Nikon 10-24
Taking good pictures with a wide angle is actually a bit challenging. There are some things that just work so beautifully, but it is not for everything. Therefore if you have a prime wide angle lens with you, you will most probably need something else as well.
If you have a APS-C system, this is a great solution. At its long end (24mm), since it is an APS-C lens, it will be like s 35mm lens on a full frame camera, which is a very practical focal length for most purposes. So you can keep this lens on the entire day. Notice that for smaller focal lengths (20mm or less) a small change has a huge impact. The cheaper Nikon 10-20 lacks only 4mm on its long end, but that moves you effectively from a 35mm to a 28mm on full frame camera, which is considerably wider.
But of course you want this lens, for its wide angle and there it delivers. If you have never used a wide angle lens before you will be surprised that it is not as easy as it looks, and less practical. So this is why I love this lens, you can go from. quite normal (35mm/24mm) to wide (28mm/20mm) to very wide (24mm/16mm) to very very wide (20mm/13mm) and crazy wide (15mm/10mm). At the wide end (15mm/10mm) your lens has a field fo view of 110 degrees. So if you are in a corner of a room you see the entire room. Real estate agents love these extreme focal lengths, as it also tends to push everything away and make it look larger than it is.
When compared to a prime lens you of course pay a price. It is slower (you need longer exposure times). Since extreme wide angles can be very useful inside, and for taking pictures of the night sky, this may hurt you a bit (see also ISO).
One of my go to configurations is this lens coupled with a second camera that has a zoom like Nikon 70-300 or a macro.
| Price | Quite expensive and APS-C only |
|---|---|
| Weight | Light, 450g |
| Good for | Interiors, landscapes |
| New or used | 900 new, used not cheap 500. |
Just no. This is a APS-C specific lens, and while modern full frame cameras can make use of it, they will revert your camera to an APS-C camera, so there is not much point. If you combine APS-C and full frame cameras, this is the lens that stays on the APS-C, as lenses with smaller focal lengths do not work that well between the two camera types.
For full frame your alternatives would be the Nikon 16-35 and the much more sophisticated (and expensive) Nikon 14-24.
These wide angle zooms are all very practical but also very expensive. Keep in mind that they can not really compete with the prime lenses for a given focal length, so choose wisely.
This is the wide angle zoom for the APS-C. There is a much cheaper Nikon 10-20 which is a bit slower, and misses quite a bit on the long end, but the price difference is massive (almost 2.5x). There is one catch, the 10-20 does not have a way to focus manually (AF-P) and will not work on some of the older cameras (like the Nikon D90).
Wide angle zooms do not work well between systems. So if you invest in this, be prepared to keep your APS-C camera with it. It is a classical example of you will end up paying more for your lenses than your cameras. When I check today the list prices, this lens costs as much as a new decent APS-C camera, and used you can find really good cameras that are much cheaper than a used 10-24.
Gallery
The widest 10mm focal length. This is a meeting room, and the camera is 6meters away from the cook at the end of the table.
The longest 24mm focal length, taken from same position as File:cook10.jpg
Now at 10mm, but this time much closer, see File:cook_close_setup.jpg to see how close I am for this picture
This is how close I was for File:cook_close.jpg
Scenery from Ladakh, India
Scenery from Atacama, Chile. Using a very small aperture (f/29 to increase the depth of field
Another scenery from Chile. Notice that this is almost at the longer end (22mm)
The British Museum, London. This works partially because I was able to hold the camera straight while taking the picture from the second floor.
These pages are for Amateur Photographers and not really for seasoned photographers and professionals. I have no affiliation or commercial interest with any brand/make. I write from my own experience. I ended up using mainly Nikon, so I am more familiar with this brand than others. See price for notes on pricing as well as photography related links.