Rent a Lens

For my trip to New York City I need a (zoom)lens with a wide angle. My current 24-70 (which is a great lens) doesn't give me the wide angle I need on a crop-camera. So I was looking for a zoom lens with a bit more wide angle.

The 17-55mm f/2.8 AF-S DX (etc) would suit my needs. Enough wide angle and a bit of zoom. No need for 100* zoom lenses because it's New York. Everything is cramped on top of each other. If I need zoom, I can always get a 1.7TC @ Adorama or B&H Photo in New York.

The 17-55 is bit on the expensive side (>1000 euros), so I rented it for the week @ Kamera-Express. Not that expensive, and now I got a decent lens for exploring New York. I just hope that the lens isn't that good, otherwise I need to have it ;-).

Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S Lens

Last Thursday, I received a phone call from my local photography store. At first I thought that my 52mm circular pola filter had arrived, but NO... The long awaited arrival of my Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S lens had come.

First, I noticed that the lens was heavy and large (compared to my 'old' Sigma 28-70mm f/2.8). On the other hand, the Nikon is 4 times more expensive....

Most notable when shooting the the lightning-fast auto-focus. On the D300 is a 3D-tracking mode. I had no problems in tracking a couple of (really) low flying F-16's that day. Normally, I have a hard time tracking birds (which don't fly that fast). So thumbs up for the Silent Wave Auto-Focus (AF-S).

There is a downside to this lens (apart from being heavy)... It makes you wanna upgrade every other lens. Currently the 17-35mm f/2.8D IF-ED AF-S, or the 17-55mm f/2.8 IF-ED AF-S DX, and the 70-200mm f/2.8G IF-ED AF-S comes to mind :P

NYC in Prime

In a couple of weeks I'm off to New York for a couple of days. This time I'm packing a DSLR instead of the old Canon IXUS V. And to save my back (and neck), I'm not taking any of the regular zoom lenses with me. It's just gonna be me and a couple of prime lenses. These lenses aren't as flexible as a zoom lens, but they weigh a lot less Three primes approx. equals 1 nice zoom lens (nearly 2 pounds), but you mount only 1 lens at a time on the camera.

Currently I've got a 35mm f/2D and a 50mm f/1.8D prime for my D300. The lack of zoom capabilities will force me to be a little more creative while strolling the streets of NYC.

It would be nice to have a 24mm f/2.8 (or 20mm f/2.8) as well for a little more wide angle. Downside is that those are relatively pricey, or not available. the biggest photo/video store in NYC sell those at low prices, but they're out of stock.....

UPDATE: first images of the Nikon 35mm f/2D looks promising. The lens is a bit larger than the 50mm f/1.8, but image quality looks better (contrast, colors).