Looking for an Extreme Wide Angle for my D70 IR camera

<p>I've done a search - but find I got no answer which includes the latest lenses - so...<br>

OK - I have an extreme wide angle for my D700 - but it's not as extreme as I'd like for the D70 I've had IR converted.<br>

I find after playing with a friend's Tokina 12-24 for the day - that what I've been missing for the D70IR is a wider wide angle. I normally work with the 18-70mm, but far too often I find it's not wide enough to create the "illusion" I'm looking for.<br>

So - I have the 10,5 Fisheye - - but I'm not looking for a Fisheye effect - I want to go wider than 18mm is what it comes down to. I have felt limited by that all along.<br>

For this purpose I guess I'm looking for a DX lens for the D70IR.<br>

I tested the 12-24 Tokina - I'm working on the shots & both my husband & I like what we see. But - - I'm wondering if the 11-16 Tokina would be better.... It would match up well with the 18-70mm. Oh & I do see myself doing a lot of IR for a long time. I do so enjoy it.<br>

But - there are several lenses to consider.... I'm thinking Third party as well as Nikon's new 10-24mm. I have a few lenses to sell off so I'm not too concerned over financing this....<br>

So - what's your experience with these & does anyone have any experience with the 10-24 from Nikon?<br>

And what about the Tamron 10-24? I prefer people live tests over static setups.<br>

In IR sharpness & detail is extremely important - so I need corner to corner sharpness as well.<br>

Any thoughts my board friends?<br>

Lil :-)</p>

 

<p>Lil<br>

I have a Tamron 14mm f/2.8 that has worked very well on my IR modified D100 and on my IR modified D200. No hot spots and good sharpness edge to edge. Only problem is that they are not in production any more.</p>

<p>I'm not a huge fan of Sigma, but the Sigma 10-20 is supposed to be a really good lens.<br /> <br /> Have you considered going to the camera shop and trying a few lenses on the D70 and snapping a few pics?<br /> <br /> Not sure about your local shops, but our local shops let you go outside and play with the lens a bit and test it out.</p>

<p><strong>Thanks Michael</strong> ,<br>

maybe I can locate one on eBay.... I'll check it out.<br>

<strong>Thanks Keith</strong> -<br>

Excellent idea. My local camera store tends to have a very limited selection, so I'll try for one of the larger stores like Samy's.... I'll call & check what they have available.<br>

Lil :-)</p>

<p>Indeed, the Sigma 10-20 is a delight. And the the difference between 10mm and 11mm is on a DX body is another 10 degrees of view.</p>

<p>I have the Tokina 12-24 and it's probably my favorite lens. Sometimes if I notice I haven't used it lately I'll take it out and go searching for a suitable subject. When I was looking for a wide angle lens, the reviews seemed to say that the Tokina was very close to the Nikon in image and build quality and that it was rated higher then the Sigma equivalent. <br>

I never leave home without this lens!<br>

Good luck on the decision!</p>

<p>i love my tokina 11-16; there's nothing negative to say about it other than the limited range... but for that reason alone i've been considering trading it in for a nikon 10-24. in most situations i'm covered by the tokina and my nikon 16-85, but i think the 10-24 would suffice as a one-lens solution for hiking, when i really want to reduce weight. of course such problems may not affect you at all. my 11-16 is sharp all over.<br>

oh, and something else to consider is that i get some pretty bad hotspots with the 11-16 on my infrared converted d80. i don't really know for sure but i imagine that the appearance of these may be affected by the type of conversion/ filter used; i had my camera done by Jim Chen in CA...shots at the wide end at anything smaller than f8 give me really ugly spots in the center of the frame. this is particularly frustrating since i can't go faster than f/8 due to IR focusing issues. so basically i'm stuck at f8 all the time, at least at 11mm.<br>

again, this might not be a problem for you, but i would recommend testing any lens you buy on your IR camera before you decide to keep it. just watch out, in particular, for wide focal lengths and small apertures.</p>

<p>Lil,<br>

Bjørn Rørslett is testing Nikon lenses, and often also tests these for IR compatibility. I suggest you take a look at : <a href="http://www.naturfotograf.com/index2.html">http://www.naturfotograf.com/index2.html</a></p>

<p> </p>

<p><strong>Thanks Matt</strong> ,<br>

I'll see if I can get a chance to test the Sigma 10-20mm.<br>

<strong>Thanks Bryan & Ann</strong> ,<br>

the Tokina 12-24 is what I worked with today. I enjoyed it a lot.<br>

<strong>Thanks for the feedback Jonathan</strong> ,<br>

Jim Chen did my D70 as well. If you're getting hot spots with the 11-16 - then I would imagine I would get the same. So that's a lens I would for sure have to test for that...<br>

<strong>Thanks for reminding me Per-Christian</strong> ,<br>

you are so right that Bjørn Rørslett has lens reviews for IR lenses. I forgot. And I always check what he has to say about lenses.....<br>

Excellent feedback everybody</p>

<p>Lil :-)</p>

<p>I've been using a Tokina 11-16 for IR and it worked well. However, it was in the shop for a while, so I would need to get more experience of using it for IR. I could try to test it during this week. I'm not usually sensitive to a hotspot unless it's very obvious, though<br>

Beware that performance for visible light tells nothing about IR performance and IR performance varies depending on the camera and modification used. So there will invariably be a risk. The biggest challenges will be corner performance (most likely not tack sharp on a superwide angle in IR) and the hotspot.</p>

 

<p>Hi Lil, I can recommend the Samyang 8/3.5 fisheye lens. It's manual aperture, manual focus, but that's not a problem for a lens of this type. The flare/glare control is good and the overall quality is suprising for a lens of this (low) cost. I use it all the time as my only really wide lens on my A700, but i feel it may suit the IR would of your D70. There is a decent review @ lenstip.com. Good luck!</p>

<p>(sample)<br>

<img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3519/3742353495_c0e8be16b4_o.jpg" alt="" width="950" height="664" /></p>

<p>An excellent candidate for your requirements is the 16 mm f/2.8 Fisheye-Nikkor. (I'm aware you said "no fisheye", but on a DX body, the 16mm acts like a very wide lens and the bending of lines can largely be ignored or worked into the final composition).<br>

If the rear filter is removed from the 16mm, it focuses even closer and this can be used for some interesting effects in perspective distortion :) I normally use a gel filter inserted in the rear filter drawer, since all my IR cameras also serve broad-spectrum purposes.</p><div></div>

<p>Hi Lil,<br>

Use one of the wide-angles you already have and snap several photos and stitch them together for a panoramic. You get extreme wide angle - and easy to do handheld...I like the 16-85 VR with my D200 modified for IR:<br>

http://www.photo.net/photo/8468680</p>

<p>You might wish to check out this site Lil, http://www.naturfotograf.com/lens_wide.html<br>

Bjorn has some useful comments on Nikon lenses, including their IR performance.<br>

The main site is here... http://www.naturfotograf.com/lens_surv.html</p>

<p><strong>Thank you Oscar,</strong><br>

Jonathan reported getting hot spots in his D80 with the 11-16 Tokina & we've had our cameras converted by the same person. I will test the 11-16 Tokina - but hot spots is something I don't want to incorporate in my IR photos if can be avoided. But I will for sure test it. :-)<br>

<strong>Thank you Richard,</strong><br>

I will check it out. As long as no Fisheye reaction on the D70 that might work for me. I have the Nikon 10,5 Fisheye after all & don't feel I need another Fisheye which behaves as a Fisheye. :-)<br>

<strong>Thank you Bjørn</strong> ,<br>

most kind of you to voice in. I will try to get a chance to test the 16mm Fisheye & see if it will work for me. Have you had a chance to try out the 10-24 Nikkor yet? There's no review on your site for it. Thank you for the recommendations & suggestions. I will look into it. :-)<br>

<strong>Thank you Robert,</strong><br>

that is a thought. Problem is - I'm not all that cleaver in Photoshop & many of these shots will have to be shot handheld. But that's something I have to learn so I guess I have something else to learn. I have considered going to the 16-85VR so that is an option as well.... ;-)<br>

<strong>Thank you Glenn,</strong><br>

I have checked Bjørn Rørslett's site, but found that the ones I am looking at were not reviewed. Bjørn Rørslett has however added another lens here for me to consider. I will be trying to do some more testing before I decide.<br>

Thank you all for taking the time....<br>

Lil :-)</p>

<p>lil, i'd just go ahead and get the tokina 12-24. right now it's $400 and you can find a copy. but i dont know if IR conversion would adversely affect it. the build quality is very reassuring, though as matt says, 10mm is more of an extreme wide angle than 12mm. however the 18-24 range on the tokina is very good for people shots. i just shot about 700 images on the tokina in two days, and it did very well, have to say.</p><div></div>

<p>also, just saw bjorn's comments on the nikon 16mm fisheye. you might want to look around for the sigma 15mm fisheye which, some have speculated, is sharper than the nikon. it'll be a semi-fish 22.5mm on DX, 15mm FF on a d700. thom hogan has a review of it on his site. i lucked out and got the older, discontinued model for $300 a while back, but there may be some more copies floating around.</p>

<p><strong>Thanks Eric</strong> ,<br>

I took about 150 photos with the 12-24 Tokina yesterday & they came out well. I feel I was faced with more than enough situations that I can firmly establish that it does not create IR "hot spots".<br>

I'm just trying to ensure I don't overlook any potential lenses in this decision & this time I need to consider DX as well.<br>

I will however attempt to try the Nikon 16mm Fisheye & see what I can come up with for the Sigma 15mm also.<br>

Thanks for the help<br>

Lil :-)</p>

<p><strong><< anyone have any experience with the 10-24 from Nikon? >></strong><br>

<strong></strong><br>

It's very wide and very nice, Lil. I took it to Maine two weeks ago and spent most of one day shooting only with this lens, getting used to it. Then I used it in a sunflower field a few days ago. In the shot below the lens was virtually touching the flower in the front. You can see the exaggerated effect here. </p><div></div>

<p><strong>Thanks Mary</strong> ,<br>

I am just going to have to try to get to test shoot with this lens as well. I love zooms & had since I discovered them back in 1980 something..... I am going to compile a list of lenses to try.<br>

Thanks for helping out.<br>

Lil :-)</p>

<blockquote>

<p>"So - I have the 10,5 Fisheye - - but I'm not looking for a Fisheye effect..."</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Just a thought, but have you considered using PP software to 'correct' your 10.5mm fisheye to rectilinear? DxO and Fisheye Hemi will do that. It's cheaper (and wider) than getting another lens.</p>

<p>I have the new Nikon 10-24 and would recommend it. But if price is an issue the Tokina 12-24 is right there at less than half the price. The Tokina 11-16 f2.8 is excellent but the 16mm max is a bit limiting, the add'l 17-24 reach is important. </p>