Although the my D800 purchase is months away I'd like to make sure I don't need to upgrade lenses before buying the camera. I have a collection of Nikon and Sigma AF primes from 15 fisheye to 300 f2.8 and a few zooms I like to use most notably the 24-120 VRI and the Sigma 70-200 f2.8 HSM II and 150-500 OS. How would these lenses hold up? They work great with my D700 but I'm wondering if the higher resolution would show their faults with these lenses?

mVs
D2H, D2x, D300s, D700 & D800

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

>They work great with my
>D700

Done.

------
Webpage: http://www.ptfphoto.com

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

It's difficult for me to be certain (since I don't have a D800 myself), but my impression from wide reading of reliable sources suggests that the vast majority of lenses will work well on a D800, and will produce images with greater detail than you would see from the same lens on a D700.

Sure, to get the absolute best performance that a D800 is capable of, you may well need the best lenses, but I certainly would not worry that your lenses are suddenly going to be inadequate

Brian
Welsh Nikonian
Check out the Nikonians Team pages

You might want to have a look at Lloyd Chambers' blog: http://www.digilloyd.com/blog/2012/20120207_4-NikonD800-NikonLenses.html
I believe that he is one of the few Internet gurus who is quite trustworthy.

Tristan

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

Try them and see what you think first. I have been amazed at the results I can achieve with my 800 and some fairly reasonably priced i.e. non pro lenses. Sure the camera will let you see the limitations of a poor lens, but the results will be far better than with the same lens on an inferior camera. So just enjoy your new camera and make your own mind up.

And if worst comes to worst, and you find that one of your lenses really doesn't cut the mustard with the D800 at full res, you can always downsize files from that lens to 12mp - it will surely be no worse than the 12mp camera you had before, with the possible exception of a D3s file at ISO 12800.

_____
Brian... a bicoastal Nikonian and Team Member

My gallery is online. Comments and critique welcomed any time!

+1

Gary in SE Michigan, USA. Co-organizer of the Southern Michigan Chapter
Nikonians membership - My most important photographic investment, after the camera.
D4, D800e, D300, D90, F6, FM3a (black), FM2n (chrome)
YashicaMat 124, Graflex Speed Graphic 4x5
My Nikonians Gallery & Our Chapter Gallery

Fully opened or stopped down?

Take a look at: http://blog.mingthein.com/2012/06/30/recommended-lenses-for-the-nikon-d800e/

Bob Pierce
Potomac Falls, VA

It's not the lens, it's the camera body. But, wait, it's the photographer!! The skill!! Oh, yeah, it's both! The photographer, and skill, and after all that, once all that is resolved, and maximized, then the body begins to take charge, with the best lens. Oh my! It's all the above. You need the best skill, with the best lens on the best body to get the best results!! What a shocking development!!! And, if either of those is missing, then the end result will suffer!!

Oh, I suffer so! I need more skill, even though I've spent all this money!!

Oh, wait! At f8 they all seem to be the same! Oh, that's the solution!

F8 and be there!! (Where have I heard that?)

AviSys

One of these days, I am going to have to try to remove my Nikon 24-70 F:2.8 and see if any other lenses work!

The short answer to your question is "Yes, they will work fine."

However, in every system there is a constraining element which is why every system can be improved. You will have about the best camera money can buy. Your biggest constraint will be your own skills. But, you may also want to upgrade your 24-120 to the newer f.4.0 version which is definitely superior and will produce superior results. Of course, there are a dozen other great lenses that you will want.

I have the 150-500 OS Sigma and the 50mm/f1.4 Sigma and they both work fine on the D800 so I am sure your 70-200HSM will also work well.

There is always something you will need to upgrade or our entire capitalist system would come crumbling down. You wouldn't want to be responsible for that, would you?

Larry Miller, Annapolis, MD
D700/D800
http://www.pbase.com/lmmiller9
http://lmmillerphotography.smugmug.com/

I have the 150-500 and have used it on my D800. It works just fine. But remember that the 150-500 isn't super sharp at 500 so don't expect miracles. So if you don't have unrealistic expectations you'll be plenty pleased. I'm in the process of selling my 14-24 and 24-70 and replacing it with the 24-120 VR. I expect that will be just fine.

The Sigma 70-200 is very good and you shouldn't see anything wrong with it on the D800.

Personally, I think the "camera sees the flaws" comments are either from nitpickers or just overblown. You'll see your own flaws in photographing (technique, ability, etc) long before you see the lens flaws.