Going for wide angle - suggestions welcome

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13 Feb 2011 - 6:56 PM

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Ok so I've decided its time to add a new lens to my setup, and since I didn't win the lotto its going to be something more modest than the 300mm - so time for a wide angle lens.
I've done some reading around and I've boiled it down to the following options:

Tokina 11-16mm f2.8

Bonus of this lens is both its constant aperture and the fact that it offers the widest aperture of all the macro lenses on offer - it does however have the smallest focal range coverage of the set

Sigma 8-16mm f4.5-5.6
Bonus of this is that it offers the widest possible focal range (without going fishy) of the set. It's downside is the variable aperture and its not the widest aperture either.
Note from what I've read this one is also a cut above (image quality wise) than the sigma 10-20mm and canon 10-20mm offerings as well (esp with less field curvature at 10mm).
Note 2 - this lens is also not compatible with regular filter systems though there are some tricks out there and LeeFilters are said to be working on a specific filter holder for this lens.

Sigma 10-20mm f3.5
A solid choice for many (the variable aperture version) this version offers around the midpoint in aperture coverage.



So far I think I am warming a lot to the 8-16mm lens even with its no conventional filter factor (sue me I like the idea of working with square filters in a filter holder). However I'm open to being convinced of the merits of the others as well.

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19 Feb 2011 - 4:48 PM

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Thanks Swwils - the only thing I do notice though is that the Tokina has a regular focusing system and not some form of fulltime manual focusing. This is something that I know I would miss in a lens (I already miss it greatly in my 70mm macro) since I do AF control through the backbutton on the camera - so I just default to pressing or not pressing it for the difference. Having to flick the AF/MF switch isn't hard, but it is a pain if you have to remember to actually do it in a split second.

The thing is I'm feeling more and more that, even though it has the variable aperture and the smallest aperture range, the 8-16mm might be the best option for going wide and having a nice larger focal range coverage (I've also read some saying that its distortion at 10mm isn't as bad as the 10-20mm at 10mm)

SimonAtkinson

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28 Feb 2011 - 2:49 PM

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Have you thought of the Tokina 12-24 F4 had it myself and it was fantastic, probably exactly the same image quality (less distortion?) and abit better focal range. Constant f4 aperture is very useful too.

KevinEllison (e2 Member)

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1 Mar 2011 - 10:01 AM

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...And another vote for sigma's 10-20 from me...though I'd like a play with that 8-16 of theirs..!

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6 Mar 2011 - 12:52 AM

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Ahhh forgot to update the thread!

In the end whilst I've heard great things from all the options (honestly I don't think there is an optically poor choice to make here) the 8-16mm won out in the end for me! Though I've still to get used to using it (sooo wide!) it appears very sound optically and I hope to get some great results once I get the hang of it and get out there shooting more!