Wide Angle Lens for Nikon D-70

[colette_cannataro]

I have the Nikon D70 Kit Lens, 18-70, that came with the camera. I

am going on a European holiday and love to take pictures of the

landscape. What would you suggest in terms of a wide angle lens?

Should I just use the one I have, or is there something available

that would give me much nicer photos? Thanks in advance for your

expert advice!

[Ed_Ingold]

The 18-70 kit lens is about as wide as you ordinarily need - the equivalent, at the wide end of a 27mm lens on a film camera. A Nikkor 12-24/4 lens is another choice, but expensive. It performs as well as any prime lens in it's range, and costs less than a 14/2.8. There are also 3rd party lenses in this range that sell for less than the Nikkor.

[cjfraser]

Edward is right. A brief addendum: Distortion is serious at the wide end of the 18-70, though this is less important in landscapes than in cityscapes and it can be (partly) rectified in post-processing with software such as PTLens. If you are not on a tight budget, the 12-24mm is an excellent lens that far outperforms the kit lens.

[iambaxter]

I was in Europe this summer and found that the 18-70 lens was not wide enough for a lot of landscapes or cityscape's. When taking shots of churches, fountains or monument's, you just can not back up far enough. Try looking into a third party lens or used. Unfortunately this type of lens is going to be expensive.

[jon_noble]

Have you considered stitching images at the widest end.

 

I dont mean stupidly wide panoramas, just putting 3 portrait images together to create a landscape or vice-versa

[john schroeder]

Take a look at the Tokina 12-24mm.

[dan park]

I second the tokina vote. I bought one before christmas and love it.

[leicaglow]

Another option I'm considering is the 10.5mm fisheye. It's full frame, and equivalent to my 16mm fisheye on my 35mm system. I've found it to be very useful if you watch where the curves are. I recommend a grid screen for this purpose, and while it would likely work for a lot of landscapes, probably not if they have architectural elements, statues, etc.

 

The 14mm is a neat lens. I've borrowed my friends, but it's really heavy and I wouldn't personally buy it just because the front element is so exposed.

[temi-tade]

The tokina 12-24 is a great lens even though it is a little on the heavy side

[katie h.]

I personally like the Sigma 2.8 15mm fisheye. Of course it has distortion, but it's sharp and I can choose to highlight or minimize the distortion by how I shoot. And it's not terribly expensive.

 

Katie

[wearyo]

I have the Tamron 11-18 and it eorks fine for me , with a minimum of distortion Bob

[clint h]

I agree with Bob, The Tamaron 11-18 is a great value. I use one with the d70 & d200 with great results.