My Fourth Lens

For my fourth lens, I had given myself certain criteria; It had to complement my existing lenses; do something they didn’t do in terms of focal length or aperture. A fast prime lens perhaps, such as the AF-S NIKKOR 50mm f/1.4G, or the AF-S DX 35mm f/1.8G. Maybe something really wide, like the AF NIKKOR 20mm f/2.8D. Or a high power zoom, such as the AF-S VR NIKKOR 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED.

The second criteria was that it needed to work with both my D90 and my N80. That left out the 35mm f/1.8, which was kind of redundant with the Voigtländer Ultron 40mm f/2.0 anyway. This lens is a must-have for sure, since it’s hands-down Nikon’s best lens for performance vs. price. Just not now.

The AF 20mm f/2.8 is not one of Nikon’s better lenses, although many people have been happy with it.

So, it came down to the 50mm f/1.4 vs the 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6. Since I already have 50mm covered, the high-power zoom won.

My Fourth Lens; The AF-S VR NIKKOR 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 IF-ED

This lens was in the running from the start, because it received outstanding reviews, and has everything going for it, including a 67mm filter thread which saved me about $70 alone for a UV filter. On a DX camera, it’s range is a whopping 105-450mm! It has a minimum focusing distance of 4.9 ft., which at 450mm means you can fill the frame with a tight closeup from five feet away, that would require you to be within inches with a normal lens. And who doesn’t pine after a powerful telephoto? It seems like a must have for any photographer. So, it was pretty much a no-brainer.

I could have saved $375 and gotten the non-VR version, but what’s the point? VR is a must-have for a lens of this length.

In my teens, my experience with telephoto lenses was frustrating. Back then, my second lens purchase was a Canon FD Zoom 70-210mm f4.0. I would mount the lens to the camera, immediately zoom in as tight as possible, and look at a distant object only to be disappointed that it wasn’t as large as I had envisioned. It was continous focal-length envy. So, I later added a Canon 2X-B Extender, effectively converting this lens to a 140-410 mm f/8. Then I had both maximum aperture-envy, AND focal length envy.

Fast forward to 2010. Now, in a much lighter, smaller package I have a maximum zoom of 450 mm @ f/5.6; a greater range and a full stop faster. But, when you factor in the VR, it’s more like three stops faster. Nikon says the VR lets you open up four stops, but most will agree that in the field it’s more like three. So, I’m pretty much over the whole telephoto lens envy thing.

The next step, if I were to embark on a career solely dedicated to nature photography or sports, would be the faster AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II, which is four times the price of this lens. Coupled with the AF-S Teleconverter TC-20E III (bringing the price to five times), I would then have a 210-600 mm f/5.6, which with VR would behave like f/2.0. With this setup, I would have a choice between speed and extreme focal length, all for $2900. Or, I could spend another $7400 and get the AF-S NIKKOR 600mm f/4G ED VR.

It will be interesting to see how this lens really performs in low-light situations. I’m not discounting the use of flash however, which being built into the camera is now always available on demand. Didn’t have that back in the good ’old days.

So, in two lenses, I have the range of 24mm to 450mm covered in the DX format. In the 35mm format (the N80) I can shoot manual focus at 40mm, or autofocus at 70-300mm. So, the AF-S NIKKOR 50mm f/1.4G is looking pretty good for my fifth lens. Not only will it be the low-light champion for film, it will be the ultimate portrait lens for the DX format.