Wide Angle Zoom

October 1, 2009 admin Photography Camera, Equipment, Gear, Lens, Photography

Wide Angle Zoom is something I want to get. In the Nikon “pro” world, that means the Nikon 14-24mm on an FX body (full frame, D3, D700). On Nikon DX bodies that isn’t too wide at 21-36. Like the samples on the DPS link Jamie sent, if you want to take a picture of your food in a restaurant, 1 foot from you – you’ll need something like this – and the faster (f2.8) the better for low light situations. Wide Angle Zooms are great for travel and landscapes because you can get up-close and personal and still capture a lot of your field of view. Depending on your budget and which camera you have, both Nikon and Canon crop frame bodies have a few other options to consider.

Here are a few Wide Angle Zoom Lenses to consider:

Tokina 11-16mm

Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 – $570
Ken Rockwell speaks highly of its performance, and the fastest of this group at f2.8 its really worth consideration.

Sigma 10-20mm

Sigma 10-20 f3.5 (new and improved) – $650
Sigma 10-20 f4.6 – $480

The Sigma is very popular and has been widely used for years, and now Sigma has upgraded the lens making it a little bit faster (from f4.6 to f3.5). This lens gets good reviews from those who use it (see the flickr group postings for samples.)

Nikon 10-24mm

Nikon 10-24 f3.5 (new) – $800
Nikon’s new wide angle lens seems good, and as usual is the most expensive of these I’ve listed. Gets good ratings in online tests.