Wide Angle Lens

[BradSut26]

im looking for a Wide angle lens that will mount with my Nikon D3100 for under $500. can anyone help me find one?

[DTruex]

You may want to look for a used Tamron lens. I have a 14mm lens from them for my Canon and it's a very nice lens.

[whited3]

What currency? The Sigma 10-20mm f3.5 is excellent with the older f4 being cheaper at AUD$455 from DWI.

[Dave Humphries]

im looking for a Wide angle lens that will mount with my Nikon D3100 for under $500. can anyone help me find one?

Hi Brad,

Welcome to the CiC forums from me, good to have another Nikon shooter

What lens(es) do you have currently?

[Nuno]

im looking for a Wide angle lens that will mount with my Nikon D3100 for under $500. can anyone help me find one?

I can only talk about these zoom lenses for Nikon: Tamron 10-24 / Sigma 10-20 / Tokina 12-24 / Nikon 10-24. All for APS-C.
I never tried fixed lenses, but I believe that they can be better in image quality than the zoom ones.

The Tamron is cheaper (about 400€) but its performance is the worst in detail and chromatic aberrations. (Good in the center, but quite bad in the corners)
The Sigma is a very good lens, and if you don't care about those 4mm less than the other lenses, it is probably the best buy for your budget.
In all reviews I read, the Tokina is better in image quality (about 600€). The best for its price. But it is only 12mm wide open.
The Nikon is great, probably the best of all in image quality, detail and chromatic aberrations but unfortunally it is very expensive (about 800€).

I find these prices here in Portugal online.

This is my experience with a Nikon D5000, there might be other people with a different opinion.

[BradSut26]

thanks guys im in California so USD? or $ lol. i have a kit lens 18-55mm and also a 55-200mm zoom lens. And thank you Nuno ill look up the Sigma. It sounds like its what im looking for

[rpcrowe]

I use a Tokina 12-24mm f/4 ATX-I on my Canon cameras and Tokina offers these in Nikon mounts also. I absolutely love this lens. I have had no problems with flare but, Tokina also offers an ATX-II model which is supposed to be better for resisting flare. The version I runs about $400 while the version II costs about $500. These are U.S. Prices.

The build and image quality of the Tokina 12-24mm is great and the overlap with the 18-55mm kit lens should not be a problem; especially since the kit lens is not really at its best when at its widest focal length.

However, Tokina also offers an 11-16mm f/2.8 wide angle lens which is more expensive but offers 1mm wider focal length and a fixed f/2.8 aperture. The 1mm is not that great of a difference but the extra stop could be quite an advantage.

I shoot with a 17-55mm f/2.8 IS lens as my mid-range zoom and the 12-24mm Tokina as my wide angle lens. I bought the Tokina before the TX-II or the 11-16mm f/2.8 was available. If I were purchasing now, I would opt for the 11-16mm since it has the extra stop and since my 17-55mm f/2.8 IS has great image quality at the wider focal lengths.

On the other hand, I like the 12-24mm quite well and I don't want to go through the trouble of selling that lens and purchasing the 11-16mm. An advantage of the 12-24mm is that it can be utilized as a "wide-normal" lens since the equivalent of 24mm on a 1.6x camera is 38.4mm. I carried the 12-24mm to China along with the 17-55mm and a 70-200mm f/4L IS. My rationale was that I could limp along with the 12-24mm and the 70-200mm if my 17-55mm f/2.8 IS lens ever went down. The first camera I used with interchangeable lenses was the Leica M-2 and I used this with 35mm and a 90mm lenses and was quite happy with the setup.

By the way, I have had no problems with the 17-55mm over the several years I have owned it.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Brad,

If for a D3100, which I believe, like the D3000 and D5000 doesn't have an internal camera body mounted focusing motor, beware; you will not have AF with a lot of the third party lenses. Only the Nikon AF-S or third party lenses with a built in USM motor will give you Auto-Focus.

Cheers,

[tchoklat]

"However, Tokina also offers an 11-16mm f/2.8 wide angle lens which is more expensive but offers 1mm wider focal length and a fixed f/2.8 aperture. The 1mm is not that great of a difference but the extra stop could be quite an advantage."

I use this lens and it is fabulous, despite a highish price (With D300).

Tony