D90 lens suggestions?

[AussieByron]

I love my 10-17mm Tokina and it nevers hardly comes off 10mm. If your shooting larger animals like large turtles and sharks you need the 10mm.

As for shooting wide angle, you dont have to have clear water and lots of light. You can still get great shots in low vis in dark conditions as long as you have decent strobes.

Regards Mark

 

[John Gulliver]

I own a D90 already with two lenses- A sigma 10-20mm for W/A and the Nikkor 18-200VR as a walk-around. If you do a search you'll find a lot of people recommend the Tokina 11-17 for W/A use underwater. I plan on using my sigma just because I already own it, I purchased it over the Tokina because I like the zoom range better for above water use. It's a great lens on the surface so I don't see why it won't be great underwater.

IMHO, the Sigma 10-20 is a great lens under water. I bought a used one earlier this year on the recommendation of several people on this forum and used it for the first time on a recent trip to Indonesia. I was very pleased with the results. With the right port, it also has excellent close-focus properties. Anyone who already has this lens should definitely try it under water before rushing out to buy another wide angle lens.

 

[treb]

I too love my Tokina 10-17mm, it's give me sharp pictures edge to edge. I also have the Nikkor 12-24 which I still sometimes use if I know there are going to be big fish that are difficult to get close to. The results are OK but I lose a little sharpness near the edges and a small amount of distortion, even with a dome port. I try and overcome the loss of sharpness using a higher aperature setting which usually means I have to bump the ISO up also. I think I will eventually restrict the Nikkor 12-24 to above water photography.

Sea scapes with the Tokina are always amazing and you don't need particulary clear water. The strobes need to be as wide a I can get them and pulled back along way to reduce back scatter and avoid the risk of reflection inside the dome.

In my opinion the Nikkor 60mm AF-S Micro is the only other essential lens (or the 105) for UW.

Cheers

 

[mike_s]

Digital Wide Zooms

Ken Rockwell gives very good info on the lenses google ken rockwell

I was looking at this one Nikon 10-24mm

I've found Ken Rockwell to have some good info, but you also have to know how to sort through his BS.

He is "pro Nikon" and think's only their stuff is "what to get". he comes up with reasons to belittle anything that competes with it.


I bought the Sigma 10-20mm earlier this year and like it. I'm sure the Nikon 10-24mm is a little better, but it's not worth the extra $$$. If you read other reviews, you'll find everyone else says pretty much the same thing.

 

[RonFrank]

Yeah, I take Ken Rockwell with a large grain of salt!

 

[elan]

I've found Ken Rockwell to have some good info, but you also have to know how to sort through his BS.

He is "pro Nikon" and think's only their stuff is "what to get". he comes up with reasons to belittle anything that competes with it.


I bought the Sigma 10-20mm earlier this year and like it. I'm sure the Nikon 10-24mm is a little better, but it's not worth the extra $$$. If you read other reviews, you'll find everyone else says pretty much the same thing.

I think he is a bit rough sometimes but this is what I like about his reviews. And besides what I like in his points of view is that he is more concerned about the art of photography rather being hardware oriented and he filters very well the marketing BS about the megapixels and other non art related stuff.

I cannot agree with you about him being "pro Nikon" If you look at his reviews you can see that he admits that other makes are superior in many places (Canon 5D say for landscape, rangefinder Leica for wides and super wides), I do not remember him saying Nikon lenses are better than Canon (as I remember he was saying they are of the same level), he however admits that Nikon was better for him usability wise.
But that's personal preference, myself I picked Nikon because I found it more comfortable to use, even before I knew about his site existence. My friend however loves her Canon

Before D700 was released I think 5D was taking his place in his reviews.

 

[WetLens]

Agree with taking Ken Rockwell with a grain of salt. Always good to hear another's opinion, but his miopic views don't always align with other than his reality.

I've been shooting with the Tokina 10-17 for a couple of years now. All things being equal, I'd rather be shooting full frame with my Nikon 16 or Nikonos 15. As those are not viable solutions for cropped sensor digital, I had to go with a super-wide DX lens. Shooting the Tokina at 10 or 11mm is challenging, but once you understand where and when it works - or more importantly, where it doesn't work - it can be an excellent lens. Attached is a series of pictures taken recently at 10 and 11mm focal lengths. Note where the distortion is clearly evident and where it is hardly noticed. After working with the lens for a while, I'm not sure I'd trade it for another.

 

[mike_s]

several mentions of the Tokina 10-17 and similar Tonika lens in here....

I just wanted to point out that the reason I went with the Sigma over the Tonika was the Sigma had "HSM" (Hyper Sonic Motor). Which is the same thing as AF-S on Nikon. Meaning it has the motor built into the Lens. If anyone is planning on using this with a Nikon D40/D40x/D60/D3000/D5000, you'll need this type capability.

But you won't have that problem with the D90. It will support lens w/o motors.

Otherwise I would have highly considered the Tokina also.

 

[cberk]

Great discussion and very helpful.

Anyone have experience with Tokina 11-16 f/2.8.
Rockwell gave it a great review.

This appears to be ultra-wide angle and not fisheye.

Would anyone miss the long range 11-16 vs 12-24?

The 11-16 appears to be fast (f2.8) , helpful in low light situations. May be a non-issue with a good strobe.

 

[StreetDoctor]

In my opinion when you're looking for a wide angle lens you want as wide as you can get and still produce a quality image, You can always get closer.