Wide lens recommendation

goodguy

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I rarely use anything wider then 24mm so my 24-70mm lens is really all that I needed so far.
Yesterday I went for the first time to do a real estate shoot for a friend as a favor.
I took my wide lens which is a very, very old Sigma 18-35mm.
I knew this lens isnt a great performer but I never expected it to suck as much as it did.
The main problem is that any light that isnt soft and the flair on this lens is insane.
The kitchen lamp had a huge hallo and the light coming from the living room window looked like a projector no matter how underexposed I tried to make the shot.
I tried same shot on my 24-70mm and the picture came out perfect so it wasnt me it was definitly the lens.
Anyways moving on since I never researched wide lenses I have no real knowledge about these things.
In most cases I like fast glass but in this case I really dont care about that as I shoot on a tripod.
So since I just finishes renovating my kitchen money is a main concern.
I am looking for a wide lens for my D750, probably used or refurbished will be better and third party is good too.
I am looking for 18mm or wider, zoom or prime.
 
If you look at any photo sites this lens looks great,giving fab sharp contrasty images, but deep pockets required, but maybe secondhand may suit you

Nikon 16-35mm f/4 VR Review
 
If you are really on a budget like I was , I bought a nikon 18-35 AF-D f/3.5-4.5 lens. Maybe not the top of the line in sharpness, etc like the 24-70 but a nice lens and I've most of my car shows in my flickr with that lens.

It's light, compact and normally in the $300 range.
it uses the motor drive in your d750 for auto focusing.
 
Interesintg, will look this up.
Thanks

I don't know much about wide angles, but recently a friend who uses a 24-120 f4 on his d750 asked me to look at a few and recommend him a budget buy as he always gets it wrong between what lens will work on a full frame and on a crop.

You would do better to buy for your d5100 if its not something you use a lot, with the sigma 10-20 and tokina 11-16 and 11-20mm options.

However another fullframe one I looked at was a tokina 16-28mm which seems to get favourable reviews and is not super expensive

Tokina AT-X 16-28 F2.8 PRO FX | B&H Photo Video
 
The Tokina 11-16 is great for real estate photos using the 5100. I've read that you can also use it on FX at 14-16. There are some sample pics taken with a FX about halfway through this review: Tokina 11-16mm Review
 
If you are really on a budget like I was , I bought a nikon 18-35 AF-D f/3.5-4.5 lens. Maybe not the top of the line in sharpness, etc like the 24-70 but a nice lens and I've most of my car shows in my flickr with that lens.

It's light, compact and normally in the $300 range.
it uses the motor drive in your d750 for auto focusing.
Awesome!
I will look up this lens, its definitely in my price range.
 
The Tokina 11-16 is great for real estate photos using the 5100. I've read that you can also use it on FX at 14-16. There are some sample pics taken with a FX about halfway through this review: Tokina 11-16mm Review
A DX lens is an option too, I didnt think of it, never the less I would think it would be better to have an FX lens.
I will also check the Tokina
 
If you are really on a budget like I was , I bought a nikon 18-35 AF-D f/3.5-4.5 lens. Maybe not the top of the line in sharpness, etc like the 24-70 but a nice lens and I've most of my car shows in my flickr with that lens.

It's light, compact and normally in the $300 range.
it uses the motor drive in your d750 for auto focusing.
Awesome!
I will look up this lens, its definitely in my price range.
You're welcome. It's a nice light and compact lens and I great results.
Close up minimum focusing distance is 13 inches for the lens. I was at a car show taking UWA photos and I was asked a few times to see the pics of the emblems I was taking a picture off. LOL .. I wasn't taking pics of the emblems but of the entire front of the vehicle. LOL
@18mm f/6.3, over cast & rainy day
Cars-32 by Steve Sklar, on Flickr

@35mm f/4.5
Cars-1 by Steve Sklar, on Flickr
 
This is just my own opinion of course, however I would look at 2 things here - how much do you want to spend and how wide do you REALLY need. If, as you say, you don't really use a wide angle that much and you're on a budget, you may in fact be quite happy with the Nikon 18-55mm "kit lens". I have one of the older EDII models and for a "cheap lens", that little sucker is a real work horse! It's rather amazing just how sharp that plastic little sucker really is. That said however, I just did an interior shoot at a local art exhibition (a commission) and for that shoot, the 18mm really wasn't wide enough at all...I ended up stitching a few shots for the client to get the views he wanted.

That said, my next lens purchase (short of any bargains I may run into, like the 28-200 I just snagged for $5, LOL), my next lens will likely be the Tokina 12-24mm f/4. I wanted to get this lens already, however due to the recent loss of my D90 body, the new lens has been put on the back burner for a while. Anyways, they seem to be going for around the $300 range used and while I'm normally a great lover of Tamron lenses, from what I've read in customer review, these new Tokina's do a great job at controlling that wide angle distortion and according to various reviews I've read, they're supposed to be really sharp.

Sigma does have a 10-20 f/3.5, however I don't know if you need to go that wide and more over, I'm usually reluctant to suggest Sigma in any case. They have indeed made some very fine lenses, however I've had a couple of issues with them personally. Sigma seems to suffer from some of the same QC issues as Canon in recent years and the truth is that I have 2 Sigmas (from my Canon days) that really are little more than paper weights. Between Sigma and Tamron, I'll go with Tamron EVERY time.

So yea...for a wide angle, personally I plan to go with Tokina myself...for the super-wides in the "affordable range", they seem to be the best of the lot right now.
 
I guess you'll have to determine if you want a UWA for your d750
or for your old d5100.

I ended up selling my d7000 as I never used it even when my d600 was at Nikon. I'm glad I only bought FF lenses even with the d7000 (using it's in-body focus motor for AF-D lenses). With your d5100 you are fairly limited in lens selection that include AF comparatively.
 
I guess you'll have to determine if you want a UWA for your d750
or for your old d5100.
I ended up selling my d7000 as I never used it even when my d600 was at Nikon. I'm glad I only bought FF lenses even with the d7000 (using it's in-body focus motor for AF-D lenses). With your d5100 you are fairly limited in lens selection that include AF comparatively.

After some thought I decided getting a DX lens is out of the question.
I will go for FX lens only.
I read about the Nikon 18-35mm 3.5-4.5 AF-D
Good lens for general use but for real estate shots its not recommended because this lens has bad distorsion which is a big problem when you want to have streight lines staying streight.
So I am back to square one.
I put 2 lenses I have for sale on ebay and in the mean time I will check wide lenses to find the best performance/value lens I can get used.
 
My new photography buddy from the local club I joined suggested this. He loves it and it is reasonable in price. Nikon 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5G ED AF-S VR Nikkor Lens



2204

For ultra wide, he suggests this and said if you look hard enough you can get a good one under a grand. Nikkor 16-35 f4
AF-S NIKKOR 16-35mm f/4G ED VR from Nikon


Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
 
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get the newer AF-S version of the 18-35 f/3.5-4.5 then $625ish or so.

For real estate you may not need f/4 ... as more depth of field is needed so going with the higher end glass might not be worth it.

There's always tilt-$hift too ...
 
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