Headed for the Grand Canyon...wide angle lens suggestion?

sevans

We are headed to the Grand Canyon in a couple of weeks and I am looking to rent a wide angle lens for my Nikon D70. Wanting suggestions for which lens would be the best?

Art Scott

Sigma 17-70 f2.8-4 or Sigma 10-20 f3.5 (constant aperture)........with the 17-70 you may have to stitch a frame or 3 for that perfect shot but it has a touch more reach than the 10-20 which would also be fantastic choice especially if you are taking something like a 70-200 also........

Emancipator

Me too! I cannot wait to go to the Grand Canyon.
I actually got the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 and highly recommend it! Super wide angle and very reliable. Either that or the Nikon 12-24mm? Both are excellent in my opinion. However, if it were a rental I would choose the Nikon (with good coverage), hah! Have fun.

sevans

Thank you! If anyone has any other suggestions for additional accessories that would be beneficial for the trip please let me know. Hoping to get some great shots!

pathfinder

I was at Toroweap last summer with Photographers Chasing the Light, and am going back in a few weeks to meet up with friends from that trip. It will not be quite as hot as last summer I hope.

I shot images with focal lengths from 16mm to 300mm. I shot a number of panos with lenses from 16mm, 24mm, 75mm, and 200mm lenses on a full frame camera. For a wide angle on the D-70 think 10-12 mm. The Nikon 12-24 is a great lens.

The landscape is so vast, that you can capture something with a variety of lenses. I suggest you consider shooting multi-frame panos and hdrs if you really want to capture Grand Canyon.

I think almost any lens you take can be used, and I do not think wide angle lenses are the only choices.

Take a good tripod and remote release, and use them. If you can bag a pano head that is great too, but you can shoot a lot of panos with tele lenses handheld. I know, I know, I am speaking heresy !!

Photometric

Rent this puppy...
Nikon 16-35 VR or the Nikon 10.5mm

Ken Rockwell liked the Pro-Optic 8.5mm lens for $290.00

astrostu

I used my 24-70 mm exclusively at the Canyon and ended up doing a lot of panoramas (but I like doing panoramas, so that wasn't an issue for me). I had my 70-200 with me, but I did not use it.

roakey

Not a lens suggestion, but...
Hike out to Cape Final (North rim). You'll have a 270 degree view of the canyon and it won't matter what kind of lens you have!

Roak

borrowlenses.com

Tokina 11-16mm or Nikon 12-24mm would work well.

DeVerm

I remember myself standing there with mouth falling open followed by putting my camera away without making a single photo. It's so vast that you need some serious gear for anything other than a snapshot. I was pretty upset about it.

My current 7D with Tokina 12-24 doesn't convince me to go back... I'll wait until I can convince my wife that "we" need a full frame sensor body. With the 7D it would all be pano's I think (nice but not enough to travel back there for me).

ciao!
Nick.

kdog

DeVerm wrote:

I remember myself standing there with mouth falling open followed by putting my camera away without making a single photo. It's so vast that you need some serious gear for anything other than a snapshot. I was pretty upset about it.

My current 7D with Tokina 12-24 doesn't convince me to go back... I'll wait until I can convince my wife that "we" need a full frame sensor body. With the 7D it would all be pano's I think (nice but not enough to travel back there for me).

ciao!
Nick.

I don't care what you're shooting with, the Grand Canyon is a really difficult place to shoot unless you have some great light, very interesting clouds, or snow. A full-frame won't help you shoot any wider if you're using the proper lenses. You can use a 10-22 on your APS-C format camera, or a 16-35 on your full-frame, and it works out to be the same FOV.

Anyway, I rarely shoot at the South Rim because it's such a difficult place to get a good composition.

sevans

Thanks for all the great suggestions!

DeVerm

kdog wrote:

I don't care what you're shooting with, the Grand Canyon is a really difficult place to shoot unless you have some great light, very interesting clouds, or snow. A full-frame won't help you shoot any wider if you're using the proper lenses. You can use a 10-22 on your APS-C format camera, or a 16-35 on your full-frame, and it works out to be the same FOV.

Anyway, I rarely shoot at the South Rim because it's such a difficult place to get a good composition.

What you write sounds so logical but there are many if's that are easier to deal with when you have full frame, like for great light: I never had great light while there and think it might not happen very often. This, combined with the birds that fly in every angle I checked means you need a fast lens and good performance at higher ISO. I am sure that today one can get a 10mm lens that performs as good and fast as a 16mm but it will cost much more (and is there really one that is a match for a 16mm?). But the full frame should still be better with higher ISO.

Also, I am not a very good photographer and the Grand Canyon beat me.... but I'll be back ;-)

cheers,
Nick.

[Deleted User]

DeVerm wrote:

I am sure that today one can get a 10mm lens that performs as good and fast as a 16mm but it will cost much more (and is there really one that is a match for a 16mm?).
<snip>
cheers,
Nick.

A quick look at B&H Canon zooms for your Canon 7D shows the 10-22 EF-S sells for $775. The Canon 16-35 f/2.8L sells for $1520.

I am pleased with the 10-22 on my 7D and 50D. Shooting birds I have other things to buy before a 5D2 full frame.