Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

I’m renting a Nikkor 24-120mm f/4G VR lens for a week to see if I like it well enough to replace my older 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 AF-D Micro lens. I sat in the backyard hoping the Skipper would show up so I could see how the lens handles close up imaging with my Canon 500D Close Up lens attached to it.

 

I really would like 24mm on the wide end, and having a little more reach couldn’t hurt.

I’ve shot less than 200 frames since picking up the lens late Friday afternoon; so far I am liking what I’m seeing.
It’s sharp, contrasty, auto-focuses quickly, and is pretty quiet. I don’t hear or feel VR (Nikon’s lens stablization) kicking in, but it must work b/c I was able to snap off a throw away low light shot made in my living room at 1/13s hand held and it’s pretty good…in focus and not blurry!

It’s easy to carry. It weighs 1.56 pounds which is just a tick under my 17-35mm so,  the weight feels natural to me.  What I’m trying to say is; I’m comfortable holding it and my camera. There’s not much difference weight wise between having the 28-105 or this lens on the camera to me.

One bête noire is the focus ring on this rental lens is SUPER hard to turn. Doing photography in the dark means one needs to be able to focus manually. While photographing the Moon and planet conjunctions both Friday and Saturday nights it wasn’t easy rotating the focus ring with this copy of the lens. I’m hoping it’s just this rental unit and not a characteristic of the lens.  The rental copy has been well used. I can tell that because the gold lettering stating the lens specs is just about worn off, and the focus ring is a pain to use.

I haven’t uploaded last night’s images yet, but hope I was able to dial in a well focused shot.  I’ll be posting those images soon.

You won’t get graphs, charts, and scientific testing with my reviews. I’m all about how the lens feels, works in my hands, and how good or bad the images look. I’ll be printing several images as well as pixel peeping on my PC to see how well they look.

My kit this week will be Nikon Df| Nikkor 24-120mm f/4G VR

Canon 500D Close Up lens

B+W Polarizer

2 Singh-Ray Graduated Filters

2 B+W Neutral Density Filters

SB910 Speedlight

Cable Release

Either my Nikkor 20mm f1.8G or my 16mm f/2.8D Fisheye for ultra wide angle photography.

Iphone 5

Both images made with the Nikon Df| Nikkor 24-120mm f4G VR| Canon 500D Close Up lens|Delkin Digital Film| PS CC 2015.5

FWIW: I’ll be off line most of this week. I’m still behind reading posts, and will get further behind this week! I’m getting some posts ready in advance and scheduled, but won’t be able to comment or view posts easily.  Y’all have a great week! I’ll catch up when I get back. xx

More to come…