p.1 #1 · Best optics, irrespective of price, for D200?
Wanted to pickup a d200 for general walkaround street scape and land scape photos. Wondering what the best Lens or set of lenses would be? Zoom or prime? FX or DX? Budget less than $2000, I think this should cover anything except for sports and wildlife?Thanks!
I don’t work with DSLR otherwise so the purchases would be only for the d200…
p.1 #4 · Best optics, irrespective of price, for D200?
I mostly use the 17-55 f/2.8G and 28 f/1.8G on my DX bodies (D200 included). If I were doing street with it, I'd probably add the 20 f/1.8G or 24 f/1.8G.
The 16-80 mentioned above is an AF-S E lens, which isn't compatible with the D200. Neither are AF-P lenses.
Broadly speaking, Nikon's "best" that's compatible with the D200 would be their later AF-S G glass. So the f/2.8G zooms (14-24, 17-55, 24-70, 70-200) and the 1.8G primes. The 1.4G primes are great too, just bigger and heavier. There are plenty of other great options (especially film-era), but it's pretty easy to suggest a versatile f/2.8 zoom and a lighter 1.8 prime or two. Oh, and don't overlook the macros. The 60 f/2.8D and G are both excellent.
p.1 #5 · Best optics, irrespective of price, for D200?
17-55, and a 180 f/2.8 AI-s for manual focus fun. LOVE my 17-55
fnzmf25 wrote:
Wanted to pickup a d200 for general walkaround street scape and land scape photos. Wondering what the best Lens or set of lenses would be? Zoom or prime? FX or DX? Budget less than $2000, I think this should cover anything except for sports and wildlife?Thanks!
I don’t work with DSLR otherwise so the purchases would be only for the d200…
p.1 #6 · Best optics, irrespective of price, for D200?
OffTrail wrote:
The 16-80 mentioned above is an AF-S E lens, which isn't compatible with the D200. Neither are AF-P lenses.
Broadly speaking, Nikon's "best" that's compatible with the D200 would be their later AF-S G glass.
Thank you for clarifying that. I didn't remember that E lenses aren't compatible with D200.
Doesn't make sense anymore to buy F mount glass new. The 17-55mm f/2.8 is available for €249 from MPB, for example.
For landscapes I wouldn't disregard the 18-55mm VR II and 55-200mm VR II. They're both surprisingly sharp and the D200 has a relatively low pixel count.
Sigma 18-35mm f1.8 comes to mind as an alternative to the 17-55mm. Less range but more than a stop brighter and very good image quality. If I remember correctly it's still equivalent to a Nikon G lens (=mechanical aperture mechanism) whereas later Sigma lenses where E type (electronic aperture) and wouldn't work on the D200.
p.1 #9 · Best optics, irrespective of price, for D200?
Thanks everyone. The 17-55 looks very interesting indeed - I’ll looo into that. Do you guys recommend any primes as well?
Separately, while I research this, I noticed about some people preferring the Fuji S5 pro for its high DR - any thoughts about that one? Would the Nikon glasses still work on them?
p.1 #11 · Best optics, irrespective of price, for D200?
fnzmf25 wrote:
Do you guys recommend any primes as well?
There are only two DX primes from Nikon and neither is very good.
AFAICS the best wide angle from Nikon is the AF-S 24mm f1.8 that I own and love.
The AF-S 20mm f1.8 I own as well and love a little bit less; its still very good though.
Both are modern wide angle lenses that are sharp to the corner wide open and have no issue with vignetting either. Both can also focus really close and can thus be used as a sort of makeshift macro.
If I had a DX system, I would also get the Voigtländer 58mm f1.4 SL as the portrait lens.
p.1 #12 · Best optics, irrespective of price, for D200?
Just trying to be helpful. Just a suggestion.
I’ve bought/shot a group of NIKON bodies over the years and have come to a conclusion. My first NIKON digital body was a D 300 but I wouldn't buy a DX again.
Why not buy FX used for cheap money (if you do some serious hunting for one).
Pixels are bigger. Better low-light and dynamic range. AND you can switch to DX inside the body of all of these Nikon FX bodies: D3, D3S, D3X, D4, D4S, D5, D6, D750, D800, D800E, D810, D810A, and D850.
And you can use DX lenses on a FX body. I’ve had a Tokina 11 to 16 2.8 for years.
p.1 #16 · Best optics, irrespective of price, for D200?
RoamingScott wrote:
It seems obvious that OP wants a CCD sensor…
yeah I actually have the z8 with the z 24-70 f2.8…
I was hoping to find something that has that nostalgic filmic look sooc… mostly that soft warm colors…
p.1 #17 · Best optics, irrespective of price, for D200?
As has been mentioned, any lenses with electronic aperture control (Nikon models with “E” designation, such as the 16-80mm f/2.8-4, but also many third-party lenses from the last decade or so) will not allow you to change aperture on a D200. Nikon’s AF-P lenses will not autofocus. Some late third-party F-mount lenses may also fail to autofocus due to similar focus motors.
Despite that, there are still a lot of F-mount lenses available that will sing on the D200. Few of those are DX specific, but FX lenses are still useful unless you are wanting to go wide angle. I really liked the Tamron 35mm 1.8 as a 50-equivalent (plus it has VR). The Sigma 18-35mm 1.8 is probably the best DX specific ‘fast standard zoom’ that will still provide full functionality on a body as old as the D200.
Nikon’s 12-24mm f/4 and 17-55mm f/2.8 were the “pro” wide and standard zoom from the D200 era. I think you can find better options that were produced later, but those two would certainly be fitting options to consider.
The D200 has an in-body focus motor so screw drive AF and AF-D lenses are also fair game, but again, offer few good options for wide angle. Nikon’s AF 35mm f/2 is a notable prime that delivers “film-like” images.
p.1 #18 · Best optics, irrespective of price, for D200?
ahinesdesign wrote:
As has been mentioned, any lenses with electronic aperture control (Nikon models with “E” designation, such as the 16-80mm f/2.8-4, but also many third-party lenses from the last decade or so) will not allow you to change aperture on a D200. Nikon’s AF-P lenses will not autofocus. Some late third-party F-mount lenses may also fail to autofocus due to similar focus motors.
Despite that, there are still a lot of F-mount lenses available that will sing on the D200. Few of those are DX specific, but FX lenses are still useful unless you are wanting to go wide angle. I really liked the Tamron 35mm 1.8 as a 50-equivalent (plus it has VR). The Sigma 18-35mm 1.8 is probably the best DX specific ‘fast standard zoom’ that will still provide full functionality on a body as old as the D200.
Nikon’s 12-24mm f/4 and 17-55mm f/2.8 were the “pro” wide and standard zoom from the D200 era. I think you can find better options that were produced later, but those two would certainly be fitting options to consider.
The D200 has an in-body focus motor so screw drive AF and AF-D lenses are also fair game, but again, offer few good options for wide angle. Nikon’s AF 35mm f/2 is a notable prime that delivers “film-like” images....Show more →
Thanks for sharing so much info! I didn’t know the AFP and AFE don’t know out of the box with the d200….
Out of the lenses you suggest, I wonder how you would rank these -
p.1 #19 · Best optics, irrespective of price, for D200?
As a side note, is there any modern camera that could reproduce the d200 or S5 pro IQs?
Let’s not be ambitious and just say we want the same kinda of colors - but the fall offs, softness and all that are okay to be different.
p.1 #20 · Best optics, irrespective of price, for D200?
fnzmf25 wrote:
As a side note, is there any modern camera that could reproduce the d200 or S5 pro IQs?
Let’s not be ambitious and just say we want the same kinda of colors - but the fall offs, softness and all that are okay to be different.
Like you suspect, a modern CMOS sensor with its tightly packed pixels just isn't the same as a low megapixel CCD (or even early gen CMOS) in terms of light bleed from pixel to pixel and color rendering.
I hesitate to say these older cameras are "filmic" but they ARE unique. My Canon 5D files certainly have that something that is missing from modern cameras, even being a CMOS sensor.
I would just pick the body you think will work the best. The D200 isn't as highly sought after compared to the S5 Pro thanks to influencers lauding the Fuji more despite being extremely similar. The main difference you'll find is the Fuji trends cooler in White Balance.
