Recommendations for wide angle lens

[Digifrog]

Helloo

I was wondeing if anyone can give me an idea for a GooooooD wide angle lens. The wider the better, budget £250-300. It will need to be a Nikon fit (D80), and be a storming good all round WA lens. Any images given as an example of the lens' capability will be very appreciated. No Fisheyes please.

Many thanks.

Scott

[zan]

I use Canon, so I can't advise you on Nikon lenses, but have a look at the Sigma 10-20mm. From what I hear it's a very good lens (as long as you get a good copy - Sigma's quality control is a bit notorious, but they have excellent customer service and will correct any issues as necessary).

I eventually opted for a 10-17 tokina fisheye, to suit my UW photography, but I was very close to buying the sigma for a long time!

Zan

[davetucker]

Hi I would second the Sigma 10-20mm lens, I have one and the quality of landscape images is very acceptable

Dave
The Yorkshire Birder

[glsammy]

I also have the Sigma 10-20mm and rate it very highly, a very versatile lens. One of my favourites.

Not many images here taken with it, but a few

Firstly used as a close up flower lens:



A bit hard to tell the real quality from these, but some night scene shots:



These were both taken at the 20mm end.

[HowlinWolf]

Originally Posted by Digifrog

Helloo

I was wondeing if anyone can give me an idea for a GooooooD wide angle lens. The wider the better, budget £250-300. It will need to be a Nikon fit (D80), and be a storming good all round WA lens. Any images given as an example of the lens' capability will be very appreciated. No Fisheyes please.

Many thanks.

Scott

If you want a good wide angle zoom (and I mean good), I suggest saving for longer and get the Nikkor 12-24 f/4 lens. Although not at its best at 12mm, the rest of the focal lengths are excellent, with edge-to-edge sharpness, no chromatic aberration and no optical vignetting that is the bain of the wide angle lens. Plus, it's constant aperture.

HW

[Oy]

Originally Posted by HowlinWolf

If you want a good wide angle zoom (and I mean good), I suggest saving for longer and get the Nikkor 12-24 f/4 lens. Although not at its best at 12mm, the rest of the focal lengths are excellent, with edge-to-edge sharpness, no chromatic aberration and no optical vignetting that is the bain of the wide angle lens. Plus, it's constant aperture.

HW

Or even better - the newer Nikkor 14-24mm F2.8. I have it and it's a stonking lens!

On a budget - the Sigma 10-20mm takes some beating!

[eeyore]

I'm another sigma 10-20 user and rate it highly - however boddie had/has the sigma 12-24 (which for reasons i dont quite get actually has a wider anfle iof view at the 12mm end than the 10mm ) and using them side by side i came to the conclusion that the 12-24 was the better lens - however it is arround 100 quid more so it should be really.

[HowlinWolf]

Originally Posted by Oy

Or even better - the newer Nikkor 14-24mm F2.8. I have it and it's a stonking lens!

Agreed. It's the lens I'm going to replace my 12-24 with when the D700 comes out!

HW

[Hobjob]

Originally Posted by Digifrog

I was wondeing if anyone can give me an idea for a GooooooD wide angle lens. The wider the better, budget £250-300. It will need to be a Nikon fit (D80), and be a storming good all round WA lens. Any images given as an example of the lens' capability will be very appreciated. No Fisheyes please.

I'm not sure what you want this lens for.

However, if it is just a few in-house shots, or landscapes you could do what my daughter does - she does wedding photography work in south Africa on a very tight budget - which is take two shots and stitch them as panorama in Photoshop or whatever. So she gets away with no wide angle lens, and reckons it takes no longer than changing lenses on a shoot to do the stitching later when she is in any case stuck in front of the computer for 2-3 days (and time at a shoot is often important in her work).

[Digifrog]

Originally Posted by Hobjob

I'm not sure what you want this lens for.

However, if it is just a few in-house shots, or landscapes you could do what my daughter does - she does wedding photography work in south Africa on a very tight budget - which is take two shots and stitch them as panorama in Photoshop or whatever. So she gets away with no wide angle lens, and reckons it takes no longer than changing lenses on a shoot to do the stitching later when she is in any case stuck in front of the computer for 2-3 days (and time at a shoot is often important in her work).

Hi

It will be used for cityscape/landscape and the lens will often be used with a 10 stop ND filter. Yet another wallet emptying must.

Thanks for the suggestions. The Sigma 10-20mm is a good call (in my budget range) but I also have come to view that the Sigma 12-24mm as being a better lens (even if it's slightly out of my price range). The 12-24mm offers 122 degrees angle of shot as opposed to the 102 degrees from the 10-20mm. As for the Nikkor 14-24mm... not sure. At £1050.00 a bit pricey perhaps.

Scott

[HowlinWolf]

Scott:

If not considering the Nikkors, take a look at the Tokina 12-24 f/4 AT-X lens. From reviews I've read (plus various performance graphs I've seen), the Tokina is the closest rival to the Nikkor 12-24 f/4. At around the £350 mark it is slightly above your budget, but contrast performance is better than the Sigmas, plus the lens remains the same size during zooming, and the front element doesn't rotate during focusing. It is also constant aperture.

HW

[zan]

Originally Posted by Digifrog

Thanks for the suggestions. The Sigma 10-20mm is a good call (in my budget range) but I also have come to view that the Sigma 12-24mm as being a better lens (even if it's slightly out of my price range). The 12-24mm offers 122 degrees angle of shot as opposed to the 102 degrees from the 10-20mm. As for the Nikkor 14-24mm... not sure. At £1050.00 a bit pricey perhaps.

I could be wrong, but I would have expected the wider lens to give a wider angle than the slightly longer one... are you sure you're taking the crop factor into account for both lenses?

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by zan

I could be wrong, but I would have expected the wider lens to give a wider angle than the slightly longer one... are you sure you're taking the crop factor into account for both lenses?

under normal circumstances you'd be correct - however the 12-24 has a slightly convex front element which gives it a wider angle of view than the flatter 10-20

it is however a good point that the figures quoted are for full frame sensors or film - on a 1.6 cropped sensor these angles will be reduced - but the 12-24 will still be a tad wider.

[Digifrog]

Thanks a lot.

Well I am disappointed that the Sigma 12-24 uses a rear type gelatin filtering system. I think it would be a pain to take the lens off every time I want to change/remove the gelatin filter. That, and the fact that you can't protect the lens front with a screw on filter. Pity, if the Sigma 12-24 EX DG ASP HSM had a screw on filter then I'd probably get it. I'd like the 12-24 but the gelatin filter thing puts me off.

So looking now at the Sigma 10-20 (which does use a 77mm screw on filter) or the Tokina mentioned above.

Incidentally with my D80 came the Nikon 18-135mm wide angle zoom. I'm wondering if any of the above mentioned lenses will contribute any more to wide angle view, to the detriment of my bank account.

Scott

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by Digifrog

Thanks a lot.

Well I am disappointed that the Sigma 12-24 uses a rear type gelatin filtering system. I think it would be a pain to take the lens off every time I want to change/remove the gelatin filter. That, and the fact that you can't protect the lens front with a screw on filter. Pity, if the Sigma 12-24 EX DG ASP HSM had a screw on filter then I'd probably get it. I'd like the 12-24 but the gelatin filter thing puts me off.

So looking now at the Sigma 10-20 (which does use a 77mm screw on filter) or the Tokina mentioned above.

Incidentally with my D80 came the Nikon 18-135mm wide angle zoom. I'm wondering if any of the above mentioned lenses will contribute any more to wide angle view, to the detriment of my bank account.

Scott

that said - apart from the protection angle how often do you use a filter with digital anyway - cetainly warm up/cool down and colour casts are better created or dealt with in the lightroom. the same can be said for increasing saturation and reducing speeds is probably easier done by lowering iso

that effectively leaves only grads and/or polariser which wouldnt be that hard to change as they would stay on for the whole session - also it is possible to get an adaptor that screws to the bottom of the camera (on the tripod bush) and supports a cokin P or W system (or the lee filters but in a cokin holder)

Note that if you are using the p system with either WA lens it masy be necessary to cut the front slot off to avoid vignetting.

[nightshade]

Boddies 12-24 images are very good, I will stick with my good and flexible
Nikkor 18-70

[Digifrog]

Originally Posted by eeyore

that said - apart from the protection angle how often do you use a filter with digital anyway - cetainly warm up/cool down and colour casts are better created or dealt with in the lightroom. the same can be said for increasing saturation and reducing speeds is probably easier done by lowering iso

that effectively leaves only grads and/or polariser which wouldnt be that hard to change as they would stay on for the whole session - also it is possible to get an adaptor that screws to the bottom of the camera (on the tripod bush) and supports a cokin P or W system (or the lee filters but in a cokin holder)

Note that if you are using the p system with either WA lens it masy be necessary to cut the front slot off to avoid vignetting.

With the 10-20mm lens for example, the aim generally is to use the wide angle lens with a 10 stop ND filter (B+W ND 3.0).

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by Digifrog

With the 10-20mm lens for example, the aim generally is to use the wide angle lens with a 10 stop ND filter (B+W ND 3.0).

10 stops that must be practically opaque .

what are you doing that requires that much reduction ? (for silky water etc i usually acheive the reduction by going to ISO 50 on the special functions and selecting a narrow apperture - tho very ocassionally i might use a 1 or 2 stop ND if the light is very bright)