Wide angle lens choice

Hey guys,

I have a Canon 450D so 1.6 crop

I need a lens with a bit of coverage

Any experiences or advice would be greatly appreciated.

In Australia the lens cost roughly

Sigma 4-5.5 10-20mm $800

Canon 4-5.5 10-20mm $1200

Tokina 2.8 11-17mm $ 1400 ish

Can any of these lens be used on a full sensor (thinking down the track)

If people have used these how do the compare to the kit 18-55 lens?

Any thing else I should know about?

Matt

Hi Matt,

I think you left the best option off your list. The Tokina 10-17mm Fisheye does a great job on the Canon. It's $579 US now on Amazon.

Enormous difference from the images with the kit lens.

Good Luck,

Steve

Steve,

Ok thanks for that i did not know about that one.

So 10-17mm

That would equal 16 on my camera (1.6 crop)

Better then the Tokina 11-17?

Are the corners sharp?

Thanks again

Are the corners sharp?

 

Thanks again

Yes.

Matt,

I would like to add to John's reply that the corners are sharp.

Fisheye lenses generally don't have the problems with soft corners that the wide angle rectilinear lenses have. Later, when I'm not at work, I'll try to add an image taken with the Tokina 10-17 that will show that the corners are as sharp as the rest of the image.

It's a great lens. All you need to do is get a zoom gear that will work with your housing in order to take advantage of focal lengths from 10 to 17.

Ellen

So is most peoples opinion that the 10-17mm tokina is the best option here?

Could I use it on a full sensor camera down the track?

Is this a better option then the 11-17mm Tokina? Why/why not?

What is the 10-17mm Apature range?

Thanks again for all your help people

Matt

So is most peoples opinion that the 10-17mm tokina is the best option here?

Matt, "most people" wouldn't be crazy enough to take $3000 worth of electronics equipment wrapped in plastic and jump in the ocean. It really doesn't matter what most people think. The only thing that counts is the images you want to make. You can see here the kind of images a newbie(third trip with the lens) can take with the 10-17mm. http://www.flickr.com/photos/neptunesart/s...57620150636705/ All except the nudi taken with the Tokina. Is this what you want to do?

Could I use it on a full sensor camera down the track?

The lens is designed for a cropped camera but some here have been using it with a TC on FF. Check this out

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showt...hl=Tokina+10-17

Is this a better option then the 11-17mm Tokina? Why/why not?

I've never shot the rectilinear 11-16mm, some one else can help you here. But the field of view is very different The 10-17 is 180° - 100° while the 11-16 is 104°~82°

What is the 10-17mm Aperture range?

http://www.tokinalens.com/products/tokina/atx107afdx-b.html

HTH

Steve

Matt, "most people" wouldn't be crazy enough to take $3000 worth of electronics equipment wrapped in plastic and jump in the ocean.

You know when you put it that way, it does seem kind of silly, doesn't it?

But I am not going to read anymore threads about lenses. I swore when I first got a dSLR one or two lenses. 4 or 5 lenses later I mean it, except for a 17-40L and 100mm since I need EF lenses now. Then I am done. Really. No More.

Steve as always you have been most helpfull.

The 10-17 tokina looks fantastic.

It is a fish eye lens. With a dome port will it be fish eye underwater? (the round fish eye look)

Matt

It is a fish eye lens. With a dome port will it be fish eye underwater? (the round fish eye look)

Matt the image you get with the 10-17mm depends on subject distance from the lens and the zoom. It looks very different than what you are used to on land.

Here is an example shot at 17mm. No real discernable effect,

And here is one shot at 10mm with the subject right on the dome.

If you click on the blue text on my answer above there are more examples. Lots of other folks use the Tokina too. Try a search on the Wetpixel Flickr group for the lens.

Cheers,

Steve

Here's an image I took when diving at Wakatobi Dive Resort

One reason why fisheye lenses work so well underwater and don't look "fishy" is that there are generally no straight lines underwater as is often the case when shooting topside.

I don't think you'll be unhappy if you purchase this lens.

Ellen

Hey Matt

I agree with Steve John and Ellen, the Tokina 10-17 is your best choice of W/A lens for underwater work.

At 10mm

At 17mm

check out the prices it's also cheap as chips ....... Win-Win

Nige Wade

Hi, Matt

Going back to your original question I want to add that it's at the wide end that DX/FX incompatibility comes in: a really wide lens is matched to either a cropped sensor or a full-frame sensor, and only medium wide lenses (and of those, usually the more expensive ones) can be matched to both sensors.

Get what you need now, and forget (ho ho) the future...

Tim

Hey mate,

Wow the image looks fantastic and seems to be the lens of choice. You were saying its cheap as chips which is great. Any idea where i can purchase one online and have it sent to Australia. I have tried amazon but could not work out how to have it posted to Aus.

Thanks

Matt

Any idea where i can purchase one online and have it sent to Australia.

Matt,

Here's one place you might try:

Tokina 10-17 at Reef Photo and Video

The folks at Reef Photo and Video are great and even if they can't ship to Australia, they will be able to tell you how to get the lens.

Hope that helps,

Ellen

I'm just here to muddy the waters!

I'd agree with everyone in that the 10-17 f/e is indeed a lovely wide lens, I was advised to buy one and wasn't too unhappy with it. I then, however, tried a tokina 12-24 and immediately exchanged for that instead. I found the colours on the 12-24 to be richer and the image sharper - of course you lose the width of the fisheye but if its image quality over width, then maybe think about the 12-24? They are both about the same price I think. This opinion could well just be down to my own idiosyncracies, as I do exclusively pool work and don't need/want the extra fishy width, but as some other poster here said, you are your only yardstick. I prefer the 12-24 so its better for me!

The best way is to try a couple of lenses out, I guess. If not, then go 'safe' and plump for the 10-17. Everyone (else) says its the dog's danglies...

Ellen,

Love the photo. For those of us without that lens, can you share the approximate distance between you and the subject for that photo and if you were at the wide end of the zoom?

Ellen,

Love the photo. For those of us without that lens, can you share the approximate distance between you and the subject for that photo and if you were at the wide end of the zoom?

Thanks for the kind words. I checked the focal length of that image and found that it was shot at 10mm, so yes, definitely the wide end of the zoom.

Unfortunately, I don't remember the distance between myself and the subject for that image. It was taken last October in Wakatobi and though I've been trying to remember how far away I was, I can't come up with a figure.

Ellen

are these lenses any good for under / over shots?

curtis