The "beast" lens I rented
I decided to rent a Nikon 70-200 2.8 for a special event this past weekend…it’s now at Fedex headed home To put things in context the lenses I own are two kit lenses (18-55 and 55-200) and two manual focus sigmas (55-80 … lately my go-to lens, 80-300.)
A couple of differences I noticed…first how heavy the 70-200 is..huge difference from what I have..at 3.2 lbs it’s
Super moon captured with "the beast"
3x + the weight of the 55-200. Second how sharp it is….I was able to get some decent images of the moon Sat night…could practically see the “green cheese.” I’m so used to shooting with the 28-80 manual sigma that I wish I had spent more time using the 70-200 to brush up on my AF familiarity.
I’m not sure where I go from here lens-wize. At this point since I’ve only gotten my camera in Dec and knowing that I tend to be a bit ADD with hobbies actually getting the 70-200 is not something for now. However, I am thinking at some point in the near future I’d like a non-kit AF lens…perhaps a prime…people seem to rave about the 50 1.4 and that’s way cheaper. I like shooting a variety of things so I’m not sure if primes are the best choice for me unless I eventually get several.
Anyway, I’m very glad I rented it as I got good results for a relative n00b and it was a good learning experience (in addition to making the people involved in the event happy ) I will say lens rental is a good option for special occasions and just trying out a costly lens before buying it. I have to agree with a gentleman on one of the forums who said it’s hard to go back once you’ve used such a lens but for now it’s back to the sigmas and the nikon 55-200 3.5.