Worth Buying a 10-22mm?

[Mav]

One "issue" I ran into while shooting in Taiwan is that once in awhile I'd run into a situation where the fisheye was just way too wide, and then 18mm just wasn't nearly wide enough. In this case a traditional wide zoom like a Nikon 12-24 or the Canon 10-22 probably would have been a bit better. But better enough to justify the expense and having to carry around a whole nother lens? Not for me.

Here's what I'm talking about....


Wanted to get the gorge into the view here but zoom past the road. This was the fisheye with a fixed focal length, so you get what you get. I was standing right on the edge of a sort of cliff going almost straight down to the road, so this was it.

So I put my 18-135mm on next just to see what it would do, from almost the same exact spot.

Yup, that's 18mm! It's like having your 17-85 on the camera at 17mm and then putting your 70-200 on.


Here's the other half.

In reality what I could have done is taken the first fisheye photo, done a full rectilinear conversion (or not) and then cropped a bit to get what I was really after in the first place - something sorta between the two ranges. That's where a regular ol wideangle fits in, but I don't have one. In fact I think I'll go back and do this later, hopefully tonight if I have time. :mrgreen:


Late Edit: OK, here's the 100% rectilinear converted fisheye image, still way wider than 18mm, although corner sharpness and CA is pretty bad. This lens won't stand up to pixel peeping at 100% (if that's what you do) or if you print super big, which is why for stuff like this you'd still want to stick with a traditional rectilinear ultra wide angle lens, like the Canon 10-22. I'm only speaking for the Nikon 10.5DX though, I honestly have no idea how the Sigma 10mm performs and have never seen a review for it either. For all I know it's better. Personally I don't like the stiff-legged distorted look of rectilinear ultra-wides. In that respect, fisheyes can actually give a more natural looking photo depending on what you're shooting, especially nature shots. Anyhow, here it is.

 

[Yahoozy]

i think its safe to say ive been outvoted =P

 

[D-50]

Not when everything is still judged by 35mm standards. That's why the 10-20's and 10-22's are UWA, Ultra Wide Angle

Doesn't matter, if someone is asking a question about a wide angle lens with regard to a crop sensor there is no need to say a 17mm lens is wide angle, had the original poster said he had a 5d then you would be right but lets make sure we dont mislead people here.