On my recent travels I found myself enjoying photography once again, even just using an old Nikon V1 with a 10-30 kit lens (now broken). I have come into a bit of money so decided to buy some better kit.
In the past i have used Leica M ( loved the rangefinder experience, but even used M10 bodies rule any thoughts of this out), Fuiji x100 (lovely camera, fixed lens) and a Nikon D300 plus some spendy primes, which were great but heavy to lug around on travels.
I am being gifted a D300 and a couple of lenses, so will have that body to use, may come in handy. Not great for wide angle but for teles the DX sensor would be a boon. Nikon FE Primes have tanked in price thanks to their new Z mirrorless system, so a 200-400 F4, 2002.6 and even a 400 2.8 could be had for 1500 or less these days. It would make a one use, one lens system. For wide angle I could but a cheap D700 and any number of Primes for less than £500, 17-35 f2.8, 14-24 f2.8 or a 20mm f1.8 etc etc. again another one use system, but that D700 is also great when shooting indoors in low light. But… read on.
I have been looking at Sony A7 III body at around 700 used, add to that a used 24-105 f4 “travel” lens at £500 and a used 100-400 f4.5-5.6 at £1400 (both these lenses take 77mm thread filters) and say a used 16-35mm f4 wide zoom at £900 (82mm thread filter) for a good set up. Some questions though, the 100-400 and the 16-35…am I going to miss the faster glass, especially on the tele at 400? The 16-35 is expensive, the D700 and 14-24 would be cheaper and at f2.8 combined with that D700 sensor would also make a great indoor option ( but then two bloody cameras). The Sony ISO is crazy high and usable so am I worrying about nothing?
Are there other options I’m missing? Does spending more on an A9 and likely less on lenses gain me anything?
Any advice from those who have been down this route much appreciated.
F mount is a dead and due to the small mount doesn’t perform very well.
Go mirrorless, a7iii is really getting on though, there are better options used I’d imagine. A7v is about to be announced so could well see a7iv prices drop.
More than happy to share the +/- of the lenses I’ve tried, Bob: what do you intend to use the setup for? Wildlife, street, travel, just taking snaps as n when ?
In terms of the sony lenses - My mate has a sony 20 - 70 f4 though expensive is a very flexible lens and with a 100 - 400 is a quite a portable set up and very decent coverage for travel.
The 16 -35 f2.8 is quite big and more suited to reportage wedding than a carry around
While waiting for Bob to resurface, I’ll throw in my two cents.
I’ve been happy as Larry with my Tamron 28–200. It has covered the vast majority of my landscape work. It’s sharp enough, weather-sealed enough, and nice and light if portability matters. There’s a newer 25–200 version which I suspect is the better choice if buying new, and Sigma has also just launched a 20–200.
I had the sister 17–35 for quite a while but found the focus-by-wire a bit of a pain for astro work. Others manage fine, so maybe that’s just me and my ten thumbs.
A lot depends on what you’re actually shooting. Sony glass will invariably give you faster AF, but whether you need that blazing speed is a different question.
Since switching from the A7R IV to the A7C II, I’ve been running the Sigma 35 f/2 and the Sony 40mm f/2.5. They’re both fab for point-and-shoot street work and perform well in low light despite not dipping into the f/1-something range.
On that note, when I was recently in Vietnam, a guide was shooting the Sony 24–105 f/4 in low light and getting perfectly usable results. I think we sometimes get unnecessarily scared of cranking the ISO, especially now that Lightroom’s noise tools are so good.
I keep umming and ahhing over whether I want this or not. I almost took it for my hols, but stuck with the one I knew (Tamron) The 20 end is really, really useful, but as much as that versatility appeals (and the crazy image quality/sharpness) I rarely take off my prime for travel / street, and so wonder whether the 70 end is enough for a walkaround when the Tamron/Sigma options are more flexible with albeit lesser IQ