upgrading 2 Nikon Zooms to?

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I am using two basic Nikkor zooms 28-105 f3.5-4.5DIF and a 70-300 4-5.6DED and would like to upgrade both to f2.8 and stay in approximately the same range. I use the 300 for sports and need a faster lens. I have little experience with Tokina,Tamron, Sigma etc. but would like to know if I can save some money without sacrificing image quality with a non Nikon mfg. Will greatly appreciate any and all suggestions.

-- Lew Dreisinger (ldreisinger@effectnet.com), September 06, 1999

Answers

Only Tamron makes a f2.8 28-105. It's big, expensive, heavy and the Nikkor is probably sharper. No one makes a f2.8 70-300. Your best bet would be a 70/80 - 200 f2.8 with a 1.5x converter for 300mm, but that will cost 3x what your 70-300 does. If you're just going to use 300mm, get a 300/4 prime. It's still double the price of your zoom, but the optics are much better. 70-300 zooms aren't great lenses, but they're cheap and light compared to anything else.

-- Bruce Rubenstein (b_rubenstein@yahoo.com), September 06, 1999.

I can not understand why you want to upgrade this 2 lenses, they must be both very new. They are not that bad, so only Nikon lenses would be a better choice. The best choice are the three AF-S lenses 17-35, 28 - 70 and 80-200. Might come out a little bit expensive. The cheaper path is the older versions 20-35, 35-70, 80-200 all non AF-S.

A reasonable addition to your lenses would be the 20/28 or a 400/5.6 (or 300/4 plus converter)

-- siegfried boes (boes@first.gmd.de), September 07, 1999.


I would avoid the Tamron 28-105 f/2.8 since it uses 82mm filters which are expensive. Some cost more than certain lenses. If you get a lens that uses 52, 62 or 77mm filters you won't have to purchase duplicates of some of these expensive filters.

-- Stanley McManus (stanshooter@yahoo.com), September 09, 1999.

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