Dave Benham

Nikon D700, 17-35mm AF-S at 17mm, 1/400th at f/8

Local hotel and restaurant Sway Manor hosted an event for the local Morgan sports car owners club last weekend. One of the most fantastic things about these cars is their individuality – no two are the same. It was a fantastic opportunity to give the AF-S 17-35mm lens a bit of a run out.

It’s the first time I’ve had a lens wider than 24mm to try on full frame, and it does quite literally open up a new raft of challenges. You’re potentially including so much more in the frame and composition needs to be careful and considered. The light will be varied across the frame so the exposure may have to be metered from several areas. And there’s the small matter of distortion – creatively intended or otherwise! (more…)

Cokin has launched a specialist X-Pro filter holder for the Nikon 14-24mm wide angle lens. The 14-24 has a bulbous front element with no filter thread so the holder attaches to the lens hood itself. The bad news is that for full frame users you’ll get vignetting if you shoot any wider than 18mm. No problem for DX shooters, but lots of D3X, D3 and D700 owners will be impacted.

This is one of the reasons that I chose the AF-S 17-35 f/2.8 over the 14-24 – I’d be paranoid about scratching the front element every time I used it. The 17-35 uses the same 77mm filters as my 24-70 f/2.8 and 70-200 VR. One (admittedly expensive) circular polariser will suit all three.

Oh, and it costs $624.95. But at least the shipping’s free. If you’re interested, you can order the filter holder from Adorama here.