Wide-Angle Lenses

While your question primarily revolves around prime lenses, there aren't a whole lot of option. Either Nikon makes the focal length you need, or they don't. There's much more interest from consumers (and therefore in manufacturers) in zoom lenses.

Nikonians has "A 'Super-Wide Angle' Lenses Shootout" that's as good as anything else I've found in print:

http://www.nikonians.org/nikon/nikkor-12-24mm/review.html

Other than that, my only other suggestion would be to peruse the postings in the Nikon Lens forum here.

HTH,
--

• Arved

'Take only pictures. Leave only footprints.' - Photographer's creed

It'll be the Nikon 12-24 vs. the tokina 12-24 vs. Simga 10-20

The Nikon wins on contrast and minimal distortion and noise. The Tokina comes close but exhibits more chroma noise. the Sigma has less chroma but more distortion and appears to have less contrast. It also has 2mm wider angle.

I tossed the Nikon due to price and started with the Tokina. Great lens, but I ultimately swapped it for the Signa to get the two extra mm. The Tokina also exhited some nasty chroma noise in a few cases that I found very hard to correct in PS.

Find a store with a good return policy and try them out. I don't think there necessarily is a clear winner here, only one that fits your style of shooting and wallet.

Thanks to all! I was originally thinking that something like the Tamrom 14mm f/2.8 would be the only way to go. but, I don't have 1000 to drop on one lens. 500 is more in line with my hopes, and I thought that primes would be less expensive: I guess not.

It looks as if the wide zooms are going to be more affordable, and should perform acceptably. I'll be shooting both interior and exterior.

I'll do a better job of searching the correct forums. Mea Culpa.

Neocon said:

Michael, enjoyed looking at your various real estate photos.
Preferred the interior shots to the exterior. You did an excellent
job with the lighting. I personally try to make my wideangle shots
look 'normal'. I would have moved back a little bit and used an
intermediate focal length setting. But it is a matter of personal
preference. One other thing, I would have corrected some verticals
and horizontals with PTLens.

Click to expand...

Hey Neocon:

Thanks for reviewing my gallery. I placed the vast majority of those shots on line about 1½ years ago shortly after I got the lens. Way before there was DXO or PTL for the 10-20.

Since then, while I don't have either program, I do correct for alot of the distortion in PSCS2 or PSE3, my first program.

In all of the interior shots, my back was against the wall already, so moving back was not an option. I agree with the concept of "normal" perspective. When possible, I do bump the shots up from 10mm to 12-14mm which, with the Sigma, almost totally removes the distortion.

If you look at the typical listing of a house for rent on any of the popular lising sites, you will notice that for the most part the exterior photos are just terrible and if they do get any decent interior shots, the field of view is reduced to just a corner of the room! In the past 2½ years that I have had my D70, I have gotten listings just because of the photos of the properties we lease & manage. One great side benefit is that due to my significant work use of the D70, lenses, editing software and all of the required accessories, the business pays for it all!

Finally, of the two perspective control progams, PTL and DXO, which do you prefer???
Thanks,
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

Michael, I started off using PTLens with their free trial of 10 prints. After that, I was hooked. For years I used a 4x5 view camera, so crooked verticals was a no-no. Best of all, the cost is only $15. The program has corrections for distortion, CA, vignetting, etc. For my needs, that is more than enough. My main lens is the Nikkor 18-35. If I keep things level, do not have any distortion problems. Obviously, going down to 10mm is a horse of different color. When I find the need for more coverage, I put this lens on my film Nikon. Then it is a true 18mm wide angle.

Today I finally had an opportunity to handle a Nikkor 12-24mm zoom. I was "underwhelmed" with the build quality... the polycarbonate exterior didn't feel like a $1000 Nikkor lens should feel. And the zoom ring felt stiff and was poorly dampened. It reminded me of another lens: the first autofocus 180mm 2.8 Nikkor. It looked and felt like a consumer lens of its era and in less than a year it was replaced by a version with a metal exterior and a decently dampened manual focus ring.

I was leaning toward the Nikkor, but now the Sigma zooms to the head of the list (no pun intended). I played around with a Canon 10-22mm and I could see the benefit of having 10mm available, although 12mm is plenty wide for me. (The Canon is a pretty decent lens at around $700.) If the Sigma was a constant f4 it would be a slam-dunk for me. Unfortunately the store I was at only had Tamron lenses in addition to the Canon and Nikon.

Taking into consideration the $500 price difference between the Nikon and Sigma I may wind up buying my first third-party lens in 25 years.

MrMojo said:

Today I finally had an opportunity to handle a Nikkor 12-24mm zoom.
I was "underwhelmed" with the build quality... the polycarbonate
exterior didn't feel like a $1000 Nikkor lens should feel. And the
zoom ring felt stiff and was poorly dampened. It reminded me of
another lens: the first autofocus 180mm 2.8 Nikkor. It looked and
felt like a consumer lens of its era and in less than a year it was
replaced by a version with a metal exterior and a decently dampened
manual focus ring.

Click to expand...

nonsense - the 12-24 DX has the same exterior finish as the 70-200 VR. The lens hood does feel like plastic (duh!) but the lens is a solid piece of work. I've had mine for 3 1/2 years, and there is nothing wrong with the build quality.

Maybe Nikon needs to come out with a "Bling" series of gold-plated lenses for insecure photographers who worry about how a lens looks and feels, rather than how it performs.

--
Roger

http://tinius-photo.com/Roger

Roger T. said:

Maybe Nikon needs to come out with a "Bling" series of gold-plated
lenses for insecure photographers who worry about how a lens looks
and feels, rather than how it performs.

Click to expand...

I don't think that's being fair. I've used a variety of Nikkors over the past 25 years and I own The Usual Suspects found in pro bags: the 2.8 zooms and faster primes. I also have a Series E 75-150 zoom that is really nice optically-speaking but it is obviously a consumer-oriented lens build-wise, although that didn't prevent a lot of pros from picking one up (and using it in very rugged conditions by folks such as Galen Rowell.)

I am actually predisposed to buy the Nikon lens and the test results I have read tilt me toward the 12-24 (price isn't an issue for me.) I also prefer fixed-aperture zooms for the extra speed and use with strobes. But how the lens handles enters into the equation too, and while I might use autofocus much of the time, I will be using the zoom ring a lot and if it doesn't feel right it's going to bother me no matter how good the lens is. The focus ring is also lacking when compared to other "high-end" Nikkor zooms. As this is likely to become one of my two primary lenses, it is an important purchase.

If you figure-in the price difference between the Nikkor and its competitors you have to wonder what Nikon was thinking when it priced the lens at around $1000... Even the Canon 10-22 is around $300 less than the Nikkor and it has generally garnered higher scores in lens tests and appears to be better built to boot.

To Each Their Own, of course... I merely suggest that perspective buyers try the 12-24 before they buy and make up their own minds about the lens.

As for myself, I think that one of the third-party options may be a better purchase for the time being. Rumors of a full-frame Nikon are swirling and I have hopes that Nikon will either update the 12-24 or come out with a new wide-angle zoom. And if those turn out to be pie in-the-sky hopes, then I will at least have the opportunity to develop a new appreciation for third-party zooms...