Which Wide angle do you suggest for my Sony FS700?

A

Asger G

Member
Hi guys,

Need help choosing my first wide angle lens for my Sony FS700. I want a lens that I can use on my new steadicam rig so AF would be desirable since I wont be having a follow focus setup.

From what I read the Tokina 11-16 II is among peoples favorite. But that lens is not a full frame lens. And is it good with the Sony FS700 at 16 mm? It has AF which is a great plus.

I have also been looking at the Samyang 14 mm f/2.8 which is a full frame lens. But this lens is only manual.

Can you guys help me choosing the right lens for me.

Thanks in advance.

Asger G
 
I assume you want full frame because you're putting it on a Speedbooster? If you're not using a Speedbooster, you don't need full frame and the 11-16mm Tokina works great.

Personally I don't know much about using AF and which lenses work for that, but I can tell you that the 11-16mm is wide enough that you end up with pretty deep focus and you can kind of ballpark where your subject will be, unless you need to focus macro and then to infinity in the same shot.
 
Thanks for your reply Josh.

No I was thinking about using my LA-EA4 adapter and buy the A mount version. So what you are saying is that maybe even Samyang 14 mm would do the job? No AF is necessary for such a wide lens?
 
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I really like the Sony 10-18 f4. Being native E-Mount, the AF works well. Not sure how much you need AF that wide though. I like it because it's very very light. 225 grams, less than half the Tokina in weight (which is heavier than the sony kit lens) Great for glidecam, which i mostly bought it for (blackbird). 10-18 gives you a good range. Sharp. No adapter. Even has OSS for some reason!

That said, i've never tried the Tokina. I could be missing out. Only thing i'm not sure of is how barrel distortion compares between the two. And of course, Sony is only f4 vs. Tokina 2.8.
 
Thanks for your reply ChadN. You are right the weight matters.

I have just looked a the Tokina 16-28 F/2.8 which is full frame. So hard to make a choice. ;) Thanks again guys for your advice.
 
I don't understand why so many people aren't aware of the advantage of the Tokina 11-16mm with a SpeedBooster--You can use it "full-frame" just fine as all you have to do is manually zoom the lens to 14-15mm (up to 16mm of course) and look at how the image circle suddenly covers the sensor. It looks great and you have the added advantage of f2.0 (the added stop of sensitivity with a SpeedBooster) if you really really need the wide and super fast speed. Shallow DOF can actually be something to cautious about when that wide open, but at least it's there as an option and the look can often be very interesting.

You can always use a standard MetaBones adapter too if you don't want the slight complexity that comes with being careful about vignetting and being on the right zoom setting. It's pretty obvious on the LCD if you're too wide at say 11mm on a SpeedBooster because you will see the complete image circle of the lens.

Long winded way of saying the Tokina 11-16 and a SpeedBooster is a very flexible combination. I've used the Sony 10-18 and it's superb too. Incredibly lightweight but that's not always a good thing depending on if you use things like Glidecams, etc because a little weight is sometimes needed for good balance and inertia.
 
I can attest to the Tokina 11-16 working great on a speedbooster from around 13.5mm up. Great little lens
 
Elton said:
I don't understand why so many people aren't aware of the advantage of the Tokina 11-16mm with a SpeedBooster--You can use it "full-frame" just fine as all you have to do is manually zoom the lens to 14-15mm (up to 16mm of course) and look at how the image circle suddenly covers the sensor. It looks great and you have the added advantage of f2.0 (the added stop of sensitivity with a SpeedBooster) if you really really need the wide and super fast speed. Shallow DOF can actually be something to cautious about when that wide open, but at least it's there as an option and the look can often be very interesting.

You can always use a standard MetaBones adapter too if you don't want the slight complexity that comes with being careful about vignetting and being on the right zoom setting. It's pretty obvious on the LCD if you're too wide at say 11mm on a SpeedBooster because you will see the complete image circle of the lens.

Long winded way of saying the Tokina 11-16 and a SpeedBooster is a very flexible combination. I've used the Sony 10-18 and it's superb too. Incredibly lightweight but that's not always a good thing depending on if you use things like Glidecams, etc because a little weight is sometimes needed for good balance and inertia.
Click to expand...

Sounds good. I will go for the Tokina 11-16 on the speedbooster. But which speedbooster should I get? I have mostly Sony lenses. I would like to gain one stop in manual since I live in Denmark where light is hard to come by in the winter months.
 
I sold the Tokina 11-16 for the SEL 10-18 and I did not regret it up to now. Off course the Tokina has it's strength but the pros of the Sony are more imprtant for me It is small, light, sharp and has surpringly low distortion.

It has AF and OSS which is a great benefit for me as a handheld solo shooter. The low weight and small size is helpfull on the ronin too.

It looks and feels cheap, that's probably why it is mostly underestimated.
 
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I think a lot of people may have missed your stated requirement / desire for AUTO FOCUS.

Not sure how a Tokina 11-16 with a Metabones speed booster is going to auto focus on a FS700... because it CAN'T !!
(However, they make a fine combination if you reduce your requirement to manual focus only)

Don't take my word for it, this is verbatim from the Metabones site:


  • Autofocus speed is very slow and inadequate for most moving subjects. The autofocus speed is unfit for professional use for sure, and it would disappoint most enthusiasts.
  • On FS series (e.g. FS700, FS100), autofocus may be available only in photo mode but not in movie capture mode.
  • Continuous AF is not supported.

BTW, these auto focus notes appear in every Metabones product description, and hold true for all the Metabones products I have tried to date. It's not just a Speed Booster thing.

I'm a run and gun shooter, and I use the Sony E-mount 10-18mm f4 lens (SEL1018). If you want wide, and you want auto focus, then there really is no other choice. This is the lens that is going to do the job. As an added bonus, all e-mount lenses support face detect on the FS700, which can really save the day in impromptu interview situations, especially when there is a weird, contrasty background, and the FS700 AF system suddenly takes a liking to it. Face Detect forces the FS700 to pay attention to the person you are trying to focus on, and ignore contrasty things behind him/her. The Sony 10-18 does have optical stabilization, but unfortunately does NOT support "active mode" for a more heavy handed stabilization during extreme events. The lens is a little "fishy" at 10-12mm, but not bad overall. A lot less noticeable distortion that the Canon EF-S 10-22 f3.5-4.5. This is a great lens, highly under-rated, and I use it for stills and video all the time. As the famous Amex expression went "Don't leave home without it".
 
One lens which has NOT yet been mentioned is the Sigma 10-20mm. I have this lens in Sony A mount
and it will give you Phase Detection autofocus (which is even better than the eMount autofocus with one
caveat). The one caveat is that it will not allow you to open up the lens any more than F3.5 when using
autofocus. As this Sigma lens is a F4-5.6 lens (there is also a F3.5 version) however, this 'gotcha' does
not matter.....because you can use the lens wide open at any focal length. Pretty good little lens for 'extreme
wide' shots. I actually use it most often for shooting timelapses on my FS700 as I LOVE the huge perspective
you can get in the sky. It is just so wide, that even when you frame up a subject on the ground, there is just
so much sky in the frame which shows off the cloud movement.
 
I have the Samyang 14mm as well. Watch out for that moustache distortion. Any straight lines through your lower third will get some funky curvature happening ;)
Most noticeable on architecture and straight edged stuff like that. For any other use its not that noticeable and is gloriously wide. Makes glide cam stuff look really cool. My copy is almost too sharp on the speedbooster.
 
Kyron and jaybirch I'd be interested if you could confirm that the overall FOV/width of the Samyang 14mm on the Speedbooster is wider than either the Canon or Sony 10mm cropped lens on the standard Metabones. If I have my maths correct a 10mm cropped lens is the same as a 16mm on a full frame lens, so in theory a 14mm with the speedbooster will be wider again. But how significantly? I'd love to see/test the difference. I have the cropped Canon EF-S 10-22 which provides a brilliant wide FOV, but it's a little soft, and I'm thinking of either getting a 14mm prime or the 16-35 L. Thank you.
 
Yeah, I guess I glossed over the AF part because it's just not much of a consideration personally when using an ultra wide lens.

I think the Sony 10-18 is the safest choice but a Tokina 11-16 in A-mount might be something to seriously consider because it might work well on both the Sony LA-E4 adapter and the A-Mount SpeedBooster. Then you would have options for both excellent AF or better low-light. I would rent the lens and both adapters from Lensrentals.com or some other outfit and test it before buying.

I bought the Canon EF-NEX SpeedBooster because I was already heavily invested in Canon lenses.
 
So these lenses I made my choice between.

Sigma 10-20 (Did not know this lens and the 3.5 version sounds very interesting) But from the test I have seen the Tokina is sharper.
Samyang 14 (Really nice that it is full frame, but the heavy distortion is a big turn off.
Sony 10-18 NEX (Nice light weight setup with this nex lens. Problem is that I don't really fancy NEX lenses.
Tokina 11-16 (Very good low light performer, something that I need in the dark cold Denmark. If it would have been a full frame lens it would be an easy choise. I can use it on either my LA-EA4 or a speedbooster to gain a stop plus it has phase AF.

As you might already guessed I just pulled the trigger on a Tokina A TX 2.8/11-16 DX II SO/AF :smile:

Thanks again all for your advise. Made a huge help choosing the right lens for me.
 
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