What would you do?

[Coach]

I'm looking for some advice. I'll be purchasing a Nikon D7000 and to reduce the cost I'll be trading in one of my lenses. What I'd like to know is if you were me which lens would you give up? Here is my list of lenses.

1) Nikon 18-200mm VR2
2) Nikon 50mm 1.8
3) Nikon 35mm 1.8
4) Tokina 11-16mm 2.8*
5) Toknia 16-60mm 2.8

Right now I'm using a Nikon D200 which I'll be keeping. I've been an amateur photographer for 40+ years. I enjoy using natural light as much as possible. I love taking landscapes but portraits are not a priority. If it helps any the Tokina 11-16mm will NOT be one of the lenses that will go.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Gianna'sPapa]

Based on the info provided, I would probably let the 50mm go. With a crop sensor camera, other than for portraits, I have never found the 50mm focal length to be as useful as the others you have listed. Of course, I am more of a zoom type person than a user of prime lenses. You do have the 50mm covered with the 2.8 Tokina's, the 18-200 for general walkaround and the 35 1.8 low light situations.

 

[JoeDif]

For your style, I'd also go with selling the 50

 

[annnewjerz]

Agreed on the 50. However, you are probably looking at getting the smallest amount of money to sell/trade that lens, so if you are looking to get the biggest chunk to put towards the D7000 another lens may be the way to go.

 

[ssanders79]

I'd go with the 50 too.

 

[mabas9395]

There is small, free software out there that you can point at a folder of photos and it will dump out a statistics report telling you all sorts if things about the settings and equipment used. I can't think of the name of one right now. But it can give you a chart showing how often each lens is used or each focal length is used (like do you always set your zooms to 50mm).

Maybe someone can suggest one of those programs and you can use it to find what is your truly least used lens. In my case, I really love the results from my 85mm f1.8 and would have sworn it's one of my most used lenses. Turns out I don't use it nearly as much as I thought (while the results are great, I guess it's not that versatile). So while I'll never give it up, the evidence suggests I should if I needed to.

 

[Gdad]

+1 for selling the 50/1.8 if it's just a token gesture of giving up something to get something- but the $75 you will probably fetch for it on the used market will probably not make much of a dent in the D7000 cost.

Why exactly are you hanging on to the D200? Given your whole list I think I'd be looking there for some fund raising unless you just want a two camera kit.

 

[YesDear]

50

 

[Coach]

Thanks everyone for your input. I know I won't get much for the 50mm. My DW and I will be doing our kitchen over next month and after paying for that project anything to reduce the cost of the D7000 will help. As for the D200 I'm going to keep it because I've grown very fond of it. I remember when I traded in my D100 for the 200, I regretted it for a long time. Plus, like you said, there will be times where I might want the option of carrying two bodies.