Suggestion requested for Camera Body + Lens for travel/landscape photography

[Anirban Halder]

Question for experts/seniors. I’m an amateur photographer.  I occasionally take pictures. Mostly I shoot when I travel on a vacation (yearly once/twice). I currently have Nikon D200 + 18-200mm VR II + 50mm f1.8.
I’ve decided to upgrade my gear and here are the options I’ve come up with.

Option#1: D610 + Sigma 14mm f2.8 (Used) + Nikkor 24-120mm F4.

Option#2: D750 + Sigma 14mm f2.8 (Used) + Nikkor 24-120mm F4

Option#2: D7200 + Nikkor 10-24mm/Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8  + Nikkor 24-120mm F4

Notes:
- Why do I want to upgrade? - to take larger prints of my photos, faster AF, better wide-angle options for landscape, low light photography, less tripod usage.
- I mostly take landscape shots and I observed that focal length of all my fav compositions are within 18-120mm.
- I’m not into wildlife photography and I’m not looking for long end tele lens like 300mm.
- I like to travel light and I would like to minimize number of time I will have to switch lenses.

Question, for an amateur photographer will D750 make any difference over D610? I do take some shots in low light. For landscape/wide angle - should I even consider DX like D7200/D7100?
Is Nikkor 28-300mm a better option over 24-120mm F4 for travel/landscape? Does it provide similar results as 24-120mm F4?

Any other thoughts/suggestions most welcome. If this topic has been already discussed, please let me know the link. I will close this thread.

[Jan Anne]

Hi Anirban, please note that your favourite 18-120mm range on DX translates to 27-180mm on FX, so the 24-120mm would be too short on a D610 or D750.

As a prime shooter I know bupkis about mentioned zoomlenses but others should be more knowledgable about these lenses.

Welcome to NG btw

[Bjørn Rørslett]

It's always problematic to give advice to others about gear. Firstly, because some might believe this a a 'firm' advice to be followed to the letter, secondly because one doesn't question the conditions and alternatives specified.

I understand you like travelling light and with little gear. So far so good. One way of doing this is having a single camera and a single lens, and that lens is not a big zoom, but a fast prime instead. You will be surprised how this changes your perception of the photo opportunities and possibilities, and how it can be beneficial to your photography and the insights it'll provide of the manner you envision your subjects. A recommendation always to be tried if you feel your photography stagnates.

I would also like to challenge your preference of using (very) wide lenses for landscapes. In my mind this simply means the photographer does not decide on what details are important so convey 'everything' into the final image and let the spectator decide instead. Try using a longer lens and let it force you to be more selective.

[Frank Fremerey]

The D750 is a very good choice. If you are on a budget consider a used D600 too; It will leave you another 1000 Euros for lenses.

Nikon replaces the shutter of any D600 even if it is not spilling oil on the sensor. A great camera. A real bargain currently.

Concerning lenses the 14/2.8D was never a great stunnig lens. High price slightly more than average performance.

I would consider the 20/1.8G for landscapes. Impressive lens. Can be had new for the price difference between the D750
and a used D600 in very good condition.

Then a light must have lens. The 1.8/50G. There is not more bang for the buck in Nikons lineup.

the 24-120/4.0G VR what will you use it for? Add weight?

[Anirban Halder]

It's always problematic to give advice to others about gear. Firstly, because some might believe this a a 'firm' advice to be followed to the letter, secondly because one doesn't question the conditions and alternatives specified.

I understand you like travelling light and with little gear. So far so good. One way of doing this is having a single camera and a single lens, and that lens is not a big zoom, but a fast prime instead. You will be surprised how this changes your perception of the photo opportunities and possibilities, and how it can be beneficial to your photography and the insights it'll provide of the manner you envision your subjects. A recommendation always to be tried if you feel your photography stagnates.

I would also like to challenge your preference of using (very) wide lenses for landscapes. In my mind this simply means the photographer does not decide on what details are important so convey 'everything' into the final image and let the spectator decide instead. Try using a longer lens and let it force you to be more selective.

Thank you Bjørn sir. I never thought about both the points you mentioned. Now that I think of it, it so much makes sense. I’m totally going to think it over the lens choices that I would want to carry. These are exactly the kind of suggestions I was expecting in this forum. Thank you Nikongear and thanks again Bjørn.

[Anirban Halder]

Hi Anirban, please note that your favourite 18-120mm range on DX translates to 27-180mm on FX, so the 24-120mm would be too short on a D610 or D750.

As a prime shooter I know bupkis about mentioned zoomlenses but others should be more knowledgable about these lenses.

Welcome to NG btw

Thanks Jan. Good point to keep in mind!

[Anirban Halder]

The D750 is a very good choice. If you are on a budget consider a used D600 too; It will leave you another 1000 Euros for lenses.

Nikon replaces the shutter of any D600 even if it is not spilling oil on the sensor. A great camera. A real bargain currently.

Concerning lenses the 14/2.8D was never a great stunnig lens. High price slightly more than average performance.

I would consider the 20/1.8G for landscapes. Impressive lens. Can be had new for the price difference between the D750
and a used D600 in very good condition.

Then a light must have lens. The 1.8/50G. There is not more bang for the buck in Nikons lineup.

the 24-120/4.0G VR what will you use it for? Add weight?

Thanks much, Frank. Great suggestions. I'm seriously considering D610. Nikon service center has real bad reputation in our city, so I don't want to take any chances with D600. And, D600 isn't easily available anyway.
20/1.8G - I will certainly consider. I already have the 1.8/50D AF, which is also a gem.

the 24-120/4.0G VR what will you use it for? Add weight?

I'm used to shooting with an 18-200mm VR II. Hence I was thinking replacing it with a 24-120mm will be a smoother transition on a FX body. Although I totally get your point.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

The 20/1.8 should also be put on the 'gem' list.

[Jan Anne]

I'm used to shooting with an 18-200mm VR II. Hence I was thinking replacing it with a 24-120mm will be a smoother transition on a FX body.

And there's nothing wrong with that, some favour the freedom of having a zoom range for practicality reasons where others favour creative freedom in the wider aperture range only fast prime lenses provide

In the end only the results count and only you can decide what works for you.

But talking about prime lenses, I mainly use a 14/2.8, 35/1.4, 50/1.2 and a 125/2.5 on a full frame camera.

As you mentioned wanting a 14/2.8, here's a topic about the excellent and cheap as dirt Samyang 14/2.8:
http://nikongear.net/revival/index.php?topic=3.0

[Anirban Halder]

Cool. Thanks Jan! The Samyang 14mm results are awesome. Extremely impressive.

[Frank Fremerey]

I had the 1.4/50AI, the 1.8/50D, The 1.4/50G and the 1.8/50G. I also shot a direct comparsion with the
legendary 2.0/50AI. Of all of these the 1.8/50G is the best. It offers a crazy dreamy rendering fully open
and is very good from 2.8 til 8.0. It is not only the best but also the cheapest in this field. 130 Euro is nothing
for such a performance even on hi res bodies.

The D610 is the same as the D600. Where do you live? Maybe sending the D600 to service elsewhere is a good idea?

[RobOK]

I have the 24-120 f4 on the Nikon Df and I love the combo. From my way of thinking, I would like smaller/lighter for travel. So much so I been looking at Fuji Xt-1, although I'm not sure it is THAT much smaller than a Df.

As mentioned above, for travel you might think about two primes and not the zoom?  For my tastes, the 24-120 gets heavy after a few hours.

[Anirban Halder]

The D610 is the same as the D600. Where do you live? Maybe sending the D600 to service elsewhere is a good idea?

Thanks Frank for 50mm comparison.
Regarding D600 - I personally don't want to buy a camera which Nikon themselves agreed that it has oil & dust issues. Yes, Nikon will fix it for free and may be chances are low that my sample will have problems; but why would I even take that chance and all the headache associated. For eg: I go on month long vacations. I can't/don't want to send it for servicing in the middle of vacations etc etc. In fact, we are discussing about service center even before buying the camera - that's the kind of camera is D600, I feel. Just for sheer peace of mind and better resale value, I would go for D610 which is couple hundred bucks extra. Again, this is entirely my personal opinion.

[Anirban Halder]

I have the 24-120 f4 on the Nikon Df and I love the combo.

Thanks Rob. If you please share little more of the results you are getting from 24-120, that would be very nice. Do you have a link where shots are already uploaded?

[Jørgen Ramskov]

I had a D700 and switched to a D750 not too long ago. I'm quite impressed with the D750.