p.1 #1 · 16-35 shooters how often do you feel limited on the long end?
Last year I got the 16-35 GM II, but ended up returning it as my copy had a weird ghosting issue. Other than that I really liked the image quality, size, etc and would have kept it. Not sure why I didn’t order a replacement at the time. Anywho it’s currently on “sale” and I’ll be moving to a state with sales tax soon (no sales tax where I currently live) so I’m thinking about grabbing it again to complete my GM II trinity. Back when I had it I did sometimes feel limited by 35mm and wished it was a bit longer. recently I have come to really appreciate the 35mm focal length but also use 50mm and 70mm on my 24-70 GM II frequently.
I have an a1 II, a7rv, and a7cR so I have plenty of megapixels for cropping if I need it. I was reluctant to do so in the past, but I’m trying to embrace it a little more. I hardly ever print large so there’s really no point in me having so much resolution if I’m not willing to crop. Given all this have you felt limited by the range of the 16-35 for landscape/travel/events etc? It’s obviously not going to replace a telephoto lens, but could allow me to leave my 24-70mm at home sometimes I would think. I’ve been intrigued by the tamron 17-50 F4 as it’s cheaper and the 50mm would be great to have, however it’s not as wide, and the image quality gets mixed reviews. With the 16-35 GM II and crop mode I can get a 52.5 mm focal length with 21/26 mp when I need it at about an F4 depth of field. Hell if I really want I can get a 4k image with a 2.25x (78mm) or 2.5x (87mm) crop.
I have tried the 16-35 pz but didn’t like the zoom functionality. The 12-24, 14-24, 16-25 all seem great but I’ve come to recognize those 11 mm from 24-35 can do a lot for versatility and minimizing lens switching.
p.1 #2 · 16-35 shooters how often do you feel limited on the long end?
I like the idea of the Tamron as well. It'd be a fantastic walk-around focal length range for city travels. I like the price, too, but I'd pay a few hundred more if they took the optics more seriously.
I'd see the problem of using the 16-35 as a solo lens being the fact that the 35mm end won't be the lens at its strongest. You'll get a decent but problemed 35 cropped to a meh 50 and further cropped to a poor 70. What if you added a lightweight 50 to the carry? The Viltrox EVO 55/1.8 comes to mind since I've had a coworker's for the last week. It's an excellent little guy and the price is great. The Air 50/2 also has its fans, but it hasn't fallen into my hands, so I can't say anything else about it. Something like that could ease coverage concerns and keep the load lighter than adding in your 24-70GMII.
p.1 #3 · 16-35 shooters how often do you feel limited on the long end?
freaklikeme wrote:
I'd see the problem of using the 16-35 as a solo lens being the fact that the 35mm end won't be the lens at its strongest.
This is one of the things I look for in a 16-35. The 35mm performance must be good.
The 16-35G PZ and 16-35 GMii are both very good at 35mm
For event shooting if you need 16mm you really need 16mm. People can accept a shot cropped from 35mm to 70mm, but if you chop someones head off thats not acceptable.
One problem Nikkon has now is that they dont even have a 16-35.
p.1 #4 · 16-35 shooters how often do you feel limited on the long end?
Most people who mostly use wide-angle focal lengths should rather ask themselves whether their photos are actually good or whether they perhaps would be better served by shooting tighter anyway.
p.1 #5 · 16-35 shooters how often do you feel limited on the long end?
hasenbein wrote:
Most people who mostly use wide-angle focal lengths should rather ask themselves whether their photos are actually good or whether they perhaps would be better served by shooting tighter anyway.
Horses for courses, I use primes in low light and a 70-200 for more distant stuff
p.1 #6 · 16-35 shooters how often do you feel limited on the long end?
aCuria wrote:
This is one of the things I look for in a 16-35. The 35mm performance must be good.
The 16-35G PZ and 16-35 GMii are both very good at 35mm
For event shooting if you need 16mm you really need 16mm. People can accept a shot cropped from 35mm to 70mm, but if you chop someones head off thats not acceptable.
One problem Nikkon has now is that they dont even have a 16-35.
Very good in comparison to any other 16-35, sure, but it's still the end of the lens with the most distortion, highest astigmatism, highest transverse CA, lowest resolution at infinity, and worst at retaining its resolution the closer you focus. It's decent, once corrected, but I'd have a hard time accepting a crop from it when I could just carry a light, inexpensive ace of prime when I need something a little longer.
p.1 #7 · 16-35 shooters how often do you feel limited on the long end?
I have a Tamron 17-28/2.8 vs 16-35 of some sort. My "next up" mid-range is the 28-200/2.8-5.6. I would think a "long end limitation" would be highly individual. That spot in the "trinity" from 16-35 (or ?? depending on brand and era?) might have been to the 24-70s or 28-75s. An event shooter with two or three camera and or lenses in use might look at it differently compared to a landscape or urban "travel" user, how fast one might need to respond to changing subjects or opportunities.
In my personal uses, typically one might say "travel," in my home area southwestern US, the 17-28 got/gets very limited use. I have found on a couple of occasions, though, the travel was urban, crowded or compact cities, newer or older, and I was bumping up against that crossover point. But while I found 28mm to wider or 28mm to longer inconvenient, the limitations weren't really critical. OTOH, if 28mm or 35mm not quite or really not long enough, for some the answer might have to be having a second camera at the ready.
I would think a high end 16-50 or similar would be desirable, the Tamron 17-50 gets some praise but, I'd think, if quality and price were like the Sony 20-70/4 it could be a much more popular lens. The 20-70 and 20-200 are neither f2.8, "professional" quality nor 16mm or 17mm, but they do a pretty good job of dealing with the wides ending at 28mm or 35mm.
p.1 #8 · 16-35 shooters how often do you feel limited on the long end?
like the OP I have the A1ii and A7r5 and have an excellent copy of the GM16-35 mk1 (tried 3 copies of the mk2 and they all had quite serious issues). I combine this with the tamron 50-300 and tend to keep the 16-35 on the A1 and 50-300 on the A7r5 as this gives a bit more cropping capability. This is my main landscape setup
