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Questions regarding Nikon lenses

Daniel Christensen

Daniel Christensen

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Basically my first question is, can anybody tell me about the performance of the "Big Three" of Nikkor zooms? I'm referring to the 14-24 2.8, the 24-70 2.8 and the 70-200 2.8. I know these are top-notch for photography, I just wonder how they would perform in a motion/stills RED environment. Does the Nikon mount do auto-focus and auto-iris? Would these be worth owning and being workhorse lenses for day to day stills and motion capture? I really can't afford cine lenses, and I like to be able to work fast and light, and even CP.2's or things of that nature are 1) too expensive, 2) too big and cumbersome to try and carry around at weddings or events and 3) they're primes, and it stands to reason that you can work faster with zooms. I can't afford the jump to a $20,000 compact zoom lens from Zeiss or Canon or even Arri/Fuji. Any help would be appreciated!
 
The Nikon 14-24 f/2.8 is a BEAST, it's sharpness and image quality are unlike any other ultra wide zoom I have ever used! I have shot with most wide angle zooms and this one is my favorite. However, the rehoused version is very very expensive!
 
I have those three Nikon lenses. Optically great. I don't use autofocus so I manually hand focus. There is no hard stops to the focus ring which sucks. The iris is controlled through the camera. It works fine, but I'm used to adjusting quickly on the lens on lenses with manual aperture control. You may want to consider the Samyang lenses as they are very decent, all manual control, declicked iris, focus rings, and affordable. As for zooms, the Tokina/Angeniux 28-70 is also a great manual lens. I have one and I use it quite often.
 
I did a photo exhibition of some of my large format works in Italy this fall. Four (4) of the prints in the show were frame grabs shot on my Scarlet with a Nikon 14-24 and a 24-70. See: http://visionsfromlamorra.com

The "Osteria Veglio," "Coming Soon to La Morra," "Late Harvest Grapes," and the Views From Gabetti Monument" were all shot with the Nikon zooms and then printed 24" x 36" for the show.

Scarlet X # 1859 “Bettie Page”
“… preparing to ‘whip’ the competition …”

Zeiss Lenses:

CY 21/2.8
ZF 28/2.0
CY 35-70/3.4
CY 50/1.4
ZF100/2.0
CY 135.2.8

Nikon Lenses:
G 14-24/2.8
G 24-70/2.8
D 80-200/2.8

Tokina Lenses:

11-16/2.8
 
Optically they are fantastic. They focus the wrong direction which really really sucks. I hardly ever use them for this reason alone. You can get reversing gear follow focuses or use wireless follow focuses to remedy this.
 
I'll be going light-as-possible handheld 75% of the time, no follow focus, so hopefully the focus shouldn't be an issue.
 
Your better choices will be:
17-35mm f2.8, 28-70mm f2.8 and 80-200mm f2.8.
 
I have all three of these (14-24-70-200) and for the type of shooting you're talking about they are superb! The only issue, as has been stated is filtering the 14-24, it is difficult but not impossible...
$_12.JPG

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lee-Kit-SW1...9415755?pt=Camera_Filters&hash=item5af77ff8cb

Get the 24-70 and 70-200 Nikkors, there is not enough price difference in the older 28-70 and 80-200 to justify IMHO and the iris control through the Epic/Scarlet is easy and fast, especially if you map it to the side handle.

As for the wide I would suggest 3 options...
If you don't find yourself needing much filtration and desire the best optical quality in a wide zoom, period go with the 14-24.
If you filter often get a 17-35.
If you need really wide angle and filtering get a Tokina 11-16 2.8.

Shot on the 24-70 2.8 Nikkor on Dragon...
Elevator.jpg
 
Daniel,
it is not the price...the Beast 28-70 will do circles around current plasticy 24-70.
 
Evin Grant said:
I have all three of these (14-24-70-200) and for the type of shooting you're talking about they are superb! The only issue, as has been stated is filtering the 14-24, it is difficult but not impossible...
$_12.JPG

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lee-Kit-SW1...9415755?pt=Camera_Filters&hash=item5af77ff8cb

Get the 24-70 and 70-200 Nikkors, there is not enough price difference in the older 28-70 and 80-200 to justify IMHO and the iris control through the Epic/Scarlet is easy and fast, especially if you map it to the side handle.

As for the wide I would suggest 3 options...
If you don't find yourself needing much filtration and desire the best optical quality in a wide zoom, period go with the 14-24.
If you filter often get a 17-35.
If you need really wide angle and filtering get a Tokina 11-16 2.8.

Shot on the 24-70 2.8 Nikkor on Dragon...
Elevator.jpg
Click to expand...

too orange for me
 
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70-200 vr1 is parfocal zoom and the 24-70 is too so is the 17-35 and the tokina 11-16 is amazing wide zoom with little distortion those are the lens i use on my epic very sharp and good look too the 80-200 is not parfocal so cannot be use as a zoom more like a multi prime unless you will never zoom while filming then its amazing if not get the 70-200 vr1
 
The 17-55mm DX G is another lens worth looking at. I think it renders some of the most focus fall-off I've seen, and it's a really useful focal range. It's a beautiful lens on MX, and I have high expectations for it on Dragon. At 6K it may well vignette at the wide end, but it is just fine at 5K.

EDIT: Oh, and it seems to work completely fine on the Red Nikon mount, even though it's not on the supported list.
 
I have the 28-70mm f/2.8 D and it is hands down the sharpest zoom I've ever played with. They definitely match up to my primes (Zeiss ZFs). The only thing that sucks about it is the focus ring which is pretty difficult to handle compared to cine lenses or the Zeiss. I'm trying to get it modded by PC Hood but I haven't had any luck with getting a response from them. Check out the Photozone.de or the Ken Rockwell review for this lens and you'll see that it's comparable to the new 24-70mm G lens and even the Canon 24-70mm L II version.

Here's a still from a recent shoot with the lens on an Epic:
bros2.jpg
 
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