Wide Nikon Lens for Interiors Help Please!!

TheBionicDan

TheBionicDan

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Morning all.

I've been asked to do some interior shots for a ski company of their chalets, great gig as it includes a bit of slope time.

It's been a while but I used to shoot interiors with a 10mm on DX but don't have that lens any more and don't really want the hassle of having to deal with all that distortion again. Am now using an FX body and the widest I've got is the 24-70 2.8.

Any advice on what to hire, buy etc etc. I suppose hiring the 14-24 for the week would be possible but I'd rather buy something for my arsenal that doesn't cost the earth. I'm not fussy about it being a nikon lens so 3rd parties are OK.

If anyone has any experience of shooting interiors and can give me any advice on what they rate then I'd be very grateful. :D
 
Andy (Puddleduck) is your man to ask about Nikon full frame lenses (IMO of course)

If he doesn't pick up on this thread (and i'll be surprised if he doesn't!), i'd drop him a PM

I know he rates the Tamron 17-35mm very highly and its a damn sight cheaper than the Nikon alternatives.

Chris
 
Hmmm Tamron 17-35mm! You see I knew there was a reason I signed up to TP :D

That hadn't even popped up on my radar. Thanks mate.
 
Alternatively take several shots and stitch them together.
 
I think its going to be too pressured for that. Quite a number of chalets to get round with maybe 10-15 rooms in each. Need to get quick good results then get out on the slopes :D
 
Tokina also do a 11-16.
 
Thanks Stewart. Sigma looks good for the price, you have any experience with it?

Your rental price is pretty good too! do you post out or would I need to collect?
 
Stewart, do you know what the quality of the Sigma is like?
 
taz said:
Isn't this a DX lens?
Click to expand...

Might be:'(:bonk:

Although The font of all knowledge "Uncle Ken"

says

Use on Film and FX

None of these lenses is supposed to work on film, Nikon FX or Canon full-frame.

Here's a secret: take off the filter and hood and and this Tokina 11-16mm works reasonably well as wide as 15mm, if you don't mind softer corners wide-open, on film and FX. Shoot in the Nikon D3's 5:4 mode and you're good as wide as 13mm! It also works fine on my F4 film camera: I tried it on Fuji Velvia 50!
Click to expand...
 
I'm afraid I don't have enough direct experience of the Sigma 12-24 to be worth mentioning; plus I don't have a full-frame body.

This is an interesting article about the lens. What I've read here and elsewhere suggests that it's generally pretty decent optically, with two provisos:
  • it needs to be stopped down a bit to be really sharp (which won't be a problem for interiors as you'd have a tripod anyway)
  • there's some appreciable light fall-off in the corners of full frame (which is easily fixed in PhotoShop
 
If you want the best (without regard for cost), then the 14-24 is superb.

Apparently - and I've never used this lens myself - the Sigma 12-24 is the most rectilinear of all the full frame lenses which could be handy for interiors with lots of straight edges.

The Tamron 17-35 is a total bargain - excellent optically, not as its best wide open for corner sharpness at 17mm but still an excellent performer. Some barrel distortion, but nothing atypical.

The Nikkor 17-35 is also superb, a little better than the Tamron above at 17mm especially below f/5.6 for extreme edge / corner sharpness.

Any of the above will do the job (also consider a Sigma 15-30 if you can find one).
 
Thanks Andy.

Interiors will probably be lots and lots of wood if they're anything like the French chalets I've been in before.

Sigma does sound good for the price but am getting tempted by the idea of renting the 14-24 from Stewart for the week.
 
I shoot quite a few interiors, not on Nikon butr I know a few folks that do.

A couple of ramdom thoughts are that the Sigma 12-24 is really not all that great but it's the only option to go to 12mm on a FF camera, so for that reason alone, it's a good tool to carry in the bag.

Apart from the security of knowing it's there, I actually use mine for less than a percent of a percent of shots I take. Unless there is a really odd room to shoot, with loads of pillars or some other nightmare, 17mm is as wide as I'd ever like to go.

The Canon 17-40 is a pretty good choice for me, even if the distortion is a tad to evident but I'd be taking a very close look at the Tokina if I was buying again. I only ever seem to hear good things about there superwide zooms.
 
The Sigma 12-24 is probably the one to go for. I've used mine for some interior shots for a friend's hotel and they were very happy with the results. I've used it on 35mm and it performs well with no obvious vignetting in the corners, even at 12mm. Not (yet) got an Fx DSLR but I'm told (by a D3 owner) that it works just fine on that.

The only examples I can find of my pix taken with the lens on the web are a little small but are shown below.

SUNCITY-ROOMS-6481.jpg


SUNCITY-ROOMS-6482.jpg


If you're likely to be down at the bottom end of the M5 at some point, drop me a PM and you can have a play.


ETA. Remembered I had this at Flickr.

877448223_e4ad228941_o.jpg


Should have said, pix are from either a D70 or a D200, both Dx sensors.
 
Well, I've bitten the bullet and gone for the 14-24.

I must be Nikon Marketings wet dream as I now own the 14-24 24-70 70-200 and 300 2.8's

Now how much was that 400mm 2.8 again :cuckoo:
 
For interiors I found that the Nikkor 20mm 2.8 gives great results and a super field of view. Depending on the size of the chalets the cheaper 24mm gives a pretty good field of view for internals when used with FX or 35mm film.

EDIT:
Sorry I'm too slow-I see you have already bought something!
 
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