I am welcoming back to my collection of lenses a lens that I had way back in 2010 when it came out, and that is the Nikon 24-120 f4.
I shot with this lens for almost 2 years and always loved the images that it produced. Unfortunately I always had an internal battle with this lens because it was viewed by “some lens
reviewers/photographers” as a “kit lens” when Nikon began packaging it with their full frame cameras. Back then I allowed those “lens reviewers” to influence me a bit too much because I thought “how can I be taken seriously as a photographer when I use a kit lens instead of my Nikon 24-70 f/2.8?”, so I ended up selling the 24-120 and sticking with the 24-70.
Fast forward to 2020… I, as I suspect most photographers do along their creative journey, began to demand more from myself and my images as a photographer. I got bored with looking at the “same old type of images” I was taking with my zooms, so I upgraded my prime lens collection and began to use them exclusively for a while on my photo treks. The issues I was having with my primes was that I was getting frustrated with changing lenses so often when I was locked in a tight spot and saw something that I wanted to go from wide to tele or vice versa. Add to that, I also had to be constantly changing filter ring adapters with each lens change. Don’t get me wrong, no zoom lens beats a prime for sharpness or clarity and I really love my primes, but I have realized that when I am out and about (especially someplace new) I love the freedom a zoom offers.
So with all of that being said, my wife and I have begun planning a “little” photography trip for next year and I decided that I needed to add a lens with a little more versatility than the 24-70 and my primes offered, which is why I brought back the 24-120. I have realized that “a photographer should not be judged on what equipment they capture their images with, but rather it is the images that the photographer captures that they should be judged upon”.
I am still demanding of good image quality, and the 24-120 f4 is good enough for me and the way I shoot for most situations. I will be including a couple of primes in my bag on that trip which will allow me to stretch my creative wings for any situation that I may encounter.
Next up, I will be doing a full write up with PLENTY of pics comparing the 24-70, 24-85, 24-120 and the 28-300 against each other. I will also compare the best of those lenses again primes in similar focal ranges.
Michael Besant Photography 