Landscape Lens for DX

[Vasilis_T]

Hello All

I am glad to join your community and i hope you can help me and i can help you in the future.

To start of i have a Nikon D5100 camera with the 18- 55 mm kit lens and i am looking to upgrade my lens.My main focus on photography is landscape and some times astrophotography .As the tittle says and i am looking for a lens to fit those needs and i am very overwhelmed and confused by the choice i seem to have.
Not to bored you all my current budget is 500-550€ and i am looking at Nikkon 24mm f2.8D and some other nikkon lends mainly dx format,should i like for a wide angle ??
What would you recommend at this price point and need.I know i can get good condition lens used
but i prefer new ones.

Thanks a lot

 

[astroNikon]

The Nikon 24mm / 2.8 AF-D lens will *not* AutoFocus on your camera.
AF-D lenses require that the camera body have a focus motor built in. Only the (modern) D7x00, D500 (D300 etc) bodies have that feature plus the FX camera bodies.

Normally the DX lenses that start at 10, 11mm zooms are good wide angles for DX cameras. There's many here that use them, but I'm a FX camera owner.

Also the 24 mm is mid way into your kit zoom lens as it will go to 18mm. Not exactly wide angle by comparison of today's lenses.

 

[Dave442]

If you don't want to overlap with your kit lens and want wider and sort of fast then the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 II lens is a decent option. The Version II lens will focus on your camera.

 

[nerwin]

What's wrong with the 18-55? That's a good kit lens, I've seen some impressive landscapes taken with that lens.

If you want wider, then that's another story.

I HIGHLY recommend the new Tokina 11-20 2.8. It has internal focus so it will focus just fine your D5100.

Tokina AT-X 11-20mm f/2.8 PRO DX Lens for Nikon F ATXAF120DXN

 

[Vasilis_T]

What's wrong with the 18-55? That's a good kit lens, I've seen some impressive landscapes taken with that lens.

If you want wider, then that's another story.

I HIGHLY recommend the new Tokina 11-20 2.8. It has internal focus so it will focus just fine your D5100.

Tokina AT-X 11-20mm f/2.8 PRO DX Lens for Nikon F ATXAF120DXN

Exactly i want to go wide on the landscapes i shoot 18mm is good but the lens as it is is not wide enough especialy on my DX body.
Regarding your recommendation , is it better to have a prime lens or a zoom lens for this guide of shoots.In my opinion without having the chance to shoot with a prime i read that they have excelent sharpens compared to the zoom but you lose to the versitility of the zoom lens.

 

[nerwin]

I don't think there really is any ultra wide angle primes for DX.

I think ultra wide angle zooms are best.

 

[Vasilis_T]

I know that i cant autofocus with a prime but from the moment i will use it for landscape will that be a drowback ?

 

[astroNikon]

I don't think there really is any ultra wide angle primes for DX.

I think ultra wide angle zooms are best.

Doesn't Rokinon make some wide angle 14mm Primes ?

edit: here's one, though I do not know how the quality is and it's a Manual Focus lens ==> Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 IF ED MC

 

[nerwin]

I don't think there really is any ultra wide angle primes for DX.

I think ultra wide angle zooms are best.

Doesn't Rokinon make some wide angle 14mm Primes ?

edit: here's one, though I do not know how the quality is and it's a Manual Focus lens ==> Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 IF ED MC

True, but 11mm is still wider than 14mm on crop sensor haha.

 

[nerwin]

I know that i cant autofocus with a prime but from the moment i will use it for landscape will that be a drowback ?

Depends if the primes have internal auto focus.

 

[fmw]

There aren't any wide angle fixed lenses for DX. You should choose a WA zoom from Nikon or a third party manufacturer. I can recommend the 12-24 f4 from Nikon but it is expensive. If you choose a fixed wide angle for full frame, it won't be very wide on the DX camera.

 

[HeidiMartinez]

I see this is an older thread but wanted to add that I have the 10-24 nikkor f3.5 wide angle and it is AF-S. AF-S means it will autofocus on your camera too. I believe it is in your price range also. I use it all the time for my real estate photography on my trusty d7000 and I have also been using it with landscapes and I am very happy with it. It is tack sharp especially at higher f numbers. 10mm is very wide so you do have to pay close attention to converging lines but if you use a post processing software like Lightroom or Photoshop, it can be easily corrected. I absolutely love this lens and to be honest will still use it on a full frame when I upgrade. (I am aware that it will crop down the sensor). Good luck with your new lens which ever you choose.

 

[PaulWog]

The more specific you can be about what you want to achieve, the more satisfied you will be with what you purchase.

Most buyers start by saying "I just want something that can take great landscape photos". That's a wonderful place to start. But if you can become more specific, you will be happier in the end.

For example, knowing what I love about landscape photos already, I would say I need two different lenses; an ultrawide, and a normal zoom. I would also need neutral density filters, and a good tripod.

What I would say is this: "I want a lens for landscapes that can elongate the foreground, and help reproduce the drama that I feel an environment." It is my philosophy that photography isn't about capturing what is objectively in front of you, but instead producing an image that reflects how you feel about what you are seeing. In many cases, those two things are indistinguishable from one-another to someone. That is, the girl who says "Why don't my sunset photos ever look like what I want them to look like" is really saying (unknowingly): "I wish my photos reflected what I feel I am seeing." When you experience a sunset, you combine what you see with how you feel about what you see. A quick snap usually won't capture that. A carefully constructed photo can.

Here is an example of a photograph that has been carefully constructed: Celestial Bridge. While the author says it is a panorama of 21 images, it is likely an HDR panorama. What that means is that it is likely 7 frames shot portrait style, each frame with 3 exposures, and stitched together to make a landscape oriented photograph. Such a photograph can be achieved in less frames (1-3). However, this photography illustrates Astrophotography and long exposure photography mixed together. Note that astrophotography usually demands a long exposure, but primarily for the purpose of capturing enough light. By contrast, the water in the photograph is glassy due to the long exposure.

Long-exposure photography is a form of photography that helps fuse time into a photograph. Infusing time into a photograph is something a lot of people want to do, but they don't know they want that... and most people certainly don't know how to do so.

The long-winded answer to your question comes to this: Look at different forms of landscape photography. There are many. One lens can achieve many different looks, too. A 24mm lens can still do long-exposure as much as a 10mm lens can. However, a 24mm lens will capture about how much you see in an environment, but stretch it out a little more than you see it. A 10mm lens will capture more than you see in an environment, and stretch it out a lot more. A 35mm (DX) lens will capture less than you see, but things will be no more elongated or shortened than what your eye sees. You might purchase a 24mm lens with the intention of stitching panoramas together (since 24mm primes will be fairly good for producing straight lines, with some minor adjustments in Lightroom or Photoshop).

A shorter answer is as follows: If you're looking to do astrophotography, and general landscapes, first cut out any lens that shoots slower than f2.8. Then look at what fits your needs. I would suggest that you start with the 11-16 Tokina f2.8 (newer pro version), so long as ultrawide is what you want.

 

[greybeard]

What's wrong with the 18-55? That's a good kit lens, I've seen some impressive landscapes taken with that lens.

If you want wider, then that's another story.

I HIGHLY recommend the new Tokina 11-20 2.8. It has internal focus so it will focus just fine your D5100.

Tokina AT-X 11-20mm f/2.8 PRO DX Lens for Nikon F ATXAF120DXN

I second the post about your 18-55. Shoot all the landscapes you can with it first, learn what it can do and what it can not. Then you'll know what you need in another lens.

 

[JTPhotography]

Rokinon makes a 10mm (the dx version of the 14).