Advice Required - Wide Angle Lenses

[yawner]

Warning. I know feck all about cameras. As will soon become apparent:

Ideally, when taking pics of the rooms at Yawner Towers I could do with a wide angle lens (we would make the rooms bigger, but thats not an option).

I currently have a Nikon D60 with a standard 18-55 lens. Budget isn`t enormous, but have been looking at the following:

1. A "cheapo" Tokina: http://tinyurl.com/yz54vbn (although I'm not convinced its for my D60 - the blurb talks of "APS-C size", while I can find nothing on the D60 which seems to correspond with that!)

2. A more expensive Nikon: http://tinyurl.com/ydblhl9 (this seems to have a number of acronyms in common with my D60, so I'm more confident that this would be compatible) **Edit - just noticed that this is a used item!!**

This is all Greek to me. Advice. Please!!!

[Tony]

Not a nikonite myself, but they should both work with your D60 which has an APS-C sized or DX sensor (cropped)

Other thing to remember when you're shooting very wide, is to keep the camera dead level to the walls, otherwise it'll look like the house that jack built.

Might be worth asking one of your mates if they have one that you can borrow - save you splashing out on a lens, or alternatively, hire one for a week http://www.lensesforhire.co.uk/nikon-af-s-dx-10-24mm-f35-45-g-ed-180-p.asp

[yawner]

If you were me Temps, would you go for the new Tokina, or the S/H Nikon?

The lens hire is very interesting though, never heard of that before. Its a question of how much and how often I'm going to use the lens I guess. I know I have to take new pics for us, then two lots of neighbouring pubs/B&Bs. Hmm.

[Whatever]

Or you could take photos with your normal lens and get a trial of PS4 to create all-round views

[Tony]

Me personally, I would go for the Canon - but then I know what I'm getting with Canon lenses, reviews seem to rate the Tokina pretty well, here's a review of both of them - along with a couple of others http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/digital-wide-zooms/comparison.htm

[Tony]

Just thought I'd add, one of the reasons for me sticking with Canon is that I have tried Sigmas - not mine, but someone elses - and the zoom works opposite to what I'm used to, and can be disconcerting if your reacting without necessarily thinking what you have on and you got the wrong way - not that that helps with your nikon of course

And whatever whatever says is an option, although if it's ongoing, a trial would be limiting

[Mr Anderson]

1. A "cheapo" Tokina: http://tinyurl.com/yz54vbn (although I'm not convinced its for my D60 - the blurb talks of "APS-C size", while I can find nothing on the D60 which seems to correspond with that!)

The D60 is an APS-C camera. The APS-C relates to the sensor size (and its crop factor (1.5x for Nikon or 1.6x for Canon - meaning that a 35mm film o sensor plane is 1.5x or 1.6x larger respectively)).

 

This is all Greek to me. Advice. Please!!!

I have a Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM (and believe Mr SL does too) which I think is great for the money and compares very well with the camera maker's own versions. In use I've never found the zoom ring's reverse rotation to that of my  Canon lenses to be an issue. It has the added benefit over the Tokina of being able to go 2mm wider (a massive amount with a wide angle) and also of being a lot cheaper than the used Nikon lens, and close to half the price of a new Nikon 12-24.

Have a look here for prices: http://camerapricebuster.co.uk/prod242.html

[Britman]

I'll second the sigma 10-20mm. one thing to remember though, when taking the pics try not to tilts the camera up or down, just to cut down on the converging vertical.

[Mr Anderson]

I'll second the sigma 10-20mm. one thing to remember though, when taking the pics try not to tilts the camera up or down, just to cut down on the converging vertical.

WHS - and it only takes a very slight tilt too. Standing on a stool will help eliminate this.

[slaughteredlamb]

Without getting too technical wide angle lenses obviously capture a wide field of view but they do this at the expense of optical truth i.e. they distort things in order to fit them into the frame. This is why wide angle lenses are not typically used for certain things and one of those is architectural photography. The main reason for this is something called Converging Verticals which us where parallel vertical lines appear to bend towards each other at the top. This effect is massively exagerated if the lens is tilted up slightly which then makes a building look like it is falling away from the viewer. To a certain extent this effect can be avoided by keeping the lens perfectly level however you can still be left with another artifact and that is distortion where horizontal lines appeared bowed in the middle. Again this can be corrected with a little skill in programs like Photoshop and there are also dedicated programs that do a very good job of correcting all types of distortion caused by wide angle lenses.

So you shouldn't use a wide angle lens to shoot interiors? Yes/no/maybe. It really is very hard to say fir certain because the size if the room and shooting position plus objects in the room all will affect how the shot looks. For example if the room is on the small side and/or you can't get far enough back then you may need a very wide lens which could distort things a lot. However in a larger room a wide angle lens may produce perfectly good results.

There is one important thing to consider. I have the Sigma 10-20mm lens which for an ultra wide lens I think is excellent. However a few weeks ago I was taking photos of our newly decorated bedroom which measures roughly 3m x 3m and 10mm wasn't wide enough to get the whole room in. So what do you do? Well you can't really go wider as then you are talking fisheye lenses so you have to stitch two or more photos together. Guess what? You don't really want a wide angle lens if you are stitching because it is nearly impossible to stitch them together due to the distortion. Instead you want a lens around 50mm which you already have. Most cameras these days come with photo stitching software so you don't even need Photoshop. Give it a try it could save you a few hundred pounds! One tip though. Most people take photos for stitching incorrectly and then wonder why they don't stitch properly. What they do is compose the shot, take a frame, then pan the camera leaving a bit if an overlap. WRONG. To stitch photos correctly the back of the lens i.e. the sensor should remain in the same position, panning moves the sensor out of position so when you take the first frame, keep the camera where it is and move yourself around it.

HTH

[yawner]

here's a review of both of them - along with a couple of others http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/digital-wide-zooms/comparison.htm

"In 2008, Tokina introduced the best lens yet, the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8, which for about $500, is better than the best lens below, the Nikon 12-24mm. Read the rest of this if you like, however as of 2008, just get the Tokina 11-16mm. Its only gotcha is that it won't autofocus on a Nikon D40, D40x or D60"



This just gets more complicated. I knew there was some sort of issue with the D60 and the lenses it is/isn't _entirely_ compatible with, but how would I have known the above without reading that particular review? Is there any specific acronym or some type of nomenclature (shown with a lens for sale) that will tell me that the lens is entirely fine with the D60? What a flippin minefield! 

SL - interesting advice matey. I might just buy an el cheapo tripod first and then try a bit of photo stitching. I'll let you all know how I get on

[Mr Anderson]

Is there any specific acronym or some type of nomenclature (shown with a lens for sale) that will tell me that the lens is entirely fine with the D60?

For Nikon's own lens system, AF-S and AF-I

[yawner]

Is there any specific acronym or some type of nomenclature (shown with a lens for sale) that will tell me that the lens is entirely fine with the D60?

For Nikon's own lens system, AF-S and AF-I

But how about non-Nikon lenses? Forgive me for being an awkward twat Dave (perhaps its because I owe you a pint, who knows) but where in THIS does it say AF-S or AF-I, yet I get the impression the lens would suit the D60 (but only after reading through all of the reviews..)

Apologies, ignorance is a deeply embarrassing emotion 

[Mr Anderson]

But how about non-Nikon lenses? Forgive me for being an awkward twat Dave (perhaps its because I owe you a pint, who knows) but where in THIS does it say AF-S or AF-I, yet I get the impression the lens would suit the D60 (but only after reading through all of the reviews..)

Apologies, ignorance is a deeply embarrassing emotion 

The HSM means hypersonic motor and relates to an internal (to the lens) autofocus motor

For Tamron lenses took for IF, and for Tokina lenses look for IF or IRF.

[yawner]

Thanks Dave. I wonder where I left my Brownie.