Prime wide angle?

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jonoooo125

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How come nobody makes a cheap 10mm or 12mm or even 14mm prime, similar to the nifty fifty for crop sensors, I can't imagine they would be that expensive to make? Would be cool to have my 70-200 and 300 but if you're somewhere nice, a little 12mm in the bag for just in case as I've had the 10-22 and its big(ger than what is needed) and expensive for the occasional photo...
 
Samyang do. Manual focus though.
 
jonoooo125 said:
How come nobody makes a cheap 10mm or 12mm or even 14mm prime, similar to the nifty fifty for crop sensors, I can't imagine they would be that expensive to make? Would be cool to have my 70-200 and 300 but if you're somewhere nice, a little 12mm in the bag for just in case as I've had the 10-22 and its big(ger than what is needed) and expensive for the occasional photo...
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Because its not an easy lens to design.

Samyang make a 14mm but it has moustache distortion, manual focus and no electronic contacts with the camera.
 
POAH said:
Because its not an easy lens to design.

Samyang make a 14mm but it has moustache distortion, manual focus and no electronic contacts with the camera.
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I'm pretty sure they have made a version with electronic contacts?? Don't take my word for it though - I swear a friend was getting annoyed they bought it out just after he bought the old version?
 
Yeah, they're all fisheye or not af, an ef-s 12mm even f/4 would be pretty useful
 
lolage said:
I'm pretty sure they have made a version with electronic contacts?? Don't take my word for it though - I swear a friend was getting annoyed they bought it out just after he bought the old version?
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Only in Nikon mount
 
There is an 8mm Sigma but it's a circular image fisheye on FF. Not ideal as a general wide angle. Nikon do a 10.5mm Dx lens but again, that's a fisheye. Have a look at the manufacturers' websites and see what they make, then check a few retailers' sites to see what they cost in the real world. IIRC, UWAs, whether zoom or prime are hard to design to achieve decent, undistorted images, hence the shorter length fisheyes being vaguely affordable (My fisheye is the older f/4 version, not the newer f/3.5 one).

IF your budget and bag will stretch, the Sigma 12-24 is a pretty good performer - the rectilinear distortion is almost non-existent and that wide end is Wiiiiiiide on FF! Being extremely picky, the corners may be a tiny bit soft wide open but I rarely use it that wide - I like the extra DoF that stopping it down a bit gives me - by f/8, any softness is well behind it and it's as sharp as you want. In the seeming absence of any primes of a suitable length, it may well be pretty much the only option! ETA... Converging verticals and perspective are of course exagerated but that's the laws of physics, not a fault of the lens!

Here's an example of a photo from it at 12mm.

8026091040_95b4112a6b_b.jpg


Relevant EXIF...


Camera Nikon D700



Exposure 0.002 sec (1/500)



Aperture f/11.0



Focal Length 12 mm



ISO Speed 200
 
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It's not so much price, I saw a thread about taking a DSLR travelling, I just thought it would be practical to have a small, light and cheapish wide angle you can put in your bag, just in case
 
As long as you're happy with MF, I would hugely recommend the Samyang 14mm. Great value for money. You can get a focus confirm chip, but only the Nikon versions have that option pre-installed. When shooting landscapes (which is what this lens is ideal for) you'd have the focus just up to infinity anyhow nearly all of the time.

The moustache distortion mentioned above can be corrected quite effectively by PTlens or a similar program.
 
Samyang 14 is the closest you'll get. Super-wides are not easy to make and while the Samyang has its quirks, it's amazingly sharp.

But it's designed for full frame so you'd not get most benefit from on a 650D. Prolly Sigma 10-20 is best bet.
 
Nikon make a 14mm 2.8 non fisheye lens. It definitely doesn't fall into the cheap bracket but it isa lovely thing to use and delivers great iq. I guess the 14-24's existence means its largely ignored these days.
 
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I have used canon 10-22mm but that is hardly a cheap lens. Now I have Samyang 14mm f2.8 and I am quite happy with it, but then I don't shoot architecture. It is not small though. If you want small wide angle then rangefinder lenses are the ones you are after - voigtlander 15mm or 12mm. They will not work with canon DSLR though.
 
jonoooo125 said:
How come nobody makes a cheap 10mm or 12mm or even 14mm prime, similar to the nifty fifty for crop sensors, I can't imagine they would be that expensive to make? Would be cool to have my 70-200 and 300 but if you're somewhere nice, a little 12mm in the bag for just in case as I've had the 10-22 and its big(ger than what is needed) and expensive for the occasional photo...
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This discussion is for crop sensors if I read the OP correctly. If you want wide primes on an APS DSLR you're out of luck. See Thom Hogan's DX month for more details. There's massive holes in Nikon's DX lineup for instance. Best bet for small wide primes is micro 4/3rds, the Panasonic 14mm (28mm equiv) is to my knowledge the best size/wide compromise available. If you want ultra wide rectilinear then it's either zoom or full frame.

You're very right that Nikon DX could do with a 12mm prime, and a 16mm and 24mm for that matter. Not sure that the 12mm would be particularly small though. The 24mm might be.
 
martsharm said:
You're very right that Nikon DX could do with a 12mm prime, and a 16mm and 24mm for that matter. Not sure that the 12mm would be particularly small though. The 24mm might be.
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They'd be no market for them.
 
I think there's a market for them, I would have one just for convenience, I think a lot of people who shoot wildlife etc with a 7D or Nikon equivalent would prefer a small wide angle in their bag rather than a more bulky 10-20 zoom which they'd probably never use, I got rid of mine because I hardly ever used it but there would've been the odd occasion it could've been useful
 
martsharm said:
Care to elaborate? The 35mm DX is, according to Thom Hogan, the most populous DX lens bar none. You are saying a similar 24mm would have no market. Doesn't that seem highly improbable to you?
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Sigma is pretty good at filling the niches left by Canikon. If they don't do it, then there's probably a reason. Perhaps because it wouldn't be as small and cheap as we'd like, and the numerous 10-20ish zooms out there do a pretty good job.

On the other hand, they could launch one tomorrow.
 
10-22 is a tiny lens and it's pretty good. Tokina 11-16 will be bigger, and so is the Samyang (it is for FF cameras primarily!). It's the same about 200mm - they can't be pancakes!!!

If you are still not satisfied you may need to look into Leica M system
 
The canon 10-22 can be picked up second hand for £300-350 which isn't bad. How much did you spend on your 70-200 or 300 lens or your body? It's also a light, smallish lens.

I'm guessing you'd like something like the ef 40mm pancake lens with a short focal length
 
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35mm is the new 50mm (on crop bodies) which almost certainly explains its popularity. Even on FF though, 35mm isn't that wide.

For crop bodies, the Sigma 10-20 zoom (IIRC, the latest one is reasonably fast) seems to tick the boxes apart from the primes one - and it'll almost certainly be less bulky and lighter than a small selection of primes. For FF, the only real solution is the Sigma 12-24 (or for Nikon users, the 14-24), both of which are not small or unbulky!

A quick look at the WEX ad in AP shows that there is a 14mm Nikkor but it ain't cheap! Depending on budget, primes are affordable in both Nikon and Canon ranges from about 24mm upwards - reasonably wide on FF but not quite so effective on DX/crop bodies.
 
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