Looking for some Vintage Wide Angle Prime Lenses?

I know it's a difficult thing, and that is because I tried: my current vintage lens set goes from 35mm to 300mm, because I couldn't find anything wider that looked really really good; I plan to go for samyang 8mm fisheye, samyang 14mm f/2.8 or tokina 11-16 f/2.8, and samyang 24mm f/1.4 or canon 24mm f/2.8; but first I need to know what my next body will be...
 
Yashica ML on ebay. You'll find 28mm, 24mm, 21mm, 15mm, and occasionally an 8mm. Be prepared to pay quite a bit for the 21mm, 15mm, and 8mm lenses. The 24mm goes from $200 to a little under $500.
 
I just sold a nikon ais 24mm f2.8 for $170 which is about an average price for this lens. You can pick these up on eBay, craigslsit etc.
They will work on canon, panasonic, sony or pretty much anything. Avoid the nikon ais 24mm f2
 
How wide do you really need to get?
While neither vintage nor a prime lens, my go to wide lens is a Tokina 11-16mm.
It's really a great lens for the money when you really need wide.
 
I have a Nikon AI 20mm f2.8, picked up off of eBay for about $300.00 and a pre-AI Nikon 24mm f.2.8 also picked up off of eBay for about $150.00. They are both very good lenses.
 
It's hard to find really wide vintage lenses and they tend to be pricey. Modern wides can also be pretty expensive as well.

My current widest is a Nikkor 24mm which I found for $100 at a bargain camera show. There were actually two other sellers who were selling older version of the same lens (pre AI) for about $110 so you may want to check it out if you're in the market. They go for a bit more on Ebay.

If I need something even wider, I'll pull out my 18-55mm kit and use the 18mm portion. It's not a great lens and I'm stuck at F3.5 but sometimes I just need the coverage.

I wish I had a 21mm or 15mm but they cost several times what all my other lenses do combined....


David W. Jones said:
How wide do you really need to get?
While neither vintage nor a prime lens, my go to wide lens is a Tokina 11-16mm.
It's really a great lens for the money when you really need wide.
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For me, I wish I had something which was about as wide as an HVX200 or EX1 zoomed out all the way. Any 18mm lens on an APSC sized sensor is about right. Lord knows I wish I could aford the Tokina...
 
Nikon made an 18mm prime, but I'd steer clear of it. I only know of this lens because I read about it in an article titled "The 10 Worst Lenses ever made by Nikon."

It is difficult to find fast, wide, vitage primes, partly because vintage lenses were designed for full frame only. So what was considered a wide lens back then, is now a standard lens on most cameras. It wasn't until digital cameras came along and APS-C sized image sensors became more prevelant that anything under 20mm became commonplace. I'm sure there are exceptions to this generalisation (such as the aforementioned Nikon) but most of them are either slow, not very good, or fairly expensive.
 
that APS-C argument is true, but also ultra wide angle lenses are particularly difficult to design: for one, they're reverse telephotos, which means their design is very far from symmetric, and this leads to a lot of CA; plus, they're very prone to distorsion, and if you try to control this you end up with very complex designs with a large number of elements; new types of glass and computer assisted design are really, really helpful here (much more than, say, for a 50mm or a 85mm); if you have some time, this blog post (just like the rest of that series) is an amazing read: http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2011/03/the-development-of-wide-angle-lenses
 
NormanBates said:
that APS-C argument is true, but also ultra wide angle lenses are particularly difficult to design: for one, they're reverse telephotos, which means their design is very far from symmetric, and this leads to a lot of CA; plus, they're very prone to distorsion, and if you try to control this you end up with very complex designs with a large number of elements; new types of glass and computer assisted design are really, really helpful here (much more than, say, for a 50mm or a 85mm); if you have some time, this blog post (just like the rest of that series) is an amazing read: http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2011/03/the-development-of-wide-angle-lenses
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So is the Tokina 11-16mm still considered one of the best wide lenses for out APS-C cameras? I really don't want to spent $700 for a lens, but if it can solve all of my problems I will save up and buy it.
 
vision_filmz said:
So is the Tokina 11-16mm still considered one of the best wide lenses for out APS-C cameras? I really don't want to spent $700 for a lens, but if it can solve all of my problems I will save up and buy it.
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This is one lens I'm very glad I purchased. It's very much a special-purpose lens (as is any wide-angle), but it has come in handy several times.

The plus side of the Tokina is that it's a zoom that acts like a prime. Since the zoom range is very limited, and does not lengthen the lens, you can tweak your wide-angle shots for more or less barrel distortion. That makes it very flexible. It's built like a tank, and is decently fast at f2.8.

The downside to the Tokina is that there's no aperture ring, but that's becoming very common with new lenses. If you want manual aperture control, you either have to go vintage or pay a premium for one of a very few current offerings.
 
yes, it's considered the best one for the money

the only decent alternative I know about for a lower price is the samyang 14mm f/2.8: sharp, but with more distortion
(this one is totally manual; in fact, I'd get it in nikon mount and get a cheap adapter, just in case: you never know what the future holds)
 
If only I had the money for the Tokina but $650 is just too far out of my price range. I guess this is the price one pays for using a crop sensor. I've been able to get a bunch of amazing vintage primes for chump change (so far, each Nikkor for less than $100) but, if I want a true wide angle for this sensor size, it'll cost me more than all my other primes combined. Grumble...

I just recently ordered an ultra-cheap wide-angle adapter off of Amazon for $10. I'm sure it won't be great but I'm going to try to put it on my 24mm 2.8 as I'm told it makes it the equivelant of a 17mm. I'm sure that such a cheap adapter will cost me some sharpness but hopefully it'll still be sharp enough for video (and I rarely need wider than a 24mm for stills).
 
DavidBeier said:
If only I had the money for the Tokina but $650 is just too far out of my price range. I guess this is the price one pays for using a crop sensor.
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Wide angle lenses are not at all an area where APS-C lenses are disadvantaged. Sure, you can get wider with the same lens on a full-frame, but there are more options for APS-C lenses and at much lower prices too. $650 is cheap compared to all the full frame super-wide lenses that the Tokina compares to. Have you looked at the prices for the Canon 16-35/2.8, or the 14/2.8, or the Nikon 12-24? You are not losing out by having an APS-C camera - there are very few cheap super wide angle lenses (under 20mm) for full frame, and decent vintage lenses in that range are almost non-existant.

How wide is it that you want to go exactly? The ~17mm you'll get out of that adaptor is easily attainable with low-cost lenses like the Sigma 17-35 f/2.8-4, or the Sigma 18-50 f/2.8-4.

I wouldn't expect too much from that wide-angle adaptor - or even for it to be usable at all. It will likely give softness but more problematically severe CA, barrel distorion and some light loss. You'd be better off using the kit lens at 18mm and f/3.5 - it'd almost be just as wide, with much better IQ, and probably about equal light gathering ability.
 
Just wanted to add more kudos for the Nikon 24mm f2.8 AIS. I got mine at KEH for about $150... wonderful lens!
 
deltoidjohn said:
Wide angle lenses are not at all an area where APS-C lenses are disadvantaged. Sure, you can get wider with the same lens on a full-frame, but there are more options for APS-C lenses and at much lower prices too.
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Well, first of all, I'm not crapping on APS-C sensors at all. They're just fine and I appreciate all the cash I save on the camera and on telaphoto lenses. That said, there certainly feels like a disadvantage in the wide angle realm. If I had a full frame, I could grab any number of vintage 28mm lenses and it would give me roughly the coverage I want that i'd need a 17 or 18mm lens to get with APS-C. There are plenty fast 28mm vintage lenses that I've seen at pawn shops and online for as low as $35. Finding an 18mm prime, on the other hand, is an incredibly expensive route.

$650 is cheap compared to all the full frame super-wide lenses that the Tokina compares to. Have you looked at the prices for the Canon 16-35/2.8, or the 14/2.8, or the Nikon 12-24?
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But if I was using a full frame camera, the 24mm Nikkor that I found would be the equivalent of a 15mm which would be fine by me and I wouldn't need to spend hundreds and hundreds to get he field of view I want.

You are not losing out by having an APS-C camera - there are very few cheap super wide angle lenses (under 20mm) for full frame, and decent vintage lenses in that range are almost non-existant.
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Yes but, once again, I don't need under 20mm for a full frame. It's such an extreme FOV for full frame which is why it's near impossible to find in vintage lenses.



How wide is it that you want to go exactly? The ~17mm you'll get out of that adaptor is easily attainable with low-cost lenses like the Sigma 17-35 f/2.8-4, or the Sigma 18-50 f/2.8-4.
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17mm is about what I'd want. That's about the same field of view that I'm used to working with from my time with an HVX200 and EX1 when they are zoomed out all the way. That's the spatial limitation that I have built into my thought process from years of video work. I hadn't looked at the Sigma before. It may be a worthwhile choice down the road (though then I'll feel bad for shelling out the cash on the Nikkor 24mm 2.8).


I wouldn't expect too much from that wide-angle adaptor - or even for it to be usable at all. It will likely give softness but more problematically severe CA, barrel distorion and some light loss. You'd be better off using the kit lens at 18mm and f/3.5 - it'd almost be just as wide, with much better IQ, and probably about equal light gathering ability.
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Sadly that's what I have been doing if I really need an 18mm. It's unfortunate because I've found the difference between 3.5 and 2.8 to be greater than I would expect (maybe also due to the design of the Nikkors).
 
A relatively inexpensive option for a wide zoom is the 19-35mm f 3.5-4.5 made by Cosina (also under the Promaster brand some times). I find it very good for the money, and although on a 5d markII it is really wide (with some vignetting @ 19mm), on crop sensor it could still be satisfactory for the range you want.
If you want an ultrawide lens for crop sensor, the best are the Canon EF-S 10-22 f3.5-5.6 and the Tokina 11-16 (I have the first and it is an excellent lens). A good cheaper alternative is the Tokina 12-24 f4.
 
samyang 14 2.8 . faptastic lens, and i'm not even seeing any mustasch-distortion (samyang/samyang brand). El cheapo star photography on the 5D & pretty-normal wide on 550d.

if you wanna be cool for real you save up bit further and get a nikon 14-24... or an arri master prime, DERP!
 
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