Request for Tokina 11-16/Nikon 18-55 landscape comparison

If anyone who own's both lenses has the time, would you shoot and post exactly the same landscape with both lenses set at their widest ends?

My camera is a D90 and I'm wondering what the extra 7 mm does for a landscape picture...my primary interest when hiking.

I am sending grateful thoughts (in advance!) to anyone who might be able to do this. I haven't got enough $ to buy the Tokina on a whim and find myself shooting my Nikon mostly at the 18 mm wide end when on trails.

Thanks.

Craig

Here are three views that might show what you want.
The first was taken with a Nikon 18-135 at 18mm.

Then I walked a few steps forward and switched to the Tokina 11-16 that I rented for the trip.
Took one at 16 then one at 11.
Loved the lens.

Hope it helps.

Phil

I've got both but I'm also stuck in a city. If you've got any interest in seeing the comparison in a cityscape I'll go take a few shots for you tomorrow.

That would also be appreciated!

Thanks very much.

Craig

Thanks Phil;

I appreciate it. It's hard to make the comparison as your shots center differently, but to my uncalibrated eye, I suspect I'd really enjoy it.

Craig

You might want to try out this tool from Tamron...

http://www.tamron-usa.com/lenses/learning_center/tools/focal-length-comparison.php

That tool from Tamron and the photos posted above seem to indicate that the difference between 18 and 11 could be achieved by moving back a couple of steps (in the Tamron shot, the difference between 11 and 18 is like the difference between taking the pic from the far side of the street or after crossing it).

Is that what people with both lenses experience? If true, then the real usefulness of 11-16 range is really interiors or whenever it's not possible to move back few steps (cliff, etc...). Does that seems to be correct?

--
s.trino

Ultra wide angle may also add a sense of drama to the scene if you put objects in the foreground exploiting the huge depth of field. That is a third advantage, next to architecture and cramped locations.

D.

--
Equipment: Nikon D3s, D7000

I tried the Tokina 11-16, took some photos at various settings and many came out with that sense of "drama" you refer to, however, many had a somewhat 2D "flat" look instead of 3D perspective... I don't have access to those photos now to upload an example, but is this a known issue with ultrawide?

I noticed that by getting really close to the subject it does give a much nicer depth and expression in the photo then if you just stay back or if there are no close subjects in the photo...

--
s.trino

An ultra wide lens has its place (I have the Tokina 12-24 and a Sigma 10-20) but if all you're interested in is landscapes, just take two or three overlapping shots at 18mm and stitch them together in Microsoft ICE.

Goto Ken Rockwells site and read his article on ultrawides - I think it will help explain some of the differences.

All inclusive to get the entire scene. I have the Tokina 12-24 and here are both ends.

Wide: (you get the surrounding area which helps tell the story)



Or you can still focus in and isolate the subject:



But the real magic of wide comes with perspective that adds drama to the picture. Foreground object as an anchor and it sprawls back to give places with large scale a real story to tell: This shot would have been impossable without a super wide.



Roman
--

“There is only you and your camera. The limitations in your photography are in yourself, for what we see is what we are.”
~ Ernst Haas

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Stitching will not give you perspective, which is the strongest argument for a super wide.

Roman

toomanycanons said:

An ultra wide lens has its place (I have the Tokina 12-24 and a Sigma 10-20) but if all you're interested in is landscapes, just take two or three overlapping shots at 18mm and stitch them together in Microsoft ICE.

Click to expand...

--

“There is only you and your camera. The limitations in your photography are in yourself, for what we see is what we are.”
~ Ernst Haas

We are officially live!!!!
http://www.commercialfineart.com/
Old Web Site
http://www.pbase.com/romansphotos/

Thanks Roman for the shots, and everyone for all your thoughts.

Next? Hmmmmmmmmm!

Beautiful shots Roman... the 3rd is amazing, and i can see how in this one even with space behind you to move back, if you did, you wouldn't have had the same perspective and dramatic effect...

If you have to choose one wideangle zoom as a walkabout lens, any reason why you'd go for an 11-16 rather than a 12-24 (or similar range)? The only thing going for the Tokina is a fixed 2.8 (within similar price range) - anything else?

Thanks for sharing.
--
s.trino

Roman,

Those are really nice shots. I espeically like the gully and waterfall....what was your shutter speed?

trino said:

If you have to choose one wideangle zoom as a walkabout lens, any reason why you'd go for an 11-16 rather than a 12-24 (or similar range)? The only thing going for the Tokina is a fixed 2.8 (within similar price range) - anything else?

Click to expand...

Generally, the narrower the zoom range the sharper the lens will be overall. Also, many of the newer Nikon kit zoom lenses begin around 18mm (e.g. 18-105mm kit and optional 18-200mm) so the 24mm would be redundant to carry around.

My beef with the Tokina is no Lens Profiles exists for any Tokina lens within any of Adobe's programs unless you want to make your own with their Profiler software.

Mack

Thanks. My only consideration would be about what my lenses are that meet up with it. Landscape wise f/2.8 is moot as usually your shooting at like f/8.

So if you had say a 16-85 VRII, I would match that with the 11-16 quite nicely with no gaps in the focal range.

I have a 24-70, so the 12-24 fits that nicely. I am currently considering the Sigma 8-16 to add for the extra 4 MM which is quite huge and a lot of perspective to play with.

Roman

trino said:

Beautiful shots Roman... the 3rd is amazing, and i can see how in this one even with space behind you to move back, if you did, you wouldn't have had the same perspective and dramatic effect...

If you have to choose one wideangle zoom as a walkabout lens, any reason why you'd go for an 11-16 rather than a 12-24 (or similar range)? The only thing going for the Tokina is a fixed 2.8 (within similar price range) - anything else?

Thanks for sharing.
--
s.trino

Click to expand...

--

“There is only you and your camera. The limitations in your photography are in yourself, for what we see is what we are.”
~ Ernst Haas

We are officially live!!!!
http://www.commercialfineart.com/
Old Web Site
http://www.pbase.com/romansphotos/

Thanks. I love Opal Creek, one of my favorite areas here in Oregon.

Shutter speed on both was 1/2 sec at f/9 Enough to blend a bit of silkiness with locking of motion in the pool below.

Roman

aldante said:

Roman,

Those are really nice shots. I espeically like the gully and waterfall....what was your shutter speed?

Click to expand...

--

“There is only you and your camera. The limitations in your photography are in yourself, for what we see is what we are.”
~ Ernst Haas

We are officially live!!!!
http://www.commercialfineart.com/
Old Web Site
http://www.pbase.com/romansphotos/

Alrighty, sorry about the harsh light, that's what I get for shooting at two in the afternoon. All these shots were either the Tokina 11-16mm or the Nikon 18-55:

The first six shots were all processed with the same white balance so you can see the difference between the Nikon and the Tokina (the Tokina is often referred to as a "cooler" lens)

Just for fun, I'll narrate in the second person, and pretend you somehow keep misplacing one of your lenses:

Let's begin with the Tokina on the camera, you frame something that looks cool, and gets some good perspective going on:





And you zoom in to 16mm, seems like some of the perspective's gone - also, seems half a stop brighter, not sure why...





So then you realize that you don't have a Tokina, and you put the 18mm on, but you can't quite find the same perspective. By now you're thinking "yeah, but that's totally not fair cause I framed all the cool stuff in the first one near the edges"





So to be fair, we move again and shoot some benches with the buildings in the background:





And then we zoom in to 16mm, because you're curious about this overexposing thing, and sure enough, it gets brighter again! (So naturally you drop the exposure by 1/2 stop in post, and then it looks like the rest of the series)





Well that was strange, that Tokina disappeared again, oh well, back to 18mm:





But that's not the same set of subjects, so you zoom with your feet til you fit the church on the left and the benches on the right. You go from 3ft away from the first bench to 30ft away from the first bench just to make it all fit, technically you should have gone further, but there was a street behind you and getting hit by cars wasn't high on your list of priorities:





And then you find the Tokina again, quite improbably in your back pocket. Clearly you wear cargo jeans... Fashion aside, you think "well now that I'm back here, how would this wide lens look?"





That's just dandy, you get some of the sidewalk in, and it pushes the perspective a little, but because the composition is totally whack and you've cut off the building, you flip it to portrait!





Alright, so you got a cool shot, with the sidewalk pushing the foreground, and the building stretching up to the sky. But you totally could have done that with the 18mm lens right? Wrong... and this time you definitely can't zoom with your feet, since the camera is angled up, and only 6" off the ground in the first place, there's totally a lot of earth in the way:





So by now, you're sick of shooting with a tripod in the middle of the day just to keep the center points of your shots the same as you repeatedly switch lenses. Not to mention, you're sick of switching lenses. You stick your tripod in the bag and run around with the Tokina for a little while shooting ultra-wide just for fun, and here's what you capture: