Prime addition for landscape, urban and architecture.

[Sunesha]

I am looking for cheap but good performer stopped down. I most often shoot my lens stopped down. So I thought about getting a 50 mm f1.8, have seen that mtf data is great stopped down.

The most important for me is contrast and resolution. As I would use the lens for "detail" shoots. For example, church windows, doors.

I have the 18-70mm it is so so. In my humble opinion this lens perform best under 50 mm. I am buying a nikkor 12-24. So I need something to when I want compress the view or get details. So my thought was to look on primes. As they give best "detail" for the money. As buying a good quality zoom at the moment is way over my budget.

I have seen alot shoots of the 50mm 1.8 and the 85mm 1.8. Thou mostly they are used in large aperture mode. As I interested in "detail" border to border mode. If you have any landscape, tree, nature, architecture shoots with this lenses stopped down then I am really interested to see them. Especially the borders.

I feel that my 70mm is a bit soft at 70mm.

Any suggestions is welcome ;-)

Also stopped down photos that are focused on infinity or hyperfocal length.

Cheers,
Daniel

 

[Sunesha]

I just thought about another thing.. Flare resistants is more important than detail almost. I saw that 50mm 1.8 seemed to have some Chromatic Aberrations and the 85 mm performed alot better at least at the photozone.de reviews.

But I cant put those numbers into reality in my head. So experience is very helpful here.

Cheers,
Daniel

 

[tasnim_fahim]

Daniel,

Hi,

around 50mm and stopped down the 18-70 should perform very well.

However for primes may I suggest the following:

1. 50/1.8: excellent stopped down ( i use a 50/1.4 and find it excellent ) as borne out by many
many users. there is a thread currently regarding this lens..i won't comment further on this lens.

2. 85/1.8: Superb stopped down. i have one and can vouch for it.

3. 60/2.8 micro: maybe the sharpest nikon upto about 10 feet.

4: 55/2.8 micro-nikkor: manual lens: a benchmark for sharpness and one
of the few lenses that can be used near/mid/far with utmost sharpness
and resolution.

5: 45/2.8 P: manual focus but stopped down very very good.

CA is expected at high contrast areas with fast lenses.

maybe others could recommend some more. i have not mentioned any
zooms as you wanted primes only.

Good Luck.

 

[MParker]

Sigma EX 70/2.8. Stunning from f2.8 to f11.

 

[Bill Roberts]

Since you emphasized "cheap", there are really just three Nikkor primes that seem to meet your criteria. The least expensive would be the 50mm f/1.4D, at around $275. But if you're willing to spend around $400, you would probably be much happier with either the 60mm f/2.8 or the 85mm f/1.8D.

I own the 50mm f/1.4 and the 85mm f/1.8, and I would strongly recommend the 85 as an excellent choice.

 

[Latens]

Daniel,

I sugest you take a look at the Sigma 30/1.4. My sample performs very well in available light situations:

Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Larger size in:

http://www.pbase.com/paulorbaptista/image/79539760

But also stopped down with little distortion:

View attachment 98161

You have some more of this Santiago Calatrava railway station in

http://www.pbase.com/paulorbaptista/lisbon_portugal_views

I also have the 60/2.8 macro that is a fine lens for reproduction and macro work but a bit slow in focus domain.

Cheer,

Paulo

 

[Dennyd80]

The 28mm F/2.8 Nikkor and 35mm F/2 are excellent primes for landscape work.

 

[Pa]

Nikkor 35/2. Quite inexpensive and very sharp.

 

[weiran]

Second on the Sigma if you can afford it, a much more useable focal length than the 50mm. I personally find 50mm and 85mm too long for "urban" work.

 

[adaml]

I have the 50mm f/1.8, and I had the 85mm f/1.8. I also enjoy architectural and urban landscape photography.

Althought the 50mm f/1.8 is a fine lens, as was the 85mm f/1.8/, neither would be a good choice IMO for this type of photography, simply because they are too narrow for wide shots and too wide for tight detail shots.

I agree with those that recommend the Sigma 30mm f/1.4. The optical quality of this lens is superb and the focal length is more useful. I would also suggest that you consider the 70-200 f/2.8 or the 80-200 f/2.8 for those detail shots.

 

[Gregg Heckler]

For all the parameters you list, I don't hink you can go wrong with 35 f/2. I found the 50 a little too long for general purpose stuff and the 35 is a lot more resistant to flair and sharper wide open. I found it also built better than the 50 1.4.

 

[Sunesha]

Hi,

around 50mm and stopped down the 18-70 should perform very well.

******


maybe others could recommend some more. i have not mentioned any
zooms as you wanted primes only.

Good Luck.

Execellent, great list

***
I agree with those that recommend the Sigma 30mm f/1.4. The optical quality of this lens is superb and the focal length is more useful. I would also suggest that you consider the 70-200 f/2.8 or the 80-200 f/2.8 for those detail shots.

I will have to think about this really. I maybe better off to wait a bit and save up to a big "gun". More reach more detail

I know it isn't a prime, but you might want to consider the Nikon 35-70mm f/2.8. It is very good wide open, but stopped down to f/8 it is as good as the primes in it's range. It would be a great compliment to the 12-24 and later you could add an 80-200 and have a great little 3 lens set. You mention the MTF data of the 50mm f/1.8 so I will give you some more numbers to think about.

My local good photostore have 35-70mm used. I maybe check it out. They sell it for 350 dollar which maybe can be a bargain...

Thanks edward, the link was useful anyway. I sometime goto the states so it was useful for me for "price-checker"

For all the parameters you list, I don't hink you can go wrong with 35 f/2. I found the 50 a little too long for general purpose stuff and the 35 is a lot more resistant to flair and sharper wide open. I found it also built better than the 50 1.4.

I think of gettin the 35 f/2 just for my rare moments off nephew and family shootings. It is quite inexpensive and rarely seen anything more then praise heard from that lens.

 

[Sunesha]

Thanks all. It was really invaluable input for me. I got alot new consideration which has decided me to do some more research both informal and "pratical testning".

Cheers,
Daniel

 

[theLoon]

Hey Daniel,

Another thought is to look for a manual focus prime. Since you mentioned architecture, the lack of autofocus wouldn't seem like a big deal.

I just picked up a 55mm f/3.5 micro for $80, which I think is a terrific bargain. The image quality beats any zoom, the build quality is fantastisk, and you can use the 1:2 macro for tiny architectural details, as well as getting decent perspective compression for more general shots. There are lots and lots of other great deals out there for MF lenses too.

The 35-70 lens can also be great deal, but I found that it was often not wide enough, or not long enough (it's only a 2X zoom), or just too darn heavy for what it was. Not to mention prone to flare (much more so than a prime anyways). And did I mention heavy?