With Christmas around the corner my wife has been asking me what I'd like. Since I already have a 55 - 200 mm telephoto I'm thinking my next lens should be a wide angle. My question is how wide is wide? is 10mm sufficient? I'm thinking of maybe this lens any advice much appreciated Sigma 10 -20 mm
Paul, while you don't indicate potential usage, in my experience a 10-20mm zoom is over kill, unless you simply have money to burn and want to play around. As applied specifically to model railroad photograph, it will likely produce significant image distortion in the outter parts of the frame, such as barrelling and keystoning, particularly at settings of 15mm and under. Something with a zoom range of 18-55mm would be far more versatile in providing impressive, close-up, layout images. The image below was obtained at a 20mm WA lens setting working at f/32. NYW&B
Paul, My most used lens is a Nikon 12-24mm, and not just in the railroad room. It's spectacular for scenery too. Many of my railroad shots are taken at 12mm. Such as this:
This shot of the Nenana depot in Alaska can't be done without a wide angle--you run out of room. It's at 12mm.
However, Pete, you have to acknowledge that your first shot suffers from barrelling, while the second shows classic keystoning. Typical problems encountered with the use of very WA lenses, they can be eliminated through Photoshopping but I'd rather avoid the problems to begin with. Thus, I shy away from using, or advising the use of, ultra-short focal length lenses in any situation. NYW&B
I did correct the keystoning in the first picture, but not the barrel. I didn't find it hugely objectionable, so I just didn't bother. The keystoning is really simple to correct--I didn't bother in the second shot, as my point was that I couldn't have gotten the shot with a longer lens. It's really a matter of how and what you shoot. If you're doing architectural interiors, which I sometimes do, the 12mm is almost an essential. And sometimes distortion doesn't matter much.
Colonel, I think the DA 12-24mm is the widest rectilinear wide-angle (as in not a fisheye) lens that Pentax makes. User Reviews at PentaxForums.com Of course, the Sigma is wider...
New kid on the block http://www.nikonusa.com/template.php?cat=1&grp=5&productNr=2163 along with the new D300 and full frame D3
Wide Angle lense The camera here is a Pentax K-1000 that I've had for years. Most of the time I use a 75-225 macro-zoom. I have a 28mm wide angle for those times where things are tight and I cant back far enough away.
Those are looking good, Lenny. Ken Rockwell has a point that 12 Mpixels might be about it for the DX sensor--the pixels are getting pretty small. I still have no problems printing 13 x 19 inch prints from the 6 Mpixel D70 or D100. Rockwell also make a good point that, at 12 Mpixels, the quality of the lens becomes a limiting factor.
