Cost Effective Wide Angle Zooms

Over the past few months I was looking for a new wide angle zoom typically for travel landscapes, when weighing up my options and usages I started to wonder what type of specs I would need. Was I purely after a landscape lens, did I need a fast aperture, did I need image stabilisation were some of my initial thoughts. If I was looking for a landscape lens that could double as a walk around, it would need a relatively faster aperture. The best aspect and worst aspect with mirrorless cameras is the adaptability to all Lens manufacturers, whether you're looking for a cheaper manual focus Full frame lens or a smaller apsc type lens. The best part is pretty straight forward, there's hundreds of lenses to choose from, the worst part? exactly the same reason. We would hope to see the other Big brands releasing their own version Full Frame Mirrorless with Native mounts for our specific camera's, but while this happens, adaptable lenses are a good choice providing you know what you're looking for.

For Adapters for these lenses click Here For wide angle zooms taking only landscape photography I trimmed the list down to;

Canon EF 17-40 F4 - $850 AUD Canon EF 16-35 F4 - $1200 AUD Tokina AT-X 17-35 F4 - $600 AUD

Cosina 19-35mm F3.5-4.5 - $100 - $150 AUD

Tokina 19-35mm F3.5-4.5 - $150 - $200 AUD

Sigma 15-30mm f/3.5-4.5 EX DG Aspherical - Around $350 AUD Used Canons EF 17-40 F4 was a real standout for me, so I'll definitely have a complete review for that specific lens in the near future. Hopefully with others to follow. I thought these were fair prices for the zoom range, but after considering its purpose as a travel lens, I'd like more flexibility from one lens. So I started looking for wider aperture with a similar zoom range. Faster apertures lead to this next list;

Canon EF 20-35mm F2.8 USM L - $600 AUD - Used (Excellent condition) - Review Here Canon EF 16-35mm F2.8 USM L - $1700 AUD Sony A-Mount 16-35mm F2.8 - $1700 AUD - Plus A-Mount to E-Mount adapter LA-EA4 $290 - $350 AUD

Tamron 15-30mm F2.8 Di VC USD $1300 AUD

Tokina AF 16-28mm F/2.8 FX SD IF - $750 AUD

It's a fairly accepted compromise that faster aperture lenses generally run a higher price tag, finding the happy medium that you're prepared to spend is completely upon yourself.

It's important to note that with digital imaging technology like we have today it is easy to correct a lot of common downfalls that wider focal length lenses have. All of these lenses are rectilinear lenses, meaning where straight lines present themselves in an image, like the corner of a building, these vertical or horizontal elements will remain straight. In some instances perhaps towards the edge of the frame, you can see slight curves in straight edges known as barrel distortion. The degree that most modern lenses show these imperfections can generally be fixed in post production. But from this list above there will be better performers then others. To see performance of each lens you will have to check its own review.