mmurph Offline Upload & Sell: On
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As a former pro, my base kit would always start with a full frame body, plus the 24-70 2.8 and 70-200 2.8 VR II. Those are bread-and-butter lenses that can do 80%+ of what I ever needed to do.
When I opened a studio years ago, I had 15+ Canon "L" lenses, including most tilt/shift and primes. I quickly found out that the zooms were so good, I only needed the primes for things like the 85 1.2 wide open shallow depth of field. Or the 45 tilt/shift for ultra shallow, controlled DOF placement, or larger DOF.
I am shooting the wonderful 24-70 II and 70-200 II on the Canon side, and a Nikon D7100 with the DX equivalent lenses on the Nikon side, at least until March.
If I were to pick a Nikon FF right now, I would buy the D610 refurbished body that was on sale on eBay for $1,475 a few weeks ago.
Or either the D800 used at $1,750 or less, or the D600 used at $1,150 or less here at FM. If you can get by with the D700 for now, those prices should only go down, so no rush.
I also bought the Sigma 35 1.4 Art in a Nikon mount. That is an absolutely beautiful lens!!
It is a little longer on DX, so you may need to decide between the 35 for landscape and the 50 for portrait. Or buy both? Or just the Nikon 50 1.8G for cheap??
I am very much hoping that we get an 85 Art announced at Photokina, that would be my go-to portrait lens, assuming that it performs as well as the other Art lenses. There is also a rumor that a Sigma 24 1.4 Art is coming at Photokina, which would be a great landscape lens.
I have never been an "ultrawide" shooter. I very rarely shoot wider than 24 mm. I have had the Canon 17-40 for 10+ years and barely use it.
Otherwise a 16-35 4 VR would be a good landscape lens, or the 12-24. The PC-E if you need it, but that is pretty specialized. Or something like the Sigma 120-300 2.8 with 1.4x and 2x tele-converters if you need long?
For me though, if I had 1 lens for life, it would be the 24-70 2.8. Give me 2 lenses, I would add the 70-200 2.8. If I had to pick a prime, it would be a 35 mm 1.4 or an 85 1.4 first, with the next prime the other one. Then fill in your niches from there.
Cheers.
Michael
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