New Lens!

[brmill26]

Since I got my XTi back in January of '08, the only lens I've had is the 50mm f/1.8 II. It's an incredible lens and really, considering my tight student budget, I wouldn't have done anything differently. As much as love the 50mm, I often found myself wishing I had more flexibility with my shots. But my tight budget hasn't changed.

So I got on eBay and had a look at things. I saw a lens I'd never even heard of, a Promaster 19-35mm f/3.5-4.5. After some serious digging on the net I discovered this exact lens is branded as Promaster/Cosina/Tokina/Tamron - all optically the same, supposedly. All the reviews I could find (few and far between) said it was soft wide open, but pretty sharp stopped down. That was good enough for me. I ended up winning a used Promaster 19-35, complete with (cheap junk, surely) Toshiba 77mm skylight filter, for $30.99 plus $6.50 shipping.

It got here end of last week and I put it through some tests at different apertures. As per the reviews I saw, it's very soft wide open; so much so I wouldn't even use it. But stopping down just one stop produces usable images, and by f/8 or more, I tell you it looks as sharp as my 50mm.

So my all of $37 lens produced these results. I think all of these are at 19mm, around f/10...





I LOVE the wide field of view... ok it's only 30mm equivalent, but coming from 85mm equivalent it feels really wide to me! This is a slight panning shot, that's why the background isn't sharp.


Finally, this is massive crop, almost pixel level, at 35mm, f/6.3. Looks pretty good to me.



Bottom line, I'm extremely happy with the results! Then considering the price, well, I feel like I stole it! So if anyone needs a cheap "normal" wide angle zoom, and you'll be using it outdoors, I would highly recommend this lens.

[frleal70]

I think you did very well for the price. I'm in the exact same boat as you, I bought my Xti w/ 50mm 1.8 lens. I too love the 50mm, but I'm feeling the need for a zoom. I was leaning towards the 28-135mm 3.5 w/ IS, but after seeing your results I'm thinking maybe a less expensive lens might do for now. We'll see. Thanks for sharing.

[Liz]

Congratulations! Sounds - and looks like - a winner! You have some nice images there. They look sharp - and the color is great!

I had a Tokina 19-35 a few years ago and loved it. I wonder if it's the same lens. Does it look like this? After all these years, the Tokina is still a big seller, although less expensive, but not by much. I believe I paid $120 - it's now $99 ($79 used) at B&H.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...A_19_35mm.html

Liz

[Frog]

Looks like you got a very usable lens. Congrats!

[Old Timer]

The important thing is to know your lenses strengths and weaknesses. You took the time to do this and it looks like with this knowledge you have a winner for a song. Nice going.

[Lori11]

Beautiful Brad! Nice job on the photo's and the reasearch. I still need help with reasearching stuff, but I try. Beautiful sky, love the colors!

[Loupey]

A local photo chain sells Promaster lenses. They are the same lenses as the Tamron (or is it Tokina?) but rebadged, so to speak, for this chain. Same lenses made in the same factory but with a different lens cap and a different box.

Something to keep in mind. You obviously reaped the benefits.

[Don Schaeffer]

I think the images are great. The wide angle looks about like a 35 mm (in 35 mm terms). What is the multiplication factor in your camera?

[brmill26]

Thanks guys! I went for the lens thinking, well, for $37 you can't hardly turn that down if it makes photos at all. But after seeing the quality stopped down, I was actually quite impressed with the glass - within its limitations, as OT said.

frleal70 - yeah I'm actually saving up for a 70-200 f/4 L to get this summer. I actually wasn't even looking for a wide angle. But I like doing landscapes, so when I saw the price, I couldn't resist. If you do your research, cheap(er) lenses are a great way to get some flexibility w/o breaking your budget. As OT said, each will have its limits, but if you can deal with that, you'll be in good shape.

Liz - yup, that's it. The grips for the zoom/focus have a different pattern on them but the tokina/tamron/cosina/promaster 19-35mm are all the same as I understand. At least all the photos of the lens I've seen online are the same.

Don - thanks! I thought so too. The Canon's are a 1.6x crop, so 19mm x 1.6 = 30.4mm equivalent.

Thanks everyone!