D610 Advice

[binnie]

Hi Guys,

I need some help i am thinking od upgrading my D90 to my first full frame camera a D610.

My kit currently consists of a DX 35mm f1.8G, a DX 16-85 f3.5-5.6G and an FX 70-300mm.

My Question is does anyone use any DX lenses on their FX body? I've priced a body and a 24-85mm FX lens and its more than i am willing to spend in one go. If i can get away with using my old 16-85mm without too much trouble i will still get the D610 and use my curent lenses until i can afford to buy the 24-85mm FX lens ar a later date.

Thanks Guys,
Anna

[Cage]

Hi Anna,

Have a look at this on the Nikon website. http://www.nikonusa.com/en/Learn-And-Explore/Article/g588ouey/the-dx-and-fx-formats.html

If I'm reading it correctly, your current lens should work fine with the proviso that they will have an automatic 1.5 crop. Therefore your 16-85mm would become a 24-127mm lens.

[arthurking83]

Like Cage said, the lenses are cropped, and if the camera is not set to the 16x24 format, you will see darkened edges in your images taken with the Dx lenses.

That being said, I think it's usually best to not set the camera to the Dx format, but instead leave it at the full Fx(24x36) format, and crop later via your software.

While it may sound tedious to do, most software will have a feature where you can crop on a wholesale basis .. that is crop any/all images in one action.

Another reason to not set the camera to crop mode, is that at some settings on your Dx lenses, you can actually get more image out of the lens than the Dx crop mode captures.
The 35/1.8 is known for this, and while it has a lot of vignetting in Fx mode, this can be adjusted for in PP too.

Get the D610 if you think you want it, and work of getting a proper sized lens for it later as finances allow.

ps. the D610 may be like other Nikon full frame cameras and have other crop modes too.
Fx is 24x36, Dx is 16x24 .. but you may also find other crop modes such as 24x30 or 20x30. These other crop modes could be useful as well.

As for the question as to whether anyone else uses Dx lenses on Fx cameras.
I did for a bit over a year.
Didn't really have any ultra wide angle lenses for my D800, so just kept using the Sigma 10-20 in both Dx mode and Dx mode.
In the end, I used it more in Fx mode and cropped accordingly, and the lens was capable of allowing up to a 1:1 aspect ratio crop .. is. close to 24x24, conmpared to the 16x24 mode it was supposedly restricted too.

In the end I got myself a full sized UWA lens to replace the 10-20, but if the need ever arises again, I'd have no issue with using the 10-20 again on the D800.

[glennb]

Hi Guys,

I need some help i am thinking od upgrading my D90 to my first full frame camera a D610.

My kit currently consists of a DX 35mm f1.8G, a DX 16-85 f3.5-5.6G and an FX 70-300mm.

My Question is does anyone use any DX lenses on their FX body? I've priced a body and a 24-85mm FX lens and its more than i am willing to spend in one go. If i can get away with using my old 16-85mm without too much trouble i will still get the D610 and use my curent lenses until i can afford to buy the 24-85mm FX lens ar a later date.

Thanks Guys,
Anna

You should have no problem, I have only done a few test shots with my d610 using my dx55-300 and it seems work fine. Looking at your lenses listed and notice you don't use ultra wide lenses so you might find that you will use the fx70-300 more often on your d610 anyway as you will not have the 1.5 crop any more. eg your 16-85dx is 24-127(ff). so 70-127 will be covered to with your 70-300 which is "what you have been used too" in FF , so your 16-85 will just need to cover 24-70mm(ff) in DX mode and remember I think its 10.5MP of use in crop mode. Hope this makes sense ;-/

[I @ M]

There are plenty of good ideas listed in the thread to help you binnie and I will put up 3 images to illustrate something.
The 35mm F/1.8 lens that you already own is a very very good lens especially at the price they sell for and I would advise you to keep it.
Yes, it is a DX specific lens but it WILL work on an FX body quite well.
I experimented with it quite some time ago an here are the results.
The image below ( x3 ) is nothing great but it does illustrate the capabilities. It has merely been saved as a jpeg from the nef with the Nikon "standard" picture control applied in each case. The first image is purely that conversion. The second image has had the "vignette control" applied at 100% in Capture NX 2 and the third image has had the vignette control and a colour control point applied at the corners to maximise the area that you could use after a very small crop. I can't find the later images that I took with the lens hood off, they had even less darkening at the edge of the frame. This image was taken with the hood on because I always use hoods and fitted it that day purely out of habit.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/9582534/35dx%20on%20D700originalfacebook.JPG

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/9582534/35dx%20on%20D700vcfacebook.JPG

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/9582534/35dx%20on%20D700cpfacebook.JPG

[binnie]

Thanks for all the fantastic advice, I am leaning towards taking the plunge and getting the body first... and i will still have my D90 should the need arise.

Thanks Again Guys :)

[arthurking83]

I believe that the 35/1.8Dx lens vignettes at infinity focus(as per I@M's images show), but that at closer focus distances, it's much less so with no mechanical vignetting(the hard darkended areas seen at the corners).
So if you were to temporarily use the 35/1.8Dx lens as a makeshift portrait lens, you won't see the black corners as much as shown in Andrew's sample images.

I'm pretty confident that you'll be happy with the D610 once it's in your hands, and with any lens mounted to it(Dx or Fx) .. and once you have accustomed to it, the D90 will sit unused.

As for the Nikon 24-85mm lens you also want, eventually .. for not a lot of extra expense, I'm sure you could set your sights on a much better general type lens.
One lens that immediately springs to mind is Sigma's 24-105 f/4.
I think it may only cost $200(ish) more than the Nikon 24-85, but image quality is supposedly superior, and as you zoom past the 50mm focal length, you also have one extra stop of aperture if you ever need it from the Sigma lens.
The faster f/3.5 aperture of the Nikon lens at 24mm, vs the Simga's f/4 at 24mm is for all intents and purposes going to be negligible/irrelevant in 99.9% of situations.
Overall(compared to the Nikon 24-85) a much better lens for their respective price points.


Just something else to contemplate.

good luck with whatever you decide too .. and be sure to post pics when you're done.