Need tips for buying wide-angle lens, please

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Hans Breuer (twoton)
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Need tips for buying wide-angle lens, please

Post by Hans Breuer (twoton) »

Hi all,

I shoot Pentax, and I'm thinking of buying a wide-angle zoom lens of about 10-20 mm focal length.

What sort of specs would y'all recommend for nature photography (f/stop, zoom length, whatever you can think of)? I mostly shoot hand-held in bad light and without a flash :-)

Thanks very much in advance for any pointers!

Cheers

Hans
bgorum
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Re: Need tips for buying wide-angle lens, please

Post by bgorum »

I don't know what Pentax offers, but I'll make one suggestion to you that I've made to others before. When evaluating wide angle lenses for herp work, minimum focusing distance is really important. All else being equal, chose the lens that focuses the closest. Extension tubes and achromats don't work well with wide angles for physical reasons, (short focal makes magnification too high with tubes and wide angle of view is likely to cause vignetting with achromats). So wide angles are what they are when it comes to close focus and a lot of herps are really small and require focusing really close in order to occupy enough of the frame to carry any visual weight. I'm pretty happy with my Nikon 10-24 that gets down to just under 9 inches from the image plane, (works out to only a few inches from the front of the lens).
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chrish
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Re: Need tips for buying wide-angle lens, please

Post by chrish »

I have been looking at this for a while as well, not because I desperately need a WA zoom, but just in case I decided to pull the trigger on one. I also am looking in the Sony mount, but most of the same lenses are available.

bgorum's points about minimum focus distance are important, but is also important to consider the magnification at that minimum focus. Many lenses have the same minimum focus, but the magnification at that focus may vary.

I have done some research on lenses and have read decent things about the following:

Tamron SP AS 10-24 DI II ($500) - gets down to 24cm with a magnification of 1:5. A medium sized treefrog would fill the frame at 1:5. Good reviews on this lens.

Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC ($379 right now) - doesn't focus as close and is supposedly a bit less sharp than above, but it is $100 cheaper. Goes to 1:7 at 24mm.

Sigma 8-16mm f/4.5-5.6 DC HSM Ultra-Wide Zoom ($699) - optically superior to the Sigma 10-20, but it is wider and a lot more expensive. It also only goes down to 1:8 at 24cm.

Sigma 12-24mm f/4.5-5.6 DG HSM II Lens ($949) - great lens, supposed to be really sharp but you pay almost double for that. Gets down to 1:6 at 28cm.

Pentax has an interesting sounding lens in the Pentax Zoom Fisheye to Super Wide-Angle SMCP-DA 10-17mm f/3.5-4.5 ED (IF) ($479 right now) . It does focus very close (14cm) with a magnification of 1:3. Those are great specs, but I don't know anything about the lens. Reviews online are pretty good though.

Pentax also offers the Pentax Zoom Super Wide Angle SMCP-DA 12-24mm f/4 ED AL. It only goes down to 1:8 and at 30cm. I don't think that is competitive, particularly at the price ($795).

If I was to choose one of these lenses tomorrow, I would probably go with the Tamron 10-24 or the Pentax Zoom Fisheye to Super Wide-Angle SMCP-DA 10-17mm f/3.5-4.5 ED (IF). I think they gives the best bang-for-the-buck, or rupiah or whatever you are paying in. If the pentax was full price ($650), I would get the Tamron instead.
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Hans Breuer (twoton)
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Re: Need tips for buying wide-angle lens, please

Post by Hans Breuer (twoton) »

Wow, thanks very much for taking the time to reply in such detail, guys! I've had a look at the Pentax Zoom Fisheye to Super Wide-Angle SMCP-DA 10-17mm f/3.5-4.5 ED (IF), and it looks very good indeed, especially its macro specs. Since it's on sale at our local online dealer here in Malaysia, I think I'll go with that.

Thanks very much, again, for your wonderful help!

Cheers

Hans
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chrish
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Re: Need tips for buying wide-angle lens, please

Post by chrish »

Hans Breuer (twoton) wrote:Wow, thanks very much for taking the time to reply in such detail, guys! I've had a look at the Pentax Zoom Fisheye to Super Wide-Angle SMCP-DA 10-17mm f/3.5-4.5 ED (IF), and it looks very good indeed, especially its macro specs. Since it's on sale at our local online dealer here in Malaysia, I think I'll go with that.

Thanks very much, again, for your wonderful help!

Cheers

Hans

We expect to see pictures posted from this lens in payment for our advising services!

A wide angle in situ Lanthonotus photo will do. :lol:
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Hans Breuer (twoton)
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Re: Need tips for buying wide-angle lens, please

Post by Hans Breuer (twoton) »

We expect to see pictures posted from this lens in payment for our advising services!

A wide angle in situ Lanthonotus photo will do. :lol:
You people and your Lanthanotus obsession. I'm telling you, there is no such animal. :-) But I'll shortly post a few pix from our recent trip to Mount Kinabalu, Sabah.
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Hans Breuer (twoton)
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Re: Need tips for buying wide-angle lens, please

Post by Hans Breuer (twoton) »

Update: I went with the Pentax Zoom Fisheye to Super Wide-Angle SMCP-DA 10-17mm f/3.5-4.5 ED (IF) and took it for a spin last Sunday, using not other lens the entire afternoon. Results here:

Nepenthes Badlands Paradise (West Sarawak)

As you can see, I had oodles of fun with the lens :-) Thank you all very much again for your assistance!
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