Nikon introduces a new lens (or more), and the emails start coming in: should I trade my X for a Y? The fear of missing out (FOMO) seems to drive one heck of a lot of lens purchases.
Here’s my general take on things: the S-line lenses are better. But they’re more expensive. A lot of these X for Y trade questions involve an S-line lens versus a non S-line one. So are you a quality shopper or a bargain shopper?
Let’s take a couple of those recent “should I trade” questions and assess them.
“Should I swap my 70-200mm f/2.8 VR S for the 70-180mm f/2.8?” Only two reasonable reasons exist to do this: (1) you’re trying to downsize (save weight and space); and (2) you’re all-in on the Tamrikon trio (17-28mm, 28-75mm, 70-180mm, which all share 67mm filters). If you already have a 70-200mm f/2.8 VR S you have one of the best telephoto zooms ever made, and you won’t after you trade it for the 70-180mm. You’ll also have wasted money in the process of jumping around on lenses. On the other hand, the 70-180mm is a smaller, lighter travel lens. My problem is that I often need both options. Sometimes I travel as compactly as possible, sometimes I need best possible quality. Thus, I choose which lens I’m taking with me based upon a particular criteria. However, most of you want to keep your lens count down and have one primary need, so you make your decision based upon that.
“Should I swap my 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 VR S for the 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3?” This is a bit of a different story, in that we’re talking about two different focal range emphases. The 100-400mm is more of the third lens in a high-quality zoom trio to extend your range (e.g. 14-30mm, 24-120mm, 100-400mm). The 180-600mm is really just for long, but flexible telephoto use. You probably already know which category you fall into here, and whether you need one lens over the other. But again we have that S-line lens versus a non S-line lens thing. The price difference alone should tell you something about Nikon’s attention to making one at the highest levels, and the other at consumer levels.
Which brings me to a more general comment.
We’re now at the stage where we have a pretty broad assortment of lenses available that cover the 14-200mm focal range, plus a pretty impressive quiver of telephoto options, as well. An assortment already big enough to cause many to worry about whether they are making the right choices.
For example, if I were contemplating two-lens “travel” kits, I’d now have the following choices to contemplate:
- 14-30mm f/4 S and 28-75mm f/2.8
- 17-28mm f/2.8 and 28-75mm f/2.8
- 24-70mm f/4 S and 70-180mm f/2.8
- 24-120mm f/4 S and 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 VR S
That list isn’t close to exhaustive, just the four combos that appeal to me most.
While there’s a range of “image quality” scattered in those lens, none are a dud, a lens you should absolutely avoid. Thus, you should be choosing lenses to purpose, period. If you’re reproducing flat artwork and need edge to edge sharpness, it’s going to be an S-line prime, probably one of the 50mm ones, or perhaps the 105mm Micro-Nikkor. If you need the longest safari/birding reach you can get, you’re down to 180-600mm or 800mm. If you need small, portable gear, you’re using a Z5, Z6, or Z7 body and should look at the compact primes (or stick with the 24-70mm f/4 S). The list goes on, but it always devolves to the same thing: right lens for purpose.
Too many folk get invested in the “need everything” notion. There’s a lens for that: the 24-200mm f/4-6.3. Not the best lens at anything, but a reasonably decent lens at everything.
The “should I change” question is only going to get asked more as we get additional Nikkor offerings and the third parties start providing other options. If you are already in this “do I have the right lens” type of thinking, it’s time to sit down and do a real rationalization analysis of what you need and which current (and known future) lenses meet your needs.
Personally, I’m happy with the current Nikkor offerings. I’m currently considering reducing the Z-mount lenses I keep down to just the six or so that I really use. Of course, new lenses keep getting launched and I have to put them in the kit for awhile so that I can adequately review them, but I’ve noted that a lot of those tend to be just temporary residents in my gear closet.
Bonus: You can really make yourself crazy by falling into the adapter trap: we now have lens adapters that work well to convert Canon and Sony mount lenses to the Z-mount (plus, of course, there’s Nikon’s own FTZ adapter for F-mount lenses). Suddenly, that opens up hundreds of other lenses to use on your Z System camera. I call the action of sampling other mount lenses Trivial Pursuit, because most of the time the folk that are spending their money this way are pursuing trivial gains (and sometimes with a hidden cost).
