All Primes, which ones?

Have not been around for a while. Fell off a cliff and fractured both wrists and did some internal damage as well as neck damage. I am approaching 73 now and female. Still love my photography though.

I now need to rethink my camera gear, my lens in particular. I have a D700, D750 and D5300 with the following Nikon lens. 24-70, 17-35, 300f4, the 80-200. the 105 macro and the 50mm plus 40mm macro and the 150 -600 Tamron.

My main subject of interest are landscapes, macros. portraits of my family with some paid work for people and pets plus some food shots. I have been doing some bird photography with the 150-600.

For my portrait work I  loved my 80-200 but it was getting heavy.

I am thinking of the following Nikon lens.

20 f1.8mm, 24mm f1.8, 85mm f1.8 and I am at a loss on what to get for a longer lens. I will keep my 105 but the rest I will sell but will keep the 40mm for the little D5300 as it will be my only option till I recover in a few months time.

I will keep my D750 and the D5300 for the time.

Constructive advice sort please.

Hi Kim, sorry to hear about your injuries. Assume you are looking to save weight. In that case you could consider Alternates to the fast wide angle primes. You could save money going with Sigma 20mm f1.8 Art lesn but it is heavier. You could save money&weight by going with the 20mm f2.8 lens , it weighs in at only 270 g and compares favourably with the f1.8 lens from f4-5.6 on. If you don't need the wide apertures it could be a good option, here is a comparative test from the digital picture:

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Revi ... &APIComp=3

at f5.6 it looks nicer in the corner than it's faster brother. Mouse over to see the f2.8 lens 100% crop at f5.6

You could check how your other choices compare with slower options by picking from the drop down menus. The 24mm f2.8 does not perform so nicely unfortunately. Your macro lens would probably double as a nice portrait lens, maybe lacking only in wide open isolation from the 85mm.

Were you looking to keep shooting birds? Keeping the 300mm f4 could be a good option if you could find a carrying solution, maybe a carbon fibre monopod and cotton carrier or black rapid strap. It's also a great long macro lens for dragonflies and butterflies.

If you have the older 300 F4, the newer 300 F4 PF is much lighter and smaller. It works nicely with the 1.4x converter. I'd also recommend the 70-200 F4 assuming you've decided it isn't too heavy for you. The other short lenses you listed are almost what I have.

I second what Tony said about the 300 F4 PF, I have both versions and the new one is SO much lighter! Size-wise it is very similar to the 24-70 F2.8 but it weighs about 20% less than the 24-70.

Just an idea, but have you considered a mirrorless systems? It could be a supplement to your DSLRs when weight is an issue.

You didn't actually say why you need to rethink your gear but if it's weight, you might think about dumping the Nikon stuff altogether and get a Sony a7 series body and 3 or 4 lenses. You might be able to halve your weight without giving up anything in capability or image quality.

Kim wrote: My main subject of interest are landscapes, macros. portraits of my family with some paid work for people and pets plus some food shots. I have been doing some bird photography with the 150-600.

For my portrait work I  loved my 80-200 but it was getting heavy.
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Constructive advice sort please.

I know you probably want to stick with Nikon.  But how about a complete rethink?

I am a Canon shooter but now only use it for wildlife photography where I need the rapid AF, frame rate and often the long lenses.

For everything else I am now using my Sony system. The A7RII with the Batis 85 is just great for portraits, the Batis 25 is amazingly sharp for landscapes and if you want real Macro, the 90mm is also said to excellent (I don't own that one). And if you can wait a little and are OK with manual focus, the Loxia 21mm should be available in a few weeks. 

Yes, there are limited native options for very wide angles but I have used the Nikon 14-24 with a Novoflex adapter on my Sony and it is definitely a workable solution. You lose AF and the aperture may be a hit/miss, but overall it does deliver. 

For travel and other photography 'on the move' I recommend the Sony system highly.

Pradeep

Sorry, just saw EJ's post. Agree completely.

Primus wrote:Yes, there are limited native options for very wide angles ...

It's changing rapidly though.  You have all the 35's, the Sony 28, the Zeiss 25 and 21, the 16-35, and soon the Voigtlander trio of 10, 12, and 15mm.

EJ, I was thinking of the primes only, but you are right it is changing rapidly which is great news.

Pradeep

Thanks for the replies and the good suggestions every one.

Yes the reason for my rethink is the weight issue. I have titanium plates in both wrists and ATM can only lift teacup weight items. The Dr,s are telling me there is 40% chance of pain and weakness in my left wrist and 20% in the right. In two months time they are telling me I will be able to lift two kilograms but not sustain that weight. After that it is wait and see.

After reading the replies I am thinking I should just get the 20 or 24 and 85 f1.8 af-s lens for the moment as they will both work on the little d5300 and D750 and wait to see how I end up in a few months time.

I will look into the Sony system some more too.

Kim wrote:Thanks for the replies and the good suggestions every one.

Yes the reason for my rethink is the weight issue. I have titanium plates in both wrists and ATM can only lift teacup weight items. The Dr,s are telling me there is 40% chance of pain and weakness in my left wrist and 20% in the right. In two months time they are telling me I will be able to lift two kilograms but not sustain that weight. After that it is wait and see.

After reading the replies I am thinking I should just get the 20 or 24 and 85 f1.8 af-s lens for the moment as they will both work on the little d5300 and D750 and wait to see how I end up in a few months time.

I will look into the Sony system some more too.

Kim,

All of us wish you as complete a recovery as possible under the circumstances. You are one tough lady and an inspiration.

Mark

Thank you Mark.