Wide angle lens feedback

[ishman]

Hi, I am back into my photography hobby after a hiatus of few years. I still am using my good old friend D70 and was wondering which wide angle lens would be best suited for my coming trips to NZ. I have been looking around for Nikkor 14-24/f2.8 and Tokina 11-16/f2.8. I am sure everyone has their experience but if you can share your D70 experience with wide angle lens is recommended (barring the price diff) and any suggestions where to getter best price?

Cheers!

[aim54x]

The two lenses you are looking at are quite different beasts, the 14-24 is large and practically unfilterable....great to for indoors and the definite pick of the two if you are headed to full frame in the future. On the other hand the 11-16 provides stunning image quality with the flexibility of being able to easily use screw in and creative filters. A few members own this lens, and I have used it a bit and have been exceedingly happy with the results. If you are keen to stick with DX then this is possibly the lens to get....also have a look at the Tokina 12-24 as well as this old warrior continues to prove to be very flexible (those extra mm's on the long end are great to have at times!)

[Mr Darcy]

I have the Sigma 10-20 which I am quite happy with. Not quite the stellar performance of the other two, but goes slightly wider than either, and much longer than the Tokina.

Being a Sigma, you need to check the specific one you buy. Their quality control is notorious. If you get a good one, Sigma can be brilliant value, but if you get a "Friday Afternoon Special" you will live to regret the purchase. Sadly they seem to make FASs 3 days a week.

any suggestions where to getter best price?

Location = "Australia"

Sheesh. You don't give us much to go on. Try being a little more specific in your location. No point me recommending my local hole in the wall if you live in Darwin.

[gdyoung]

I've been using the Nikon 14mm 2.8 for many years now and swear by it. Granted, it has low levels of chromatic aboration on the very extremities and some distortion, but the image is full of life and colour. Run it through lightroom to remove these slight flows and you'll have a great image of the beautiful NZ county side.

[ishman]

Thanks for all feedback. Looks like Nikon is winner however Tokina is flexible in using filters. Will Nikon lens not take any filters?
I am based in Melbourne & now is to find the best online price. Any suggestions?
Cheers!

[Remorhaz]

Thanks for all feedback. Looks like Nikon is winner however Tokina is flexible in using filters. Will Nikon lens not take any filters?

It will but it has a huge bulbous front and requires a special third part adapter for it. Lee makes one for like half a grand for the adapter then many hundreds for each filter (since they are 150x150 in size) and I'm not even sure if anyone makes a CPL big enough to fit on the Lee system for this lens (and if they did it would likely be massively expensive)

The Tokina's (11-16 and 12-24) take standard 77mm screw filters and the standard Lee/Cokin/etc filter systems

Note also that the Nikon 14-24 is a full frame lens so usable on both your D70 and FX bodies whereas the Tokina's are designed for crop cameras (like your D70) (plus they are like one third to one quarter the price for the lens itself)

[stubbsy]

Or you could try and lay your hands on a second hand Nikkor 12-24 DX which is a cracker lens and takes filters.

[biggerry]

The only downside to the 11-16mm tokina is the lack of focal range, it is essntially a prime lens, albeit a damn good one, this baby has great edge to edge sharpness and you will be surprised at how handy 2.8 can actually be.

I would recommend trying a mates 12-24 or siggy 10-20 and see how you find teh focal range, since that is the really deal decider on this lens.

as for where to buy..try DD Photographics, Digital camera warehouse, DWI (if your game) or topbuy (if your even gamer) you should be able to get the tokina 11-16 for under AUD700.