ultra wide angle

NikonNewb

Senior Member
I have a d3100 with kit lens but am wanting a wider angle for interior shots/real estate and outdoors. Tamron 10-24 was recommended at a camera shop but I also had my eye on the Rokinon 14mm as I have a tight budget. Both have good and bad reviews on amazon but the Rokinon is a little less, is prime and f1.8 which i understand makes higher quality photos. I'm not sure what to do but I want the best I can get as I would like to make professional looking photos as a possible side job or full time business. I wish I could afford Nikkor but $1500 is just too much.
 

RickSawThat

Senior Member
If your going to try to do this as a profession get the best lenses you can possibly get. You can always rent until you can afford good glass too for specialized needs.
 

westmill

Banned
The Rokinon lenses are extremely good. All manual of course. They have and go under a few names too. IQ wise they are simply first rate if you can live with the simplicity. Other than that... Tokina are currently producing the best wide zooms at any price point. The best thing would be to check out photozone ! There is not much they have not tested. :)
 

NikonNewb

Senior Member
Thanks for the tips. Rokinon is supposed to have a new 14mm prime that will auto focus with Nikon, at least thats what this sounds like. Description from amazon--"There are two Nikon versions; one version is fully manual while the second version features a built-in automatic focus confirm chip to sync and auto-meter with your camera."
 

Eye-level

Banned
You need a built in AF motor in your camera body for the Rokinon AF to AF I bet...the Rokinon is "chipped" and geared for it but I bet it does not have an internal motor...this is the realm of fantastic cheap some of them super good substitutes. I am looking at a few wide angle jobs that are chipped and geared but I don't have the dang AF motor on board the camera!
 
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LensWork

Senior Member
The "chipped" version of the Rokinon lenses does NOT provide autofocus with ANY Nikon camera. The chip in the lenses transmits focal length, aperture and other data to the camera so that this information is present in the metadata.

Also, it is NOT an f/1.8 lens, it is an f/2.8 maximum aperture lens. This fast maximum aperture does not necessarily make for better quality images, it simply means that the lens lets in more light than another lens with a slower maximum aperture.
 
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Eye-level

Banned
I've been looking at the Quantaray and Sigma 24/2.8 AF II lenses and supposedly they will not AF on my D5000 but will on AF motor equipped bodies...surely the Rokinons are similar?
 

Eye-level

Banned
Next question...are all Rokinons created equal? Will some AF and others not?


I see a damn focus confirm light...well sh!t! I already have one of those in my electronic rangefinder! :)
 
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NikonNewb

Senior Member
Is it really that big of a deal to have to manual focus when doing inside or outside shot where there is no movement? I'm doing a lot of reading and just can't decide if I should go Tamron, Sigma, or Rokinon. The Tokina 12-24 f/4 seems to be a good choice as well.
 

Eye-level

Banned
Wide angle at f5.6 or f8 gives you big time DOF and plenty of shutter speed outside maybe not inside so much but it is still hand holdable. No manual focus is not really that big a deal. You are zone focusing basically. Wide angle is weak with digital but not that weak...
 

gqtuazon

Gear Head
I just wanted to chime in.
1. How much are we talking about when the OP mentioned "limited budget"? That needs to be address on how much is he willing to spend on a wide angle lens.

2. Rokinon / Samyang are made by the same company using a different brand. They are Made in Korea but the optics is pretty good. All are manual focus only. Some are chipped and some are not. I had a 85mm f1.4 before but I wasn't too pleased with MF. Although for video, I focus manually.

Rokinon_85mm_f1_4.jpg


3. The fastest wide angle prime is the Rokinon / Samyang 24mm f1.4 which is priced around $700. We can recommend all sorts of lenses but if we don't know the $, then we are wasting our time. Consider the the Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 if you want something wide on a DX.

4. IS MF for you? Why don't you practice with your current lens and turn the AF/M switch to M. Do that for about a week and you will learn if you can live without AF.

5. Have a great time!
 

emoxley

Senior Member
I'm hoping to get the Nikon 10.5mm f/2.8 fisheye in November. It's really the only lens left, that I really want/need, unless you count the 500mm or 600mm I'd like for wildlife. It costs in the thousands, so I won't be getting one of those any time soon. Nikon 500mm f/4G ED AF-S VR II Lens (Black) - Nikon USA Warranty 2172 or Nikon 600mm f/4G ED AF-S VR II Lens (Black) - Nikon USA Warranty 2173 Of course, if someone here has more money than they can spend, and wants to do a good deed................ :D
 

Eye-level

Banned
Depends on the pro. Virtually every one of the pulitzer prize photos over the years have been made with primes until very very recently what does that tell you? Zooms are just as good if not better than primes nowadays but I think primes are fixing to settle it once and for all because as zooms have become incredibly good...so have the primes become even better!

Amateurs work better with zooms in most cases mainly because they don't really know about what particular focal lengths do...at least that is my take on it.
 
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Tobrew

Senior Member
I have the Sigma 10-20 and use it on my D5100 with great results. I would highly recommend it for the application that you have in mind. I bought mine used on eBay for about $450.00.
 
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