal,
rather because its a super-plastic that is now as good for lens mounts as
metal.


--
Apteryx

Jurgen wrote:

Today I went to the camera store to buy a lens for my new Fuji S5
DSLR. Confusion over what represents a "good" lens prevented me from
buying one.

I wanted a "DX" lens and the ones the store had were all plastic
mounts. My question is: Are all DX mount Nikon lenses plastic?

I need a "standard" zoom lens. I cannot afford the F2.8 FF offering
for $2000 so I thought I'd get the well regarded (by reviewers)18 -200
AF-S. It too was a little out of my price range for now, having just
bought the camera. I figured then, that having borrowed a AF-S 18 to
70 DX lens to take a couple of shots and found it pleasing, I'd look
in that range.

Everything in the sub-$600 range the store had to offer had plastic
mounts. This concerned me enough to put off buying until someone other
than a sales assistant could shed some light on the issue.

If anyone can recommend a lens or assure me the plastic mounts are not
like other "plastic" mounts, I really would appreciate it. The camera
was half it's usual price due to a model run-out. Otherwise I'd never
have afforded it. The lens issue will, I suppose continue to dominate
my ownership for some time to come. Thanks in advance.

My AF-S 18-70 certainly has a metal mount, and I'm very happy with the
results I get with it on my Fuji S3 - certainly less purple fringing
than the AF-S 18-135. I paid GBP 150 for it a few months ago 2nd hand,
but I've seen them advertised new for less than GBP 200, so I would've
though you would find one for significantly less than $600.
--
Alex Monro
Exeter, UK
Running on Linux (Kubuntu 7.1)

Jurgen wrote,on my timestamp of 15/10/2008 10:28 AM:


I wanted a "DX" lens and the ones the store had were all plastic mounts.
My question is: Are all DX mount Nikon lenses plastic?

No, not at all.


I need a "standard" zoom lens. I cannot afford the F2.8 FF offering for
$2000 so I thought I'd get the well regarded (by reviewers)18 -200 AF-S.
It too was a little out of my price range for now, having just bought
the camera. I figured then, that having borrowed a AF-S 18 to 70 DX lens
to take a couple of shots and found it pleasing, I'd look in that range.

My AF-S 18-70 DX has a metal mount and I'm very happy with its quality.
That said, some cheap models have plastic mounts. They
are not necessarily bad. You just have to be careful
to not knock the lens around when it is mounted:
that will surely eventually break the mount off.


The camera
was half it's usual price due to a model run-out.

Wow, that's a good deal for an S5. Didn't know they
had such big discounts already. Likely the S6 is
just around the corner. No problem: your S5 is a very
good camera.

Alex Monro wrote:


My AF-S 18-70 certainly has a metal mount, and I'm very happy with the
results I get with it on my Fuji S3 - certainly less purple fringing
than the AF-S 18-135. I paid GBP 150 for it a few months ago 2nd hand,
but I've seen them advertised new for less than GBP 200, so I would've
though you would find one for significantly less than $600.

Thanks Alex.
It seems the new version or current one has a plastic mount. I bought
one anyway. The plastic looks more like carbon fibre re-enforced than
the plastic junk I sometimes see on after market lenses.

I am quite happy with it incidentally. Don't know about the fringing yet
but I have software to deal with that issue if it arises.

JH

Jurgen wrote:

I need a "standard" zoom lens. I cannot afford the F2.8 FF offering for
$2000

How about something used like a 20-35mm f/2.8?


--
Paul Furman
www.edgehill.net
www.baynatives.com

all google groups messages filtered due to spam

Paul Furman wrote:
Jurgen wrote:

I need a "standard" zoom lens. I cannot afford the F2.8 FF offering for
$2000

How about something used like a 20-35mm f/2.8?


The 20-35mm f/2.8 AF Nikkor is a nightmare on a DSLR. Even on film,
it was known for its chromatic aberration (CA). There was a lot of
sample variation because the aspherical front element was hand
polished. If you got a good one, it was very good, with results that
were the equal of 20mm, 24mm, 28mm and 35mm fixed focal length Nikkors
but with a bad copy the CA could be severe.

On digital sensors, the CA is further accentuated, so that even those
copies that worked fine with film have CA problems.

The 17-35mm f/2.8 AF-S Nikkor was much better.

Paul Furman wrote:
Jurgen wrote:

I need a "standard" zoom lens. I cannot afford the F2.8 FF offering
for $2000

How about something used like a 20-35mm f/2.8?



Yes please!

My only problem is recovering from an auto accident and I have limited
funds until I get back to work. Unfortunately where I live used lenses
for Nikon (or Canon) are snapped up almost before the news of their sale
gets out.

When I saw the Fuji S5 Pro during a visit to my parents for only 540
Euro (about $730 US), I could not resist it. I've wanted one of these
cameras for some time.

Getting a lens and some other accessories is going to be a long process
and the 20-35 is on my future shopping list.

JH

Jurgen wrote:
Paul Furman wrote:
Jurgen wrote:

I need a "standard" zoom lens. I cannot afford the F2.8 FF offering
for $2000

How about something used like a 20-35mm f/2.8?



Yes please!

My only problem is recovering from an auto accident and I have limited
funds until I get back to work. Unfortunately where I live used lenses
for Nikon (or Canon) are snapped up almost before the news of their sale
gets out.

When I saw the Fuji S5 Pro during a visit to my parents for only 540
Euro (about $730 US), I could not resist it. I've wanted one of these
cameras for some time.

Getting a lens and some other accessories is going to be a long process
and the 20-35 is on my future shopping list.

$20mm f/2.8 AF and a 28mm f/2 Ai manual focus maybe... f/2.8 zooms are
expensive.

--
Paul Furman
www.edgehill.net
www.baynatives.com

all google groups messages filtered due to spam