Ultra wide angle lens for Nikon D90 -Suggestions PLEASE.

Hello Folks........

I already have 18-105mm VR lens and I am thinking of adding "Ultra Wide" angle lens. I am thinking of buying Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 AT-X116 Pro DX for Nikon AF.

What you all think? Is it the best out there or you have some other suggestion such as "no need for an ultra wide angle with 18 - 105" or "this xxxx lens is the best to with 18 - 105" ?

Please let me know.

Thanks a LOT.

The Tokina is great, I have it, many of my best landscapes and architecture shots are taken with the tokina 116. I have also taken a few shots of the stars, long exposures at f2.8 and they come out sharp, it is incredible to capture the milky way :). At 11mm is hard to get something out of focus, i have taken a few shots guessing at the focus distance, or letting the camera pick the focus point and they come out great. i found that 1/30 is about the slowest i can shoot handheld without blurring out the image, at 11mm it gets sensitive to motion blur at the corners, composition gets tricky it is easy to include distractions on the frame :) the minimum focus distance of 30cm is also great, allows for very dramatic shots. Auto Focus speed is fast and precise. The only disadvantage i have found is that portraits with this lens do not come out nice, specially if you shoot a landscape and want to include a person on the side of the frame, perspective on the sides will make them look fat, another oddity but skin tones and shades on faces come out looking wrong. perhaps it is my technique, portraits are not my forte.

I also have a 18-200 zoom, and often found myself wanting wider :)

Sigma has an even wider lens, it goes down to 8mm, but i have no experience with that one. Max Aperture i think is F4 , and i think it is more expensive than the tokina, the additional 3mm will be certainly noticeable at the wide side.

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Originally Posted by armando_m

Sigma has an even wider lens, it goes down to 8mm, but i have no experience with that one. Max Aperture i think is F4 , and i think it is more expensive than the tokina, the additional 3mm will be certainly noticeable at the wide side.

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The Sigma was announced last spring. It's an 8-16mm f/4.5-5.6 lens. I tested it extensively and loved it. Here's my review:

Sigma 8-16mm f/4.5-5.6 DC HSM Zoom Lens Pro Review >>

I don't have any experience with the Tokina 11-16mm f/1.8 but it's certainly one of the more compelling super-wides on the market. I own the Tokina 12-24mm f/4 and my experience with that lens has been excellent. Based on that I would be very comfortable recommending the 11-16mm lens. However, after using the Sigma for a while, I think it's the lens for me.

The new sigma or the tokina are great options. I love my 10.5 Nikon Fisheye. It is the most fun lens I have. Everything looks cooler with it! But that all depends on if you like that sort of thing.

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Originally Posted by zerodog

The new sigma or the tokina are great options. I love my 10.5 Nikon Fisheye. It is the most fun lens I have. Everything looks cooler with it! But that all depends on if you like that sort of thing.

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Yeah, personally, I think fisheye lenses have limited use. They are fun for effect but you can't use them for architectural, product or serious travle photography where you need to keep your lines straight.

Thanks a LOT for great suggestions. I will certainly go with Tokina.