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24-70 VR or no VR
- Thread starter dlmetzger
- Start date
PHXAZCRAIG
Forum Pro
What do you mean 'worth it'? Buy new? Upgrade from 24-70g version?
I bought the VR last May on a trip to China when my g version started getting 'zoom grind' and was rapidly becoming harder to zoom. It was over 8 years old and had been used extensively on D300, D700, D800e and D810.
Fortunately I was in Hong Kong and able to find the newly-released VR version there for $2000 - about a $400 savings over waiting 2 more days for the trip to end and buying it back home mail order.
I certainly think VR is a plus, though I didn't miss having it much over the past 8 years.
Optically, the new one is mostly better. The g version was a bit sharper in the very center, but the vr version is quite good to the edges.
Practically speaking, I only really notice two differences between the lenses. VR, when I need it. And the 82mm filter size. I carried a 77mm filter, and three lenses: 16-36, 24-70g and 80-400g. The filter would fit any of them, and any lens cap could be used between all three lenses. Now I have to go get another, bigger CP filter, and I have to keep track of the 82mm cap to put back on the one oddball lens. I don't really notice much optical difference, though it is there if you pixel peep.
Here's a shot from Hong Kong harbor a couple of hours after I bought the lens. Handheld, though braced on a railing, 36mm, 1/40th, F5.6
--
Phoenix Arizona Craig
www.cjcphoto.net
I bought the VR last May on a trip to China when my g version started getting 'zoom grind' and was rapidly becoming harder to zoom. It was over 8 years old and had been used extensively on D300, D700, D800e and D810.
Fortunately I was in Hong Kong and able to find the newly-released VR version there for $2000 - about a $400 savings over waiting 2 more days for the trip to end and buying it back home mail order.
I certainly think VR is a plus, though I didn't miss having it much over the past 8 years.
Optically, the new one is mostly better. The g version was a bit sharper in the very center, but the vr version is quite good to the edges.
Practically speaking, I only really notice two differences between the lenses. VR, when I need it. And the 82mm filter size. I carried a 77mm filter, and three lenses: 16-36, 24-70g and 80-400g. The filter would fit any of them, and any lens cap could be used between all three lenses. Now I have to go get another, bigger CP filter, and I have to keep track of the 82mm cap to put back on the one oddball lens. I don't really notice much optical difference, though it is there if you pixel peep.
Here's a shot from Hong Kong harbor a couple of hours after I bought the lens. Handheld, though braced on a railing, 36mm, 1/40th, F5.6
--
Phoenix Arizona Craig
www.cjcphoto.net
Again Craig, it's like we read from the same book. I agree with all of your assessments of the 24-70 f2.8E VR. The only thing I would add is that I think the new VR has better overall IQ, better colour, just a better overall look.
Here's a shot from Hong Kong harbor a couple of hours after I bought the lens. Handheld, though braced on a railing, 36mm, 1/40th, F5.6
--
Phoenix Arizona Craig
www.cjcphoto.net
--
Lance B
Galleries by Lance B
www.pbase.com
For me VR is a game changer (I just posted in another thread). I've found that the 24-70mm with VR gets far more use now than the non-VR version ever did. With the old lens I ended up using primes pretty often just to deal with low light. The primes do collect more light, but you also trade dof for that. The VR on the 24-70mm now gives me more flexibility to handhold.
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