Can someone help-12-24 or 10-20

Can someone help? Which lens is the sharpest. Which lens is the best to use with the D200, the 10-20 or the 12-24. I am going to buy a D200 and I am looking for an ultra wide lens for the D200. I have a D70s right now with a Nikon 20mm f/2.8 and 50mm f/1.5. lens.

I heard that the Tokina 12-24 has a constant f/4. Is that true?

I heard that the Sigma can be used with a FF camera. Is that true?

Some say that the Tonkina 12-24 is sharper than the Nikon 12-24. I don't know how it is better.

Anyone have any experience with any of these lenses.

Search this Forum. MANY reviews, photos, and discussions on these two lenses over the past month. Overall, I believe the Sigma won over the Tokina, even though both are good lenses. But less CA, distortion, vignetting, etc with the Sigma, plus and extra 2mm which makes a difference. I use this lens with my D200 and no complaints.

John Novak said:

John Novak wrote:
I heard that the Sigma can be used with a FF camera. Is that true?

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Others have already answered to your other questions. So, I won't repeat. However, no one said anything about Sigma's usage on FF. Sigma makes two super wides. One is 12-24. That can be used with FF. Sigma also makes a 10-20. That cannot be used with FF at any focal length. As a matter of fact, the 10-20 Sigma is reported to have the smallest image circle of all the super wide zooms.

--
Speed is significant and interesting but accuracy is downright fascinating
http://www.pbase.com/pradipta

Mr Dutta. What do you mean by this.......As a matter of fact, the 10-20 Sigma is reported to have the smallest image circle of all the super wide zooms.

When you say smallest image circle, do you mean the picture is round and has to be straightened out in software. I'm not sure what you mean. could you or someone explain. Thank You.

Taken with a 12-24 DX on a film camera -- the DX lens does not cover the entire film -- it has a smaller image circle:



--
Roger

http://tinius-photo.com/Roger

I recently bought the Sigma 10-20mm, and it is absolutely fantastic. The build quality is top notch (Still not equal to the high end Nikkors, but better than my 18-70 AFS). Very little flare, even wide open with sunsets in the image. No vignetting or light falloff with a thin UV filter, but there is a bit if a neutral density or polarizer is stacked over the thin UV. Edge to edge sharpness is close to the 12-24 nikon that I also tested before buying. I would give the sharpness by a nod to the Nikon here IMHO. Focussing (HSM) was fast and very accuratre. Not quite up to the 70-200 AFS VR, but equal or better than the 18-70 AFS.

I did not look at the Tokina 12-24, so others will have to fill you in on it's properties. The 10mm f4 setting is what I use this lens mostly for wide area panoramas. It does add significant range below the 18-70, and I'd buy it again in a heartbeat for the price. If the price was equal, I'd go with the Nikon.
--
Photograph today for tomorrows memories

John Novak said:

Can someone help? Which lens is the sharpest. Which lens is the
best to use with the D200, the 10-20 or the 12-24. I am going to
buy a D200 and I am looking for an ultra wide lens for the D200. I
have a D70s right now with a Nikon 20mm f/2.8 and 50mm f/1.5. lens.

Click to expand...

As to which is sharper, sample variation will override I or anyone else can tell you in regards to sharpness. the tok has a slightly better rep with regards to edge to edge sharpness. i tested two samples of tokina and one of the sigma and mi sig was equally sharp in the center. big knocks for me were the horrific CA on the tok and soft edges on the sigma--which is not alltogether surprising considering the answer to another of your quesitons belwo.

John Novak said:

I heard that the Tokina 12-24 has a constant f/4. Is that true?

Click to expand...

yes---although for these WA lenses, I found it to be not as big a deal as i thought it would be. handholdng at sloooow shutters is very possible at these wide focal lengths

John Novak said:

I heard that the Sigma can be used with a FF camera. Is that true?

Click to expand...

no. if you are still talking about the 10-20

John Novak said:

Some say that the Tonkina 12-24 is sharper than the Nikon 12-24. I
don't know how it is better.

Click to expand...

no experience witht he nikkor but both of these lenses are very sharp for what they cost. certainly sharper thatn 18-70 dx

John Novak said:

Anyone have any experience with any of these lenses.

Click to expand...

John Novak said:

Mr Dutta. What do you mean by this.......As a matter of fact, the
10-20 Sigma is reported to have the smallest image circle of all
the super wide zooms.

When you say smallest image circle, do you mean the picture is
round and has to be straightened out in software. I'm not sure what
you mean. could you or someone explain. Thank You.

Click to expand...

the sigma was made with the sigma slr images ensor in mind. it is smaller than nikon's choice of image sensor. roughlt 1.7 for the sigma and 1.5 for the nikon.

the images form the sigma do not have to be straigtened in post.

Hey just go to http://www.kenrockwell.com and he has a four week exclusive testing of the four wide angle lenses out there.

Your needs should overide the quality and when the needs are satisfied by either lens then sharpness wins.

I bought the Tokina 12-24 for the quality --- though I would have rather had the 10-20 for the wider part, I do prefer having the 24mm part for more usefull carry-all purpose lens.

try Ken you will at least get an excellent report hands on, not the technical mumbo jumbo

Thanks for that example.

I would not think to use the digital lens on film, but now I will use it when I would like the desired effect that you shown. Can be rather cool if practiced right and used correctly/imaginatively

First, this is not a full-frame lens. It is a DX lens. Second, the Sigma 12-24 is a full frame lens. Third, the Tokina is a DX lens as well.
I have the 10-20 and love it. Very sharp, no CA, good colors.
See my gallery of samples ...
http://www.pbase.com/mmccreary/1020
Once you go wide, you will never go back!
Michael
--
http://www.pbase.com/mmccreary
http://www.McCrearyRealty.com

'A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.' - Douglas Adams

Gov said:

Gov said:

Some say that the Tonkina 12-24 is sharper than the Nikon 12-24. I
don't know how it is better.

Click to expand...

no experience witht he nikkor but both of these lenses are very
sharp for what they cost. certainly sharper thatn 18-70 dx

Click to expand...

I have the Tokina 12-24. I'm very happy with it - very sharp from 12-20 mm even wide open. At 24 mm you need to stop it down to f/8 or f/11, it's softer wide open.

I compared it to my 18-70 in the overlapping range. The Tokina is slightly better at 18 mm, but the 18-70 is actually sharper at 24 mm. I was suprised by this at first, thought I had a bad Tokina, but when my 18-70 also kept on par with my 28-105 which is know for its sharpness I realized I have an exceptionally good copy of the 18-70

Cheers

Mike

John Novak said:

John Novak wrote:
When you say smallest image circle, do you mean the picture is
round and has to be straightened out in software. I'm not sure what
you mean. could you or someone explain. Thank You.

Click to expand...

No, the image will not be circular but rectangular. You don't need to worry about doing anything on the software as long as you don't use it on a film SLR .

The image circle is big enough to cover the DX sized sensors of Nikon DSLRs. However, if the sensor was much bigger (as shown by Roger T. using a film SLR), the image would've shown up as circular. Simple explanation is that image is always circular since the lens is circular. However, the sensor (or film) act as cropping boundaries to chop off and get a rectangular picture. The image circle is always bigger than the intended sensor (or film) size.

--
Speed is significant and interesting but accuracy is downright fascinating
http://www.pbase.com/pradipta

I've posted these before, but here are a couple quick shots with the Sigma 10-20.

http://www.pbase.com/deutsch/sigma