Okay, back to regular scheduled programming. 🙂 I started using the Nikon 17-55mm 2.8 DX on the D600 because well, it’s “free.” By that I mean it’s a lens I normally have on my DX bodies. To be a crop sensor lens it’s still beastly on the D300. Combined with a speedlight, either on or off camera, that is still my preferred event/party combo.
16:9 screen capture from video
All the Nikon FX (Full Frame) cameras are smart enough to know when you’ve attached a DX lens, which is designed for sensors half the size. Luckily you can disable that feature and can use the lenses in all their vignette glory should you want. The 17-55 is interesting in that from about 28mm onward the glass is enough to cover the sensor and I essentially get a “free” modern f/2.8 autofocus lens.
In the photo above you see the shadows from the lens hood. I think it is a neat effect. It adds a border to the images reminiscent of photo scrapbooks. In shooting video it looks interesting as well. Perhaps add some dust scratches and it would seem like old timey film.
With the lens zoomed in a bit, you still get a somewhat wide field of view. If you were to stop down even more the vignetting should go away.
This image is cropped slightly and color adjusted. Like nice tailored suits, it would make sense to use the lenses that are designed for the specific format, but by using the 17-55mm glass on the D600, I get the advantage of the larger sensor’s pixels. I mean, you can’t get better than a new “free” lens. It keeps me from digging through various antique stores looking for camera gear (at least for a while).
The popular websites will tell you what new lenses to buy and it’s so hard to keep up with the photographic Jones’, but I don’t think our credit card overlords need any more power. Shoot what you got, have fun, we’ll all be forgotten after time anyway…
Here are some more examples of using DX lenses on FX sensors:
