Widest Zoom Lenses...?

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pug_leg

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Hi all,

I've been using a lower end DSLR with the 18-55 kit lens for some years now and am looking to upgrade. I intend to get a new body and lens, but it is the latter than will decide the former. I'm looking to get a lens that covers roughly the same focal lengths as I currently have, but which goes wider. So my question really is which of the wide zoom lenses that are available are good/bad/widest?

I've seen some reviews of the following but haven't found a concensus on which would be best:

Canon 15-85 (http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Canon-EF-S-15-85mm-f-3.5-5.6-IS-USM-Lens-Review.aspx)

Nikon 16-85 (http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/16-85mm.htm)

Sony 16-80 (http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Sony_Carl_Zeiss_16-80mm/)

Olympus 12-60 (http://www.dpreview.com/lensreviews/olympus_12-60_2p8-4_o20/)

Any help is much appreciated :) Thanks in advance!
 
Unfortunately you're probably right. I much prefer to have a single lens. I suppose I'd be willing to forfeit some telephoto capability to get a wider lens but it's becoming apparent it doesn't necessarily work like that! The equivalent focal lengths of my old lens and the Nikon are 28mm and 24mm respectively; if the reviews are to be believed the extra 4mm is very noticable. I haven't found anything that goes much lower than that without looking at the type of lenses you suggest (e.g. Sigma 10-20).
 
Depends on what camera you are looking to upgrade too aswell.
If you are upgrading to a 5D for example which is Full Frame, 18mm on a crop sensor camera it's 18mm on Full Frame.

So the lens choice might also depend on your camera choice also :)
 
The Olympus is a 4/3's lens and therefore not quite as wide as you might imagine.

Also I suspect the difference between the 18mm you have and the 15/16mm would not be that noticeable. There are wider zooms than that - but you'll be into 2 lens territory to cover the range you want. Nikon's 10-24mm is meant to be pretty good - Sigma have recently announced an 8-16mm.
 
I think the widest 'standard' zoom lens is the fairly newish Canon 15-85, which you have already spotted. It's very good, too.

As already said, every mm makes a difference at these focal lengths. And beware of format changes - you have three different formats on your list which affects the field of view at given focal lengths.

Crop factors are Canon 1.6x, Nikon/Sony 1.5x, Olympus 2x, which basically means that, for example, a 15mm on a Canon gives the same field of view as 16mm on a Nikon/Sony, and 12mm on Olympus.

Edit: 15mm on a Canon with 1.6x crop factor is 24mm equivalent angle of view on a full frame film camera.
 
Fair point. In an ideal world I would look for a full frame sensor but unfortunately money won't allow so there'll be a (1.5x or 1.6x?) crop factor.
 
HoppyUK - you pre-emted my next question, thanks! I had seen a number of olympus lenses as low as 14mm but they always have a high equivalent focal length. I hadn't appreciated such a high crop factor was involved.
 
pug_leg said:
Fair point. In an ideal world I would look for a full frame sensor but unfortunately money won't allow so there'll be a (1.5x or 1.6x?) crop factor.
Click to expand...
4/3's?

You can get a 7-14mm (14-24mm) zoom - at a price.
 
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