Wide-angle zoom for 1D mk3 advice requested

I'm looking for a high quality wide-angle zoom lens for my 1D mk3, any brand will do, but must be needs high quality. Canon EF show limited offerings, I do have the 17-40 F4 L USM, am not impressed by its quality though. I know the mark II is around. Like to have a wider angle too, say 10-30 mm. Crop factor is 1.3.
Advices are appreciated, I did search the forum, and note I'm new here!
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Rens51

Unfortunately your choices are extremely limited. I finally got a Sigma 12-24 DG HSM, which I think is the only option. I kept waiting/hoping for a Canon equivalent, but they don't seem interested.

Problem with the Sigma: not nearly as sharp as Canon L's (or as expensive). Be sure to do MFA: my Canon lenses are all very close, but the Sigma needed extreme adjustment (I'll likely send it back to Sigma for calibration).

Also, sharpness gets pretty decent at f/8-11, but I don't find it particularly useful at larger apertures...a shame.

One thing you'll need to get used to is the directions to turn the focus/zoom rings: they work opposite to Canon.

Maybe some day Canon will address ultra-wides for the 1D bodies, but I gave up holding my breath.

Abbott

I got a Tokina 16-28mm f2.8 and am very pleased with it on the 1D mark iii. It is pretty hard to find one though.

Since you asked for zoom and mentioned any brand will do but must be high quality, so I can't think of anything better option than the Nikon 14-24G F2.8 at the moment, it's in a totally different class if you compare it to those Sigma 12-24, Canon 16-35 & 17-40, been there, done that, and finally settled on 14-24G, I have been using it on my D3, & 1DS2 for few years and now also use it on 5D2 & 1D2 once in a while, as soon as I got that, I got rid of those Canon UWA zoom right away, the only lens that I have that can compete with it are the primes, TSE 17, TSE 24 II, Zeiss 21, in other words, it takes some very best prime to match the quality of, it definitely beats the 14L II easily. I was at one point very very interested in the 14L but not any more after I played with my friend's 14-24G and got one myself right away, however, I waited for 6 months to get the Nikon to Canon adapter back then though, i think there is no waiting now.

Dan_168 said:

Since you asked for zoom and mentioned any brand will do but must be high quality, so I can't think of anything better option than the Nikon 14-24G F2.8 at the moment, it's in a totally different class if you compare it to those Sigma 12-24, Canon 16-35 & 17-40, been there, done that, and finally settled on 14-24G, I have been using it on my D3, & 1DS2 for few years and now also use it on 5D2 & 1D2 once in a while, as soon as I got that, I got rid of those Canon UWA zoom right away, the only lens that I have that can compete with it are the primes, TSE 17, TSE 24 II, Zeiss 21, in other words, it takes some very best prime to match the quality of, it definitely beats the 14L II easily. I was at one point very very interested in the 14L but not any more after I played with my friend's 14-24G and got one myself right away, however, I waited for 6 months to get the Nikon to Canon adapter back then though, i think there is no waiting now.

Click to expand...

And to add one comment from my side - once you get used to the flexibility of shifting and tilting with the TS-E 17 you'll probably never want to go back to the times were the optical axis is fixed.

The TS-E 17 gives a wonderful 10 mm lens (FOV at FF) with almost no geometrical distortion - which is by the way the reason for me not to buy the 14-24 even though you can get rid of the distortion by software - I really like my TS-E 17 and I would never go back to any other lens in this focal length. Here is an example of a 10 mm FOV shot (to frames with maximum shift stitched with no geometric compensation straight out of the camera)



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isn’t it funny, a ship that leaks from the top

ISO 9000 definition of quality: 'Degree to which a set of inherent characteristic fulfills requirements'
I am the classic “Windows by Day, Mac by Night user'

“The horizon of many people is a circle with zero radius which they call their point of view.” Albert Einstein

Abbott Schindler said:

Maybe some day Canon will address ultra-wides for the 1D bodies, but I gave up holding my breath.

Click to expand...

It makes more sense to address the "crop factor" problem of the 1D bodies. Hopefully they will do that soon.

Actually, I prefer the APS-H format over FF for the work I do. Everything's a tradeoff, and most of my work benefits from the crop; I'd buy a FF if I shot heavily in ultra-wide space or needed ultra-shallow DoF.

joger said:

And to add one comment from my side - once you get used to the flexibility of shifting and tilting with the TS-E 17 you'll probably never want to go back to the times were the optical axis is fixed.

The TS-E 17 gives a wonderful 10 mm lens (FOV at FF) with almost no geometrical distortion - which is by the way the reason for me not to buy the 14-24 even though you can get rid of the distortion by software - I really like my TS-E 17 and I would never go back to any other lens in this focal length. Here is an example of a 10 mm FOV shot (to frames with maximum shift stitched with no geometric compensation straight out of the camera)

Click to expand...

That's very true, me too feel the same way sometimes, so now I normally have my TSE 17 and 24 II with me everywhere I go/hike. but my 14-24G and Zeiss 21 and even the Samyang 14 is always calling me too.....I wish I have more energy and can carry them all.

Dan_168 said:

Dan_168 said:

And to add one comment from my side - once you get used to the flexibility of shifting and tilting with the TS-E 17 you'll probably never want to go back to the times were the optical axis is fixed.

The TS-E 17 gives a wonderful 10 mm lens (FOV at FF) with almost no geometrical distortion - which is by the way the reason for me not to buy the 14-24 even though you can get rid of the distortion by software - I really like my TS-E 17 and I would never go back to any other lens in this focal length. Here is an example of a 10 mm FOV shot (to frames with maximum shift stitched with no geometric compensation straight out of the camera)

Click to expand...

That's very true, me too feel the same way sometimes, so now I normally have my TSE 17 and 24 II with me everywhere I go/hike. but my 14-24G and Zeiss 21 and even the Samyang 14 is always calling me too.....I wish I have more energy and can carry them all.

Click to expand...

I own an old 15-30 which is surprisingly good (significantly better then the 17-40 from Canon) but I never seem to use it any more simply because the TS-E 17 plays in it's own league.

If you are into quality the 14-24 is really no option simply because it lacks shift and when I use such lenses i purely use a tripod because of the difficult way to align the huge FOV.

If P&S is the target - the Sigma 15-30 (in good used condition) is the far better option then the expensive 14-24 from Nikon. Best reason for using the Sigma 15-30 is the transmitted information.

But as said before - as soon as you get used to the TS-E 17 all other wide angle lenses without shift and tilt are more or less useless in direct comparison.

You can't do that with a 14(15) - 24(30)



approx. 5 mm shift upwards and stitched from two frames stitched without camera movement

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isn’t it funny, a ship that leaks from the top

ISO 9000 definition of quality: 'Degree to which a set of inherent characteristic fulfills requirements'
I am the classic “Windows by Day, Mac by Night user'

“The horizon of many people is a circle with zero radius which they call their point of view.” Albert Einstein