Wide Angle/Prime Lens

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Meganb

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Hello again!

So, I have my new Nikon D300 arriving tomorrow and in the spirit of having a new body, I've decided I would like a new lens or two. I only have around £400 max, but I would quite like a wide angle (for landscapes/cityscapes) somewhere in the region of 10-20mm and a prime (for portraits/club/street) either 28/35/50mm.

I'm not expecting miracles, for £400 I know it's probably impossible and I'll only end up with one. But I was wondering if you could all recommend any lenses which would fit the bill? I'm thinking along the lines of second hand and probably older lenses for my budget.

I've seen:
Nikon AF 50mm f/1.8D for £75ish
Nikon AF-S 35mm F/1.8G DX for £150
Nikon AF 28mm F/2.8 for £130
Nikon AF 35mm f/2D for £150
Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM for £300
Nikon 35mm f2.8 AIS for £90

And that's about it. So any opinions on these or alternatives would be excellent, thank you.

Oh and I realise there are probably lots of similar threads, but when I tried searching it said there was a server error.

Thanks again! :thumbs:
 
For prime i would suggest 35mm f1.8 AFS

Wide Angle their is not much choice since the sigma is decent price.
 
Hi Megan

If its wide you are after then IMO the Tokina 11-16 f2.8 will not be bettered and for £400 you should pick up a very good used sample.

For prime I agree that the 35mm f1.8 AFS is a great choice.

Steve
 
I can recommend a couple of Siggy primes...

I have their 30mm f1.4 and 20mm f1.8 and I think they're both very good lenses.
 
Megan,

I picked up a Tokina 11-16mm from here about 18 months ago when it was widely-regarded as the best wide-angle lens for those not wanting to fork out ridiculous sums of money. It is still held in as high regard as it was then and it has been a fantastic servant for me. To see what it is capable of, have a look at these shots taken below. Beautifully crisp, sharp lens and it feels as well-built as any lens I have ever used. I picked mine up for £385.


500 Boylston, the 'home' of Boston Legal by Astraeus, on Flickr


Reflective lake by Astraeus, on Flickr


Arch of the Manhattan Bridge by Astraeus, on Flickr
 
Astraeus said:
Megan,

I picked up a Tokina 11-16mm from here about 18 months ago when it was widely-regarded as the best wide-angle lens for those not wanting to fork out ridiculous sums of money. It is still held in as high regard as it was then and it has been a fantastic servant for me. To see what it is capable of, have a look at these shots taken below. Beautifully crisp, sharp lens and it feels as well-built as any lens I have ever used. I picked mine up for £385.


500 Boylston, the 'home' of Boston Legal by Astraeus, on Flickr


Reflective lake by Astraeus, on Flickr


Arch of the Manhattan Bridge by Astraeus, on Flickr
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Indeed, I think it might be the best UWA for DX Nikons full stop. It's even built well.

Sold mine when I moved to full frame and its the only lens that I really didn't want to part with. Wonderful thing. Would swallow the whole budget but some ebay hunting might yield a Tokina and 50mm prime for about £450 which would be a nice combo.
 
gad-westy said:
Indeed, I think it might be the best UWA for DX Nikons full stop. It's even built well.

Sold mine when I moved to full frame and its the only lens that I really didn't want to part with. Wonderful thing. Would swallow the whole budget but some ebay hunting might yield a Tokina and 50mm prime for about £450 which would be a nice combo.
Click to expand...

That is precisely the combination I am attacking my next holiday with - picked up a 50mm f/1.8 from here for £65 last week and I'll be heading off with that and the Tokina. I suspect I'll leave my Nikon 55-200mm VR at home and I reckon that might be carted off soon. The 11-16mm opens up a world of possibilities. :thumbs:
 
Meganb,

Have a look at the Samyang 14mm f/2.8 wide angle lens, quality glass for little money. UK Digital sell/stock them for Nikon/Canon/Sony fit.
 
11-16 and 50 though great leave a large big gap. I am not all for having every single mm covered but the 16-50 range is very useful to have covered in some way or another.

So if you only have £400 to spend I'd go for something like a 17-50 Tamron and wait to get a bit more cash for something like a 10-20 Sigma or even better (IQ wise) the 12-24 Nikkor s/h.

Otherwise a s/h Sigma 10-20 and a 35mm 1.8 might be your best bet in order to keep within budget. Later on you can get a 50 and 85 if you get into primes or a 50-150 2.8 if you would rather have a zoom. Both options well within a £400 budget or even less s/h
 
14mm Samyang f/2.8 on a full-frame Canon 5D Mk1;

5036_trim-1.jpg
 
If you are after wide angle primes and are happy with manual focus lenses then the Nikkor AI & AIS lenses are well worth watching out for as there are some real bargains.

I just got a 28mm f/3.5 AI Nikkor for only £46 a few days ago and it's the best lens I have ever used in terms of construction quality.

The good thing about the D300 is that it will work normally with these old manual lenses and will even meter and give correct exif for f/number as you can program up to 10 manual lenses in the memory.

This page is a good resource for finding what lenses were produced http://www.photosynthesis.co.nz/nikon/
and this page has some useful info on AI vs AIS
http://www.cameraquest.com/aidaiais.htm
 
vrapan said:
11-16 and 50 though great leave a large big gap.
Click to expand...


It's what the OP asked for, I'm guessing there is a 'standard' zoom already in the bag. It does highlight maybe the only shortcoming of the 11-16 though. It's a pretty small range and at times is just too wide. It is more or less distortion free though and very sharp so perhaps a price worth paying.
 
gad-westy said:
It's what the OP asked for, I'm guessing there is a 'standard' zoom already in the bag. It does highlight maybe the only shortcoming of the 11-16 though. It's a pretty small range and at times is just too wide. It is more or less distortion free though and very sharp so perhaps a price worth paying.
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Not sure if vrapan was talking about my intention to travel with just the 11-16 and 50. Possibly. :shrug:
 
Sorry for the confusion, I already use the 18-105mm as my standard zoom. I don't normally need any greater focal length than that as I just zoom with my feet. But in the city a wide angle would be really helpful as I can only get so far away from a building.

I'm thinking of buying the prime and waiting until I can afford the Tokina. Unless anything amazing comes up in my local LCE :)

Thanks for all your input, you've given me a fair bit to think about! And Boliston, thanks for those links.

On another note my Nikon D300 arrived this morning, and nobody was kidding when they said it was built like a tank! It makes my D5000 look like it could go on a keyring! :D
 
Meganb said:
Sorry for the confusion, I already use the 18-105mm as my standard zoom. I don't normally need any greater focal length than that as I just zoom with my feet. But in the city a wide angle would be really helpful as I can only get so far away from a building.

I'm thinking of buying the prime and waiting until I can afford the Tokina. Unless anything amazing comes up in my local LCE :)

Thanks for all your input, you've given me a fair bit to think about! And Boliston, thanks for those links.

On another note my Nikon D300 arrived this morning, and nobody was kidding when they said it was built like a tank! It makes my D5000 look like it could go on a keyring! :D
Click to expand...

Good call Megan..:thumbs:

You will love the D300!!
 
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