Tokina 11-16 f 2.8
 

My family kindly bought me a Nikon D90 for my 50th last year and I'm very pleased with its performance. But I wanted to ask whether anyone can advice me on purchasing a wide angle lens for landscape use. I have looked at various write ups on Nikon; to expensive unless bought secondhand, Sigma and Tamron, but it appears that the Tokina 11-16 F2.8 may be a good buy. I don't know much about these lenses, what are your thoughts. I was also wondering how a constant F stop works in comparison to a variable and are there any benifits.

It is a nice lens. The Sigma 10-20 is also very popular. Many people here have it.

For a wide angle lens the constant low F stop may not be that useful. Odds are you are going to be using it for landscapes at something like f/16 anyway.

The sigma has two versions, a constant 3.5 that is more expensive and the cheaper 4.5-5.6.

Tokina 11-16 f2.8
 

Thanks for the advice, I am alittle confused though about what it means by a constant f2.8, especially as the specs say it has a minimum aperture of f22. Can you shed any light on this for me.
Kind regards Littlehaggis62

On a lens without a constant aperture as you zoom out the aperture size will change from something like f/2.8 to say f/3.6 ( these figures are just plucked from the air ) but with the constant f/2.8 as you zoom from 11 to 16 the aperture will stay at f/2.8 . The minimum aperture is the smallest that the aperture will go down to , so you can change the aperture at any focal length from f/2.8 all the way to f/22 if you want .

Just to confuse you the smaller the aperture the larger the number
f/22 = small aperture = less light let into the lens
and the larger the aperture the smaller the number
f/2.8 = large aperture = more light let into the lens

I hope this helps a bit

Mark

hi just to add a couple of things large f number large depth of field small f number narrow dof. also think how wide you want to go 11-16 or 10-20. it doesnt seem much difference but go and try both lenses out before you buy

Thanks for the advice guys, I am going to take my time over this and make sure I try before I buy. Problem is there are now very limited photographic retailers in my area as Jessops and Jacobs have both closed down.