Super wide choices

I need to get a super wide lens soon, like this week. It has to be 14mm or less. 17mm is super wide on a film camera, but on a 10D/20D/300D it is 28mm, which is not wide enough for my needs. I held out for Canon's 10-22mm, but it does not seem to be living up to expectations. I've seen some reviews of the Sigma 12-24mm that were ok but also not great, and there are a couple of others that were announced (Tamron 11-18mm, and Tokina 12-24mm).

In primes, it looks like there are a variety of 14mm's available, but the Canon is too expensive for the occasional use I will give this lens.

Are these all the choices right now in 14mm and under? And, aside from the Canon 14mm L, does anyone have an experience with the 14mm primes by Sigma, Tokina or Tamron?

I have the Tamron 14mm f2.8 SP Aspherical, and I like it. I am not a pixel peeper, so I can't tell you about CA or mild distortions, but we are talking about a 14mm lens here.

KEH.com usually has them used in the $700 range. I think it's worth that much at least.

Have Fun,

14mm on a 1.6x magnification is hardly a superwide, just a hair under wide angle. You need something 10-12mm for superwide

Do we really need to be arguing semantics? Canon calls 20mm ultra wide, and 24mm wide, so it's safe to say a 14mm on a 1.6 camera (22mm effective) can be considered ultra wide, whether it be under the wide range by 2mm or 4mm. 14mm is about as low as the primes go today (not counting Sigma's 8mm circular fisheye) which is why I threw that number out there.

Me, too. I need wide AND fast.

Haven't found the solution yet unless investing in a different
camera with a smaller crop factor becomes an option.

I just spotted a Sigma 8/4,0 fisheye (in my online store).

J.
-

The Sigma 8mm is a circular fisheye, with 180 degree view at all angles, and therefore tons of distortion. It can produce some pretty interesting shots, but not what I'm looking for. There are a bunch of examples on pbase, here's a link to a bunch of them, taken with a 1.5x crop Fuji.

Murph, It's really tough to tell anything about the 12-24mm from those underexposed shots, but thanks. I've seen other shots with that lens, and it is a decent lens, but I don't see myself using the zoom at all. Luckily with your 1DmkII you only have a 1.3x crop factor so the ultra wide problem is not as apparant to you.

CoolToolGuy, I did check out keh and they have a few used Tamron 14mm's. I may just pick one up used to hold me over until a wider prime comes out for us 1.6x camera users. It's looking like either that, the Sigma 14mm, or maybe a 15mm fisheye for me at this point.

Well, if you don't want to be limited on EF-s mount, I think there's only one choice: Sigma 12-24. I will buy one of these as soon as I can afford it.

I don't know if you consider a 15mm a superwide but I sure so love the canon 15mm fisheye... then if you don't want the distortion at all, you can use PTLens and it will correct the picture for you... WHAT A COMBO!

Yes, I think a 15mm fisheye can be considered superwide, because they actually have the same angle of view as an 11-12mm (~90 degrees on a 1.6x camera). I was afraid there would be too much distortion with a fisheye, though. Do you have any before and after examples with PTLens?

Yup, here you go... These pics have not had any POST processing besides the PTLens conversion. Whats nice about PTLens, its FREEWARE!!! Just look at the building in the left background, that should do it for you right there! This is why I love my 15mm so much!!! It gives me the best of BOTH worlds! When I'm feeling ARTISTIC, I can have the fisheye effect, when I'm not, I use PTLens... The only downfall is, I'm ALWAYS using the fisheye PTLens is a photoshop plugin or you can DOWNLOAD it as a standalone and it runs pretty quick. so its not that bad... They also have about 30 some lens calibrations in the software and you can adjust the vignetting of the image before you adjust it.

BEFORE

HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/gif'

HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/gif'

I want that lens -

can you post a link for PTLens?


Julia
-

Sure, No Prob! DANG! there up to 5.3 already!!! I have to keep up with them!!

http://www.epaperpress​.com/ptlens/

BTW, here is a list of all cameras and lenses it is CAL'd for..... It is NOT just for SLR's... it is also for point and shoots too.... You can check out there page....

Kenski, that is VERY cool. The only question I have is, notice how much field of view and resolution you lose after running that program? I wouldn't be surprised if the adjusted field of view is the same as a 14 or 15mm prime, because the 180 fisheye is measured diagonal (~112 degrees on a 1.6x camera), and it looks like PTLens is throwing away all the extra info in the corners by straightening it out.

What's really cool about it though is you kind of have two lenses in one there, because PTLens can adjust out the fisheye aspect, although you are giving up a lot of resolution in that case. Still a great option though.

Interesting that the 8mm Sigma circular fisheye is not on there. I guess that lens is just too wacky to work with.

If Canon is listening, WE NEED A 10MM OR 12MM PRIME, NOW!!! L would be nice, too

Actually, I just did some measuring and calculations, and it looks the field of view after running PTLens is about the same as a 12mm prime, so that may be a decent way to get straight ultra wide out of a fisheye if you can live with the loss of resolution in the corners. With a 20D, it will probably still be plenty of resolution for a small print.

Thanks for pointing it out.