Sports Photo Guy -- Gear -- Normal Lenses

Gear

Normal Lenses

gear photo
Nikon 85/f1.8D, Nikon 50/f1.4, Nikon 28-70/f3.5-4.5D, Tamron 28-75/f2.8D,
Nikon 28-200/f3.5-5.6G, Nikon 18-55/f3.5-5.6G DX

Sigma 30mm F1.4 EX DC HSM

One of my more recent acquisitions, this is a great lens and has replaced the Nikon 50/f1.4 in my lens lineup. Only for use with 1.5x crop factor DSLRs, this is a great lens for shooting basketball "under the backboard" as well as a good general-purpose lens for low-light shooting. Particularly impressive is its resistance to flare. See the 30/f1.4 compared to the 50/f1.4 here.

Nikon 85mm f/1.8D AF Nikkor

Not what people would normally consider a 'normal' lens, I include this gem here because of its compact size, sharpness, and suitability as a great portrait lens. Basically a smaller, cheaper, and slower version of the legendary 85/f1.4, this is also an excellent indoor sports lens, particularly for basketball in dimly lit arenas.

Nikon 50mm f/1.4 AF Nikkor

The fastest lens I (or most people, for that matter) own, this is a great choice when the light is questionable and you have to get the shot. In the DSLR era, the 50mm focal length isn't as useful as it used to be, and Sigma has tried to capitalize on this fact with the introduction of their 30/f1.4 lens (which I have yet to try).

Nikon 28-70 f/3.5-4.5D AF Nikkor

Another from my knock-around collection, this isn't a bad lens and has a convenient macro mode. Small and compact, it's handy when I don't have a lot of space. Discontinued by Nikon.

Tamron SP AF28-75MM F/2.8 XR Di LD Aspherical (IF)

This has become my preferred "normal" lens, though its DSLR equivalence of 42-112mm is somewhat limiting. Very sharp throughout its zoom range, mine had a severe backfocus issue with the D70 which required a trip to Tamron to fix. Nice basketball lens with a perfect zoom range for this sport.

Nikon 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED-IF AF Zoom-Nikkor

This alphabet soup of a lens deserves the length of its name. Not outstanding anywhere in its range, it is pretty good all over, and makes a great all-purpose lens, particularly on a film SLR. Much smaller (62mm filter size vs 72mm) than Nikon's first attempt in this range, it is also better optically.

Nikon 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor

I acquired this lens specifically for use with my D70i as it was inexpensive, covered a useful range for IR landscapes, and produced decent images when well stopped down (which I can afford with the D70i). It is a very nice lens, however, despite its modest cost and humble appearance.

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Last modified: 07.02.17