New Landscape lens for a 1D Mkii

Hi everyone,

having trouble trying to decide what lens to get that will work well with my 1D, crop sensor with EF only mount, any suggestions?

Been looking at the Tokina 11-16 F2.8, Sigma 12-24 and possibly if I can find one I can afford a 17-40 F4L

What do you think? Any help greatly appreciated


Phil

i had both on my 1dmk2. the tokina is a better build, but the 12-24 is nice for the cheaper price. I'd get the 12-24 since you wont be able to use it until the 14-15mm range.

the 17-40 wasn't very magical on that body, it shines on FF though

I'm not sure about the 17-40 being magical or not on APS-H, but I was quite happy using it on a 1d3. The 17-40 is quite weak in the outer portions of the frame at the wide end, but on APS-H those portions are mostly cut off.

The sigma 12-24 is not that strong of a performer, but it is certainly the widest option with >APS-C coverage.

The Tokina is an APS-C lens, but if I remember right it covers the APS-H image circle from about 13mm and up. If you are ok with the limited range, it is a very high performing lens. Some people complain about flare, but I found that shading the lens with my hand was usually sufficient to prevent flare in all but the worst situations.

So my choice would be 17-40 if you don't need ultrawide, Tokina if you specifically want ultrawide, and the Sigma if you want ultrawide plus the extra zoom range on both ends over the tokina (at a performance cost vs. the other two lenses)

When I was shooting with the 1D, my choices came down to the 11-16, 17-40, and 16-35. Back then, my other body was a 40D, so I went with the 11-16. Optically, it's superior to the 17-40 and 16-35, and build wise it's on par (if not better).

I was able to use it from 12.5-13mm up to 16 with no vignetting. If I had to boil it down to two lenses, I'd be looking at the 2.8 offerings first.

Not to seem spammy since I'm selling mine but do not rule out the Sigma 15-30. I found it much better than the 12-24 and on par with the 17-40 (albeit wider but with variable aperture). Its about half the cost of a 17-40. Its a very sharp and capable little lens. No vignetting at any focal length. My only "complaints" were that it doesn't accept filters in a traditional way and has variable aperture so I went back to a 17-40.

samples from my 1D MkIII

if you wonder about colors....

When I had only the 1D2, the 17-40mm was perfect for me..... Until I moved up to FF and 17mm became even wider. But still, I've been using 24mm a lot more than 17mm on my 5D2, mostly because the Lee filter kit vignettes like crazy until around 22mm. I didn't buy the UWA slim mount for it.