worth upgrading to this lens?

colinuk · 23 Jul 2008 at 18:32

I have now this lens, Nikon 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR AF-S DX Nikkor Lens.

But looking around for a lens on my 2nd camera, i see this lens;

Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8G IF-ED AF-S DX Lens

Now the 2ns one is about £400 more than the 1st one. better f stop and no VR, but has anyoen used this lens , is it good enough to justify the £400 increase?

Going to be used for weddings this one.

TYIA

ColiN

mrk · 23 Jul 2008 at 18:45

It is a great lens, build quality is better than my Canon 17-55 2.8 IS though they are roughly the same size and and feel just as weighty as each other.

It's very sharp at all zooms and all apertures, just like the Canon but costs dearly so you're paying the premium for the build quality on the whole but it is a serious piece of glass and assuming you're using it a lot on weddings it will have paid for itself after a couple of shoots

VR is not really needed on a lens of this zoom range for general use but it can be very handy for weddings in dark churches because many don't allow flash during the ceremony and I found myself needing IS even at 2.8 in many churches.

That is of course if you don't want to go above 400-640iso otherwise you go beyond the shutter speed for ideal IS usage

plum · 23 Jul 2008 at 19:42

ive got the 17-55mm and its a great fast lens with sharp images, i got mine second hand for just under £600 from that great auction site we cant mention

robmiller · 23 Jul 2008 at 19:46

If you don't need the build quality, consider a third party alternative--the Tamron 17-50 2.8 is great and a very similar range, or you can sacrifice the wider end for some extra reach with the equally good Sigma 24-70 2.8.

Both are orders of magnitude cheaper than the Nikon, with build quality the only perceptible difference.

colinuk · 23 Jul 2008 at 19:58

Tamron 17-50, will check that out, found that the wide angle is needed more than reach in weddings for me at the mo, unless im doing it wrong.

Cheers for the advice poeple. its a good lens, but im still skeptikal of spending that amount on something i have not tested myself yet, might rent one 1st.

<ColiN>