A7RIV Wide Angle Recommendations

Just got my Sony A7RIV, got the 90mm for macro and am happy with that.  Got the 24-60mm Kit lens and used that with my WWL-1 with decent results.  Am looking at a dedicated wide angle Lens/dome for a trip to see the whales.  Came from Nikon and loved the 10-17mm for my wide angle, what is comparable ?  Want to stay with Sony and don't want to use adapter. Is the 16-35mm the best I can get ?  Or 16-70mm ?

Why are you not happy with the 28-60 with WWL-1. It is probably the best wide angle solution, unless you want the ability to do split shots.  If you want a normal wide angle dome combination you are probably looking at a 16-35mm behind a 230mm dome. Not exactly a compact or travel friendly setup.

1 hour ago, diverbrad said:

Came from Nikon and loved the 10-17mm for my wide angle, what is comparable ?

Sadly there is nothing comparable to the Tokina 10-17 in FF world. The 16-35 is rectilinear not fisheye like the 10-17 of course and, as hyp says, it needs a 230mm dome, often a S&S Correction Lens and is a devil for traveling.

8-15mm lenses on FF are not truly zooms but two lenses: one a 15mm fisheye and the 8mm is a very wide-angle circular image.

I'm not a Sony user but are there any Sony Tokina-like zooms? An adaptor may be your only choice other than the 16-35.

Have you seen this discussion?

View archived post in: Wide Angle Lens for Sony

I would also add that pushing the 230mm through the water with the whales could be an issue.  The fields of view you have are 180 deg diagonal for the fisheye at 15mm, 130 deg for the WWL and 106 deg for 16-35 at its widest.  Looking at shots online for whales, most peoople seem to be using the fisheye.  Sony doesn't make a fisheye lens so if you want wider than the 130deg of you WWL setup an adapted Canon 8-15 or 15mm Sigma is you only choice.  With wide angle lenses there is really not a downside using the adapter, AF is reported to be fine with them, there is no glass in the adapter (assuming you are not using the speed booster models)  so no optical penalty.

16 hours ago, diverbrad said:

Just got my Sony A7RIV, got the 90mm for macro and am happy with that.  Got the 24-60mm Kit lens and used that with my WWL-1 with decent results.  Am looking at a dedicated wide angle Lens/dome for a trip to see the whales.  Came from Nikon and loved the 10-17mm for my wide angle, what is comparable ?  Want to stay with Sony and don't want to use adapter. Is the 16-35mm the best I can get ?  Or 16-70mm ?

Your best option is to use a tokina with a metabones in APSC or a Canon 8-15mm with 1.4tc 

Alternatively the Sony 16-35 f4 with a large dome

This will not offer any benefit other than a rectilinear view over your WWL-1 set up which is really what you should use in ambient light as the 16-35mm will need at least f/11 and orca hang out in dark waters

Thanks all for the info.  It opened my eyes to a lot of different aspects in a lens choice.  I need to do some reading and research on everything you all brought to light.  Thanks much !