# FX lens on DX body?



## Da Plant Man (Apr 7, 2010)

Before I get all excited about saving up money to buy the nikkor 70mm-300mm, its okay to use FX lens on a DX body, right? It'll just be a little more zoomed in, correct? 

Also, is 300mm enough? I'm seeing its only 4.3x zoom, while my old point and shoot had 10x...


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## Da Plant Man (Apr 7, 2010)

With my DX body, its actual focal length will be 105-450mm, right?


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## Nubster (Aug 9, 2011)

DX is a crop factor of 1.5. And yeah, an FX lens on a DX body is not an issue.


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## Da Plant Man (Apr 7, 2010)

and even though I have a D5100 (does not have auto focus built in) I can use just AF lens, not AF-S. I really would like to upgrade to an FX body later on, like maybe the D800 or D3s. I wouldn't have auto focus, but I never use that anyways.


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## i'm a ninja (Aug 2, 2009)

You have to buy AF-S lenses, they have a motor in the lens to power the autofocus, which is what you need with a D5100. In older lenses the autofocus is driven by a screw in the camera body, which the D5100 does not have.


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## stewardwildcat (Feb 24, 2010)

FX lenses will also have less vignetting I have FX lenses on my D7000


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## Da Plant Man (Apr 7, 2010)

I know it won't have autofocus. If I get it, can I just use manual?


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## i'm a ninja (Aug 2, 2009)

Yeah you can just manually focus the lenses, they will meter just fine so exposure will be correct. And as for your original question of will 300mm be enough: on DX 300mm plenty, I hardly ever zoom my 70-300 past the 200mm mark when I have it mounted on my D80. And even if its not the D5100 has a high enough resolution that you could crop the photo down later with no negative effects.


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## teah (Jul 25, 2010)

Using a FX lens on DX camera, you can profit from the sweet spot advantage of the lens. As usually, the sharpest area is in the center of the lens...


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## toofazt (Jun 18, 2005)

Da Plant Man said:


> Also, is 300mm enough? I'm seeing its only 4.3x zoom, while my old point and shoot had 10x...


Optical is always clearer than digital. Your point and shoot basically cropped the picture to zoom.


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## Da Plant Man (Apr 7, 2010)

toofazt said:


> Optical is always clearer than digital. Your point and shoot basically cropped the picture to zoom.


No it didn't. The lens actually zoomed that much. It was a fujifilm finepix something, but the zoom on that one was insane.


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## shinycard255 (Sep 15, 2011)

Da Plant Man said:


> No it didn't. The lens actually zoomed that much. It was a fujifilm finepix something, but the zoom on that one was insane.


+1 to optical zoom being better than digital zooms. I always tell people when buying P&S cameras to stay away from digital zoom if you can because all it does is just zoom in on that area of the photo. It makes it more grainy and just zooms into that portion of the photo, so essentially you are getting a worse picture out of it.

Even though the lens zooms in that much, it's using the digital zoom which hurts the image in the long run.


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## TickleMyElmo (Aug 13, 2009)

It is possible to have a very long optical zoom on a Point and Shoot Camera. Mine has a 20x Optical Zoom, which is equivalent to about 500mm on a full frame camera. Of course nowhere near the quality of the DSLR, but it still zooms in that far without cropping anything or zooming in digitally....all optical, and the results aren't half bad.


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## shinycard255 (Sep 15, 2011)

Yes, if you do the research and find the right camera, it is possible to have an INSANE amount of optical zoom... but it doesn't happen often


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## Da Plant Man (Apr 7, 2010)

Glad thats settled, lol. 

Also, for Nikon, which speedlight is best? I want one that can attach to my camera and can be remote. Any recommendations? It would be for aquarium and general use. 

Gah, I need a job. I wanna spend 1k on glass and more on accessories, lol.


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## Da Plant Man (Apr 7, 2010)

So.... I'm guessing the SB-700 is good? I researched it a little.


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## TickleMyElmo (Aug 13, 2009)

The best would be a SB-910, most affordable would be a SB-700...or SB-600 if you can find one used (Nikon discontinued them in favor of the SB-700)

Unfortunately, neither can be used remotely without buying anything else since your D5100 doesn't have commander mode built in. You'd have to buy a flash trigger. 

Normally their very expensive for quality ones, but you can pick up a cheap 
cowboystudio set (transmitter and receiver) for $20 that works really well for the price...

http://www.amazon.com/CowboyStudio-NPT-04-Channel-Wireless-Receiver/dp/B002W3IXZW

The only downside is that you cant use TTL or any of the auto modes on the flash when on these wireless triggers. You would have to set the flash manually.

Now you see why having commander mode is a big deal. If you did, and used a Nikon speedlight, you would be able to set the power level and flash exposure compensation from the commander menu on the camera without ever touching the flash.


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## Da Plant Man (Apr 7, 2010)

Yeah... Commander mode would be a giant plus. I will get a D800 soon enough. I want to learn all the basics, then upgrade maybe in 6 months. Its also going to take that amount of time to save up enough money.


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## FlyingGiraffes (Jan 30, 2011)

If you're taking photos of your fish or something you'll want your flash off camera. If you're getting a d800 you'll want glass to match.


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## teah (Jul 25, 2010)

The only different thing between 700 and 600 is the white card on 700 I think. But you can DIY and save around $100


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