Wide lens decision

[otherprof]

OP, I owe you an apology. I was cleaning my DX lenses in preparation for the arrival of a new camera body. It turns out my wide angle zoom is 12-24 f2.8 ED. I've never used the lens I mentioned above. If it helps, the 12-24 makes perfectly fine images. Sorry for the error.

I do have the Nikon 10-24 and find it excellent on my D5100.

 

[fmw]

Pros don't expose at maximum aperture all that often.

This sentence made me cringe a little. Many photographers do use their fast lenses wide open for exposure, pro or amateur. It can certainly help, even that extra 2/3, especially if the photographer is very intolerant to noise.

No need to cringe. I didn't say they never do. I said they don't do it all that often. Most images pros make are as sharp as possible because that is normally what clients want.