prime or zoom?

Slipperman

Senior Member
my Tokina 16-28 ATX Pro crapped on me and can't be repaired according to the warranty company. since they are reimbursing me i'm in the market for a new wide angle for my full frame D750. however, the only affordable wa lenses i see out there are all prime lenses. the zooms are a bit out of my price range. so just want to know if anybody uses a prime wa and if they prefer it over a zoom. do primes limit your compositions in any way where you wish you had a zoom? any info would be appreciated.
 

hark

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my Tokina 16-28 ATX Pro crapped on me and can't be repaired according to the warranty company. since they are reimbursing me i'm in the market for a new wide angle for my full frame D750. however, the only affordable wa lenses i see out there are all prime lenses. the zooms are a bit out of my price range. so just want to know if anybody uses a prime wa and if they prefer it over a zoom. do primes limit your compositions in any way where you wish you had a zoom? any info would be appreciated.

What is your price range? A new Tokina 16-28 ATX Pro f/2.8 comes in at $549 right now (sale price). You won't find a lot of less expensive options for decent (fast) wide angle primes or zooms. Wide angle primes tend to cost more than their 50mm counterparts. But what's your budget?
 

Slipperman

Senior Member
What is your price range? A new Tokina 16-28 ATX Pro f/2.8 comes in at $549 right now (sale price). You won't find a lot of less expensive options for decent (fast) wide angle primes or zooms. Wide angle primes tend to cost more than their 50mm counterparts. But what's your budget?
$600-800. i bought the first one at around that same price ($549). i honestly wasn't aware they still sold that lens but i'm a little skeptical now since i had such a hard time fixing the old one. i sent it to Tokina twice - they didn't fix it - then to SquareTrade after making a claim and they couldn't fix it. i was hoping to find something else that's a little more reliable.

oh, and i was also hoping i could find a slightly wider area lens like 12-20 or something like that. any suggestions would be appreciated.
 
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hark

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$600-800. i bought the first one at around that same price ($549). i honestly wasn't aware they still sold that lens but i'm a little skeptical now since i had such a hard time fixing the old one. i sent it to Tokina twice - they didn't fix it - then to SquareTrade after making a claim and they couldn't fix it. i was hoping to find something else that's a little more reliable.

oh, and i was also hoping i could find a slightly wider area lens like 12-20 or something like that. any suggestions would be appreciated.

Since you mentioned wanting the lens for FX, please keep in mind 14mm is about as wide as you will find although I believe Sigma makes an FX zoom that starts at 12mm (not sure how well it performs). Most ultra wide angle zoom lenses that start at either 11mm or 12mm tend to be for DX. Anything wider than 14mm on FX, you will really start to notice distortion.

I love my Nikon 18-35mm f/3.5-4.5G lens (they also made this as an AF-D lens which doesn't perform well). The cost new is higher than the Tokina and higher than what you are looking for. But the Nikon isn't weather sealed. However, it is an amazing lens! It doesn't have that bulbous front element so it can accept front filters and a regular lens cap.

The Rokinon 14mm prime I *think* is a manual lens with an exposure chip. It would fall into your price range new. There are a few members who have posted fantastic images with it.

These look to be the only Tokina zoom lenses for FX The one you have as well as a 17mm-35mm are what they show for wide angle FX zooms. Tokina | Digital Eyes - Visionary technology makes a difference you can see

This *might* be the only Tamron zoom that's wide for FX (but the cost new is higher than you mentioned): TAMRON | SP 15-30mm F/2.8 Di VC USD
 
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Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
$600-800. i bought the first one at around that same price ($549). i honestly wasn't aware they still sold that lens but i'm a little skeptical now since i had such a hard time fixing the old one. i sent it to Tokina twice - they didn't fix it - then to SquareTrade after making a claim and they couldn't fix it. i was hoping to find something else that's a little more reliable.

oh, and i was also hoping i could find a slightly wider area lens like 12-20 or something like that. any suggestions would be appreciated.
The closest thing I can think of would be another Tokina... Maybe the 17-35mm f/4 Pro FX this time? That's a $400-$450 lens, if memory serves. I can also suggest the Nikon 18-35mm f/3.5-4.5G if you're looking for a zoom, or the Nikon 20mm f/1.8G if you want a prime. Both are at the top end of your budget.
 

Slipperman

Senior Member
thx for all the suggestions.. i'll have to wait to see how much the reimbursement is before i make a decision. with that free money plus another $300-500 i might be able to swing one of the more expensive ones and still stay in budget. we'll see..
 

Dawg Pics

Senior Member
@hark beat me to it by a minute.
[MENTION=11881]Moab Man[/MENTION] has the chipped version of that lens. Not sure what other difference there is. Curious minds want to know.
 
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Slipperman

Senior Member
i read the Q&A at the link i provided and it did confirm it is a 'chipped' version though i'm not exactly sure what that means. could someone explain please?
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
i read the Q&A at the link i provided and it did confirm it is a 'chipped' version though i'm not exactly sure what that means. could someone explain please?
If the lens is "chipped" it means the Focus Confirmation dot will illuminate in the viewfinder when proper focus is (manually) achieved.

Chip = Focus Confirmation Dot
No Chip = No Focus Confirmation Dot
 
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jay_dean

Senior Member
I only have one prime and i do miss that flexibility of a zoom at times when using it, but thats just my opinion. I'm another big fan of the Nikon 16-35mm f/4, i had one for a while and it was excellent. Second hand and they can be had cheaper!
 

Texas

Senior Member
If the lens is "chipped" it means the Focus Confirmation dot will illuminate in the viewfinder when proper focus is (manually) achieved.

Chip = Focus Confirmation Dot
No Chip = No Focus Confirmation Dot

No Chip = yes - Focus Confirmation Dot (speaking for my D7100) using my 3 Nikkor MF lenses, AI and AI-S
(super valuable feature)

The chip, as added aftermarket, is not a computer chip, just an eprom "memory" which tells the camera firmware the F stop limit and focal length (and a few other things). Allows metering to work in all modes ASMP and reports the lens values in the exif's.

It is of course possible that cameras other than my 7100 may refuse to light the dot without more than basic eprom comms with the lens.

That would be just mean, no reason not to report the focus status, just because of a focus issue. Without a chip, the 7100 lets me punch in the widest f stop and FL in an internal memory. That's enough to allow full matrix and the other metering when in A or M mode (manual twist of aperture ring sets the A)
 
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Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
No Chip = yes - Focus Confirmation Dot (speaking for my D7100) using my 3 Nikkor MF lenses, AI and AI-S
(super valuable feature)

The chip, as added aftermarket, is not a computer chip, just an eprom "memory" which tells the camera firmware the F stop limit and focal length (and a few other things). Allows metering to work in all modes ASMP and reports the lens values in the exif's.

It is of course possible that cameras other than my 7100 may refuse to light the dot without more than basic eprom comms with the lens.

That would be just mean, no reason not to report the focus status, just because of a focus issue. Without a chip, the 7100 lets me punch in the widest f stop and FL in an internal memory. That's enough to allow full matrix and the other metering when in A or M mode (manual twist of aperture ring sets the A)
I'm referring specifically to the Rokinon lens linked to in post #9, the Rokinon SP 14mm f/2.4 for Nikon. This latest version will meter in all modes and has a focus-confirmation chip, as opposed to previous versions of this lens which did not have focus confirmation. This is not an aftermarket add-on AF chip, like you can get for many lenses, this is a new, upgraded version of a previous lens offering.

Nikon AI/AIS lenses are a totally different beast.
 

Texas

Senior Member
OK, I'll look up in-the-lens-focus-confirmation chip, that's new to me (for a manual lens). A manual focus lens has not a care in the world if it is in focus or not.
 
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Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
OK, I'll look up in-the-lens-focus-confirmation chip, that's new to me (for a manual lens). A manual focus lens has not a care in the world if it is in focus or not.
I think it's more a matter that the old version of this lens, the un-chipped version, did not confirm auto-focus while the newer version of the lens, the chipped version, does. I can only assume someone considering buying this lens would be interesting knowing for certain which version they were looking at.
 
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