What ultra-wide prime lens?

I just replaced my trusty 18-135mm F/3.5-5.6 STM with the amazing 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM.

This means I now have the following lenses:
Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 AT-X Pro DX-II
Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM
Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM

The Canon L glass is an absolute game-changer - I'm literally addicted to the L glass now, and I feel that my Tokina is struggling behind. As I shoot on a 70D, I often shoot wider than the 24mm that the 24-70mm can provide, and I need to find something wider that's of decent quality.

I'm going on holiday to the Philippines next month(holiday of a lifetime), and I need something in the 13-18mm range to capture the magical moments with my lady. Money is very tight as I just purchase the 24-70, and a holiday to the Philippines, but I want something of very decent quality, for little money, so I was thinking of getting a prime.

Can anyone recommend a decent prime lens for reasonable cost in the 13-18mm range? Being a prime, it should be reasonable sharp, and reasonably fast. What I want is the Canon EF 14mm f/2.8L II USM, but I cannot afford the £1,500 right now. Budget is around the £600 mark MAX.

Thanks!

rokinon/samyang 14mm 2.8

Only UWA lens I can think of is not a prime EFS 10- 22 mm

The Samyang 14mm f2.8 is an attractive option, but will it produce better results than my tokina?

If you're not happy with your 11-16, it's probably time for a full frame body. You've got lenses that will shine on a bigger sensor, and you'll get the wider angle you're looking for @ 24mm.

ianc1990 wrote in post #17908125
The Samyang 14mm f2.8 is an attractive option, but will it produce better results than my tokina?

That Tokina is basically as good as a lot of Canon L's in sharpness, contrast, color, etc. Just not flare handling. Also built like a tank.

The Rokinon is wide and fast too, every bit as optically great as an L is.

But you have to understand, not all L's are in the same league. The 24-70 II is a different level of L than a 20 year old L is. Remember that.

What are you not happy with on the Tokina? Corners? Flare handling?

There is the Rok 16 F2 by the way for APS-C.

The Rok 14 F2.8 is every bit as good as the 14L II, other than AF, but you don't need AF on ultrawides.

Very best,

Interesting - the tokina obviously has bad flare which is something you just have to work with. It also stretches out the corners but thats semi-correctable in LR. Colour rendition also isn't very good.

My biggest gripe was sharpness - hyperfocal distance is at 2.35 feet (f11, f2.8) so focus shouldn't be the problem, but nothing I take seems to be sharp enough.

I've had my eye on the Rok 14mm for a very long time. Ultimately I needed 20-24 distortion free on FF more than I needed under 16, so i went with the Tokina 16-28, i've been very pleased.

I get the feeling that people (maybe you included) expect too much from under 20-22mm image quality, or in the case of aps-c 12-14mm. Just using round numbers here, nothing scientific. Anyway, i don't know that much about it, but my reading and a little experience tells me it's hard to make wide lenses that are truly sharp corner to corner. Especially anything under f/4. There is a reason the leading ultra wide zooms are thousands of dollars.

Your Tokina is supposed to be a pretty good lens, price:performance wise especially. What I have noticed with mine is that I must apply a pretty strong "shapness falloff" adjustment in Capture One Pro ... I have no idea if recent versions of Photoshop might have the same thing. I apply my regular sharpening and make all my image adjustments the sharpen then crap out of the corners. Its not needed so much if i'm at 24mm but shooting wide it's hard to give it too much sharpening. Once I get through with it I feel sharpness is great across the frame.

Back to the 14mm, strictly through reading and research i felt it was a truly great deal and had a hard time not buying it. But even at it's low price point, i just wouldn't have much need for it with my style of shooting and now having 16mm. I suspect that on a crop camera the lens would really shine.

Left Handed Brisket wrote in post #17907991
rokinon/samyang 14mm 2.8

photozone.de tests on FF camera show tons of vignetting wide open and even to f/5.6, and tons of ugly barrel distortion, although outstanding MTF scores.
On APS-C, the barrel distortion and the vignetting look nice, since is not captured in the central portion of the lens image circle by the smaller frame.

Wilt wrote in post #17909968
photozone.de tests on FF camera show tons of vignetting wide open and even to f/5.6, and tons of ugly barrel distortion, although outstanding MTF scores.
On APS-C, the barrel distortion and the vignetting look nice, since is not captured in the central portion of the lens image circle by the smaller frame.

yup.

I probably would have initially said stick with the Tokina except:

1) he seems unhappy with it
2) primes are always sharper than zooms right?
3) he's spent all his money (presumably on his lady and lenses) and then let her convince him to spend whatever is left on a trip to the islands

I've seen some wonderful shots with the Rok and unless i am completely misremembering, the colors were vivid and the images were sharp.

don't think there are many better options out there for you ianc.

farmer1957 wrote in post #17908033
Only UWA lens I can think of is not a prime EFS 10- 22 mm

While not a prime lens, for the 70D and other Canon APS-C bodies it doesn't get much better than this lens. I loved mine, it was the lens that delayed my jump to full frame and a new love affair with the 16-35mm f/4.

The Laowa Zero-D 12mm f/2.8 of Venus Optics.
http://photorumors.com …on-free-lens-coming-soon/

I'll probably sell my Canon 16-35 f4L IS for this one, wider, faster, ultralow distortion.

Wow. Glad I kept scrolling through to the end. Brick wall pic really shows the "zero d"

Has anyone tried the 10-22 mod to fit FF ?