Which Wideangle Lens?

KevXman

Hi all. I'm in the market for a wideangle lens. I shoot Nikon and have a D300 and IR converted D70. I shoot mostly landscape but not exclusively. My gallery is here to give you some sense of what I do shoot. I'm am interested in hearing which wideangle you would recommend. Yes money does become and issue at some point, but will spend enough to make it worth the outlay. I feel like I would like some flexibility as far as focal length goes but would like to hear your opinions on that as well. Any and all suggestions will be extremely helpful. Thanks in advance.
— Kevin

ziggy53

These are the lenses I generally recommend as a super-wide zoom for Nikon DX bodies:

Nikon 10mm - 24mm f/3.5/4.5G ED-IF AF-S DX
Sigma 10mm - 20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM
Tamron 10 - 24mm f/3.5-4.5 DI-II B.I.M. (Built-in Motor) LD Aspherical (IF)
Tokina 11mm - 16mm F/2.8 ATX Pro DX

Of course, the Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8G ED AF-S is another consideration, especially if you want to consider an FX body in the near future.

For the ultimate in detail, also consider using a longer focal length lens with a panoramic head, multiple image captures and stitching software. I particularly like to use macro lenses for this application, because they generally have very low distortions and stitch nicely together.

Allan FG

I have the Sigma 10mm - 20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM, I really like it. I don't really use it to get everything in the frame like a large landscape. I use it very close to my subject like this.

KevXman

Thanks Ziggy and Allan! The Nikon 10mm - 24mm f/3.5/4.5G ED-IF AF-S DX was one that I had my eye on and after your recommendations and reading a few more reviews this is the one that I have decided on. Now if I could just get my hands on a second 18-70mm I'd be satisfied. It's my main lens and am getting tired of having to switch it back and forth between the two bodies that I have. It has been discontinued and is hard to find.
Thanks again!
—Kevin

Matthew Saville

KevXman wrote: »

Thanks Ziggy and Allan! The Nikon 10mm - 24mm f/3.5/4.5G ED-IF AF-S DX was one that I had my eye on and after your recommendations and reading a few more reviews this is the one that I have decided on. Now if I could just get my hands on a second 18-70mm I'd be satisfied. It's my main lens and am getting tired of having to switch it back and forth between the two bodies that I have. It has been discontinued and is hard to find.
Thanks again!
—Kevin

Honestly if you use 18-70 so much, and are interested in wider angles, get the 16-85 DX instead. A friend of mine got it, and hasn't used his ultra-wide since. 16mm is nice and wide on DX, (24mm) ...and you really only need to go wider in a handful of situations.

For me, the ultimate DX kit would be the Nikon 16-85, and the Tokina 11-16 2.8 DX, but that's because I'm also into star trails / night time lapses etc. where the f/2.8 of the Tokina would be a huge help. The Nikon 10-24 DX is great too.

=Matt=

KevXman

Matthew Saville wrote: »

Honestly if you use 18-70 so much, and are interested in wider angles, get the 16-85 DX instead. A friend of mine got it, and hasn't used his ultra-wide since. 16mm is nice and wide on DX, (24mm) ...and you really only need to go wider in a handful of situations.

For me, the ultimate DX kit would be the Nikon 16-85, and the Tokina 11-16 2.8 DX, but that's because I'm also into star trails / night time lapses etc. where the f/2.8 of the Tokina would be a huge help. The Nikon 10-24 DX is great too.

=Matt=

Thanks for the advice Matt. I ended up getting a Tamron 10-24 today. Now I just need to find something to shoot.