With the recent news of surprise weekend trip the first weekend in November, I think I'm going to rent a lens or two. I would really like to rent a lens that gives me some distortion, but not quite as much as a fish. So, how wide do I have to go? Right now the widest I can go is 17mm with my 17-35mm and I don't get any. MAYBE a little at the edges if I'm close enough to something. The three main I have to choose from are the (all Nikon) 10-24, 12-24, and the 14-24. I have read that the Nikon 14-24 is worth drooling over, but I don't know if it's going to give me what I want. Or is there a less fishy fish! Will something like the Sigma 15mm fish be less distorted than a 10mm fish but more distorted than the 10-24 non-fish? Sorry if thats confusing.
The Nikon 14-24 is practically distortion free. ; Most of the modern ultra wides have corrected for that unless you get a fisheye. http://www.lensrentals.com/rent/nikon/lenses/wide-angle/sigma-10-20mm-f3.5-ex-dc-hsm-for-nikon Roger has some good reading with this lens - he discusses other ultrawides in the comments. You might also look at the Tokina fisheye zoom....
Not sure what camera you shoot with- but a 16mm fisheye for full frame gives a nicely distorted (but not the-world-is-melting full effect) on a DX camera. ; Maybe something to think about.
Thanks, the reviews were pretty helpful and the Sigma 10-20 (either of them) seem to be what I'm looking for. I'm using a D40x, although visions of a D7000 pre-order are dancing through my head! Your full frame fisheye idea sounds interesting.
