Picking a Wide Angle That doesn't break the Bank

Photo of the Grand Enchantment Trail in New Mexico

Last week I wrote an article about picking your first Interchangeable Lens Camera. This week I'm going to write a series of articles dedicated to getting your second lens. After you've been shooting for a while you'll probably have a good idea of what that second lens should be. Dragging your tripod out into the woods every weekend to get those sweeping landscape photos? Time to pick up a wide angle. Chasing bee's around blooming flowers all day? You should probably pick up a macro lens. Photographing friends and family a lot? Get a portrait lens. Spending a lot of time at the ball field, skate park, or duck pond? Time for a Telephoto Lens. Love people watching? Then you need a good WYSIWYG lens.

Today's article is going to be about getting that wide angle lens while trying not to break the bank. Tuesday we'll cover macro lenses. Wednesday we'll dip into my wife's favorite, portraits and on Thursday's we'll cover telephoto's. On Friday we'll talk about the best glass for on the street voyeurism.

I'm going to assume that you have an camera with an APS-C sized sensor sense we are talking about getting a decent lens with out spending little Timmy's college fund(who are we kidding, you're playing the lotto for his college fund). I'll lump mounts together if I find that a third party lens is the best choice for more than one of them, otherwise I'll be going mount by mount through Canon, Nikon, Fujifilm, Pentax, Sony A-mount, and Sony E-Mount.

Canon and Nikon

For the big two I highly recommend a third party lens by Tamron. The Tamron 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5 Di II VC HLD Lens is one of the widest you can get at 10mm. It's got image stabilization and a silent focusing motor. It's also one of the newest lens out. I would also recommend getting the Tamron Tap in USB connector. It attaches to the bottom lens and allows you to customize lens setting as well as update the firmware of the lens online. This is important because in the past when camera manufactures have updated cameras it has at times turned third party lens into useless paper weights. The lens sales for about $500 USD online and the Tap in is around another $50.

A decent alternative for canon is the Canon EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM Lens. It's not optically as good as the Tamron but it's pretty close and for $279 it's a great bargain. The canon does pack stabilization and silent focusing. It's step less motor should combine will with Canon's duel pixel auto focus if you want to shoot video. Nikon also has a bargain lens with the Nikon AF-P DX NIKKOR 10-20mm f/4.5-5.6G VR that is around $300 USD but like the Canon it's not as good as the newly designed Tamron. While the Nikon has stabilization it doesn't have a silent focusing motor.

Fujifilm

So you fell in love with that cute little X-T20 that was crammed full of features and cost $200 less than it's competitors just like me? Well grab a helmet and strap in because you're in for some sticker shock.

If you want a zoom here's your choice, your only choice, Fujifilm XF 10-24mm f/4 R OIS Lens. This is a $1000 dollar lens. Yes, that's expensive. The only other option with auto focus is the XF 14mm f/2.8 R Ultra Wide-Angle Lens which costs $800 dollars but doesn't have stabilization. Both these lenses are nearly perfect optically and feature all metal construction. Fujifilm has made a conscious business decision to only make top quality lens.

If you can't afford those then I suggest you look at some of the manual focus lenses by Samyang(they may be marketed under two other names, they're all made by Samyang). I would get the Samyang 10mm f/2.8 ED AS NCS CS Lens because it's the sharpest and widest of the lot. It's easier to crop than to stitch. You'll have to learn how to work with an all manual lens but that will make you a better, and more patient, photographer. The $400 price tag will make you a less broke one.

Pentax

This is gonna be short and semi-bitter. Get the Pentax SMCP-DA 12-24mm f/4 ED AL for $700. It's the only choice worth having. Better yet, sale your Pentax gear before Ricoh stops making it.

Sony A-Mount

Sony keeps putting out the occasional A-mount body to keep selling their A-mount lenses. I'm still not convinced they won't kill the line eventually. If you're dead set on still owning A-mount gear then you should pick up a Tokina AT-X 116 PRO DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8 Lens for $400. This lens is a really old design that has been surpassed by pretty much everything else on this list(except the even older and overpriced pentax). That's how neglected A-mount is.

Sony E-Mount

Sony's Star pupil in the Photography classroom is their E-mount. For wide angle goodness you can't beat the Sony E 10-18mm f/4 OSS Lens at $750. Of course the reason you can't beat it is because it's the only wide angle zoom for e-mount. Don't get me wrong it ticks all the I want it boxes. It has image stabilization, it's small and light, it's sharp, and it's got a silent focusing motor. E-mount is a hard mount to make lenses for because the distance from the mount to the sensor is very small. This probably explains why there isn't a lot of lens competitors for Sony. I would also say this is a plus for Sony because they made the lens top notch when they didn't really have to from a competition stand point.

Conclusion

Every mount has something to offer when it comes to shooting wide for landscapes. The big two, Canon and Nikon, have the cheapest choices. While the two niche brands, Sony A-mount and Pentax, have the oldest least appealing choices. Fujifilm and Sony have the most expensive, but the most well made and optically advanced choices. In other words, there's something out there to fit everyone's needs.

I personally buy all my gear at B&H. I have no affiliate deal with them. I've just found them to be a good place to do business so here a link to their site:
https://www.bhphotovideo.com

I have no deals with any site or equipment manufacturer. Your upvotes are the only payment for the work I put in on my Steemit blog. Have a great one and I'll talk to you latter.

Next Post in this series:

https://steemit.com/photography/@randystiefer/picking-a-macro-lens-that-doesn-t-break-the-bank