Nikon 24 -85mm f2.8-4D standard zoom lens - full frame test

About a year ago I purchase a Nikon kit from a guy which contained an F90X, a 70-300mm AF-D telephoto zoom, and the lens above.  I've always wanted this lens for full frame as it the performance has been rated very good and it has a very cool 1:2 macro feature, which makes the lens very versatile.  The purchase price was quite reasonable, so after I sold off the camera and tele lens, it meant I really didn't pay a lot for it.  

Since I purchased it, I've hardly used it as it really isn't that handy on DX, but as I now have full frame again, I pulled it out to give it a test run.  My idea was that it was going to be my standard zoom on the D600, but after a quick test run there are a couple issues.  

Firstly the lens is screw drive with no AF-S motor. Initially I thought this would be a non-issue as the D600 has a screw drive for non-AF-S lenses, but I found it makes a LOT of noise which is very readily heard in video, and quite disconcerting.

The second issue is close focus.  On this lens you need to select the macro mode which can only operate in the 35-85mm range. This means you have to manually switch it over if you want to go closer than 50cm way - quite difficult if you are shooting squirrelly kids.  However, it does go pretty close (1:2 Macro) as the shot below of my Fuji GA645i shows.

Otherwise it is a good lens.  Sharpness is good, barrel distortion is not terrible and the zoom range is very handy for every day use.

No Purchase Policy

This is pretty weird.  So far in 2012 (end May) there has been just 4 lens purchases to date - a Leica 35mm f3.5 Summaron in LTM, a Nikon 28mm f3.5, a Sigma 30mm f2.8 and a Pentax 21mm f3.2; the first two of which was part of a trade for some Nikon lenses.  

This is unusual.  Usually I purchase approximately 25-30 lenses per year, most of which are again sold after I try them out, but this would suggest a purchase of about 20-25 so far this year.  So far only the Nikon 28mm f3.5 has been sold; the Sigma and Leica are most definately keepers, while I will ship the Pentax to my Dad.

Oddly enough , I have purchased 5 cameras this year, which is about normal.  Two of these cameras came with fixed lenses (Fuji X100 and the Fuji GA645i) and three as bodies only (Nikon F601, Pentax SFX and Sony NEX 5n).  The F601 hasn't been used at all and the GA645i has had a couple rolls through it, though I have had quite a bit of use out of both the digital bodies

An afternoon at the Distillery District - Part 4: Fujifilm X-100

Compared to the other two cameras, there's not really much left to say on this one.  One thing that struck me was that I was pulled up 3 times by complete strangers who wanted to talk to me about it.  No one showed any interest at all in the Leica or the GA645.

At one stage I had the GA645 in the bag and the Leica and X100 around my neck.  I remember one girl looking at me very quizzically as I had what would have seemed to her as two very similar cameras that I was using at the same time.  I suppose in some ways they are, just separated by 60 years.

I took a couple of the shots I took and decided to add some contrast for a different look.  I think they were reasonably successful.

An afternoon at the Distillery District - Part 2: Fujifilm GA645

This shoot was my first real go of the GA645, and it is a really nice camera to use.  Despite it being compact for a medium format camera, it totally dwarfed the other two. Not only that, it weighed almost three times as much as the feather weight X100.

The camera is relatively easy to load and use.  Any familiarity with a roll film camera previously will help the user load the camera, but it's no harder than a Nikon FE2.  The only tricky bit is winding the film to the appropriate starting point, and also remembering to click the bottom spool locators into place.

When in use it couldn't be easier.  I used aperture priority and off I went.  The viewfinder is where all the action happens.  The finder frame automatically corrects for parallex and changes substantially from infinity to minimum focus distance (approx 0.7m).  There is a read out that gives an approximation of the distance from the subject, which is all adjusted by pushing the shutter half way down, just like on a D-SLR.

Being almost totally automatic, the GA645 is much closer to the X100 than the completely manual Leica in terms of ease of use.  It really is not much more than point and shoot.

The film I used was some out of date Kodak Portra 160 NC.  This is a low contrast film, designed to be used for weddings and softer portraits.  It was probably not appropriate for the subject matter, but a good trial film.  

I am looking forward to the results!