C100: Good wide angle zooms for C100?

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dset86

New member
I'm still happy with my C100 in late 2020, and I'm also quite happy with my Canon 15-85mm 3.5-5.6 lens. It has good image stabilization and a great zoom range, that's quite pleasing when I'm shooting much run & gun stuff.

The image quality could be slightly better, and this lens also have some visible vignetting (even with EF-S option turned on), so I wonder if there's other good alternatives I haven't heard of? Other suggestions for good wide angle zooms?

I have tried Tokina 11-16mm and Im impressed by the quality but it get's shaky when you zoom and it has not the optimal zoom range for lots of situations.
I have also tried the Canon 10-22mm which is good in some situations but has too much fisheye-look to be useful in shots following people etc.

I want something like the lenses used in broadcast reality (but less expensive) when you have good wide angle but without fisheye/distortions.
The optimal could be something from 12-14mm to around 70...but I have no clue......

What's your go-to and most usable zoom lens for your C100?
 
The Tokina 14-20mm seems like an interesting choice, never heard of it actually. Thanks!
Do you feel limited by the zoom range or does it work well in many situations?
 
It works really well. To be honest (although I still own a C100) the last few years I've used it on my FS5 (E-mount, via Metabones adapters). After I bought it, about a year later they released a 11-20mm version (but that is F2.8). Personally I'd rather have the wider aperture and I sense from your original post that you're not keen on the 11mm look anyway. Amongst my many lenses is a much used Canon 17-55mm F2.8 IS which only slightly overlaps the range of my Tokina 14-20mm.

The biggest thing if you do handheld a lot is the lack of IS on the Tokina. There are hardly any ultra wide angle lenses with IS that are good or fast.

BTW, welcome to the Forum!
 
Thanks alot! I'm considering the Sigma 12-24 f4 art lens that seem to have a good focal range,but I will definitely do more research on the Tokina 14-20 as well.

I do mostly unscripted and observational reality or documentary work, so I don't have time to change lenses often,in that case a good allround zoom like 17-55 could also be useful. I owned an 18-135 lens for some years and I liked it very much, but for some reason I've got more interested in these wide angle lenses.

We'll see what I end up with.
Thanks anyway!
 
Were you planning to manually focus, or does the lens need AF? The Sigma 17-50mm f/2.8 is a decent photography lens, but it has a very short focus throw, and I don't know how well its AF does in video.
 
I am partial to the cheapo Canon EF S 10-18mm f.4.5-5.6 IS STM. It's slow is it's only downfall but it's a great lens for handheld wide stuff, I've shot some things with it that made it to theatrical
and it looked great on the big screen. I too find the sweet spot to be about 13-14mm on the C200's S35 sensor. 10-12mm distorts people too much but at 13-14mm if you keep people away from the edges,
not bad.
 
dset86 said:
Such a cheap lens! I'll have two of them!

Would be a dream to have one..... ;)
Click to expand...

Dreams can come true.

It's rehoused Nikon 14-24 f/2.8 AF-S NIKKOR G ED N (Ruby).

If you are fine with focusing in "wrong" direction, using adapter to mount it on your C100 and lacking some other minor cinema features.
 
Imamacuser said:
Were you planning to manually focus, or does the lens need AF? The Sigma 17-50mm f/2.8 is a decent photography lens, but it has a very short focus throw, and I don't know how well its AF does in video.
Click to expand...
I actually have a Sigma 17-50 and I use it sometimes, great,wonderful and sharp lens! The reason I don't use it is because the IS is a bit challenging,and as you mention the focus throw is short. The AF does work but it's a bit noisy on this lens. :cheesy:
 
How about the Tamron 15-30 VC? It's 2.8 and could give you the range you're after (combined with a 24-70) without shelling out for an 18-80 (Hey, and 1 stop of light to boot). I've read remarkable things--when it works! It's fairly rectilinear (the straighter lines you're looking for) and considered quite sharp. BUT Tamron G2 lenses don't play well with the C200 and C300 mkii DPAF. However, I believe they work fine with C100 (83% sure). But PLEASE don't trust me on this. Also, the Tamron's focus in Nikon direction, which can be aggravating to use (but don't the Tokina's as well?) But if you often use AF, or if your 24-70 is also Tamron, then no problem. I've wished for awhile that it could play nice with my C200. Nothing else that I know of is that wide, bright, sharp and stabilized--even if you spend 10x the money.
 
OTOH, If you don't need all the range, I think the Canon 17-55 is an amazing workhorse. I wish to H they would issue an update to this lens. I know Puredrifting on this forum doesn't love it, but it does a lot that nothing else does. Focus is pretty quick and quiet, unlike the equivalent Sigmas, Tamrons or Tokinas. It's 2,8 and the both the AF and IS are solid. You might want to buy 2 to compare and return the lesser copy. And also send it in for cleaning every 2 years (it breathes like a MF and collects dust like they're Poke balls). And then if you need wider with low distortion, get something like a Venus Optics Laowa 12mm f/2.8 Zero-D and put it on a tripod, gimbal or slider.
 
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