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Having trouble deciding on the 10-24mm f/4 or the 16 mm 1.4 ... please help


enthawizeguy

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I cant decide between the 10-24 and the 16 mm 1.4 fuji lens.  I have the xt-1 and x-70.  As well as the 35m1.4 and 18mm f2 . I would really like a zoom but I also really want the wide low light capabilities of the 16.   I do a wide variety of shooting now.  Landscape, Street, Portrait, but i also want to get into more night shooting of downtown los angeles and the urban architecture and life and low light shooting.  So i am pretty torn on which to go for.  I am fairly new to photography and some people have told me that the 10-24 is really go in low light because of ois but I have no idea.  I need to decide sometime today.   Thanks for your help guys. 

Edited by enthawizeguy
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It always comes down to what you like to shoot and how you plan to approach using the lens you buy. I own both. They are both great lenses for different reasons and purposes. The 10-24 is more versatile, the 16 is faster and sharper edge to edge. Based on what you said, do you like to shoot images that have some movement in them or are your night and low-light shots more geared toward architecture? If you're shooting scenes with people or cars and movement, the OIS won't help you out in low light unless you're ok with those things being blurred due to slower shutter speeds. If you're not shooting Much stuff with movement in low light and value versatility, then the 10-24 is the way to go.

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Based on what you said, do you like to shoot images that have some movement in them or are your night and low-light shots more geared toward architecture? If you're shooting scenes with people or cars and movement, the OIS won't help you out in low light unless you're ok with those things being blurred due to slower shutter speeds. If you're not shooting Much stuff with movement in low light and value versatility, then the 10-24 is the way to go.

 

 

This is the key point. OIS does not help for moving subjects. For night photography of people on the street, 1.4 rules. It lets you keep a fast enough shutter speed without pushing the ISO too high. The 16 and 23 are my most used at night.

 

On the other hand, if you are shooting a lot of (fairly) still scenes, then the OIS is handy. I've managed 1/4 and even 1/2 second shots handheld with the 10-24. 

 

I consider both lenses indispensable. 

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A zoom helps you take the best possible picture from wherever you happen to be. A prime forces you to realise that where you happen to be may not be the best place to get the best possible picture for your focal length, and forces you to move around or look for alternative angles. Personally, I'd go for the 16mn

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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The 16mmF1.4 is, along with the 90mmF2, Fuji best lens so far.

Compared to the 10-24, the XF16 is faster, sharper, has a closer focus distance, more compact, weather sealed...

My recommandation? Look for a good deal on the XF16mm and with the money saved buy the affordable Samyang 12mmF2 for cases when you need to go wider.

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Patric’s advise Is most certainly good advise but the difference between 12 and 16 ( once you have them both) will be too little to warrant having them both.

 

Unless you absolutely NEED the autofocus ( which would make the best use of the 1.4) the 12mm is at f8 a focus free lens.

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Above advise is good, the only thing I'd add, is do you find the 18mm F/2 or the X70 not wide enough?

As the 16mm F/1.4 is only a little bit wider (the eqv of a few steps imo), and 1 stop brighter (although if money is no object, it is reportedly Fujis best lens)
With the zoom you lose 2 stops of light and as pointed out OIS can't help with motion blur.

 

To compare the focal lengths I can not recommend Fujis own comparison tool highly enough

 

edit

 

I recently returned from New York, and used the 18mm F/2 and the 35mm F/1.4 exclusively (the 18mm during the day for street/cityscapes etc and the 35mm F/1.4 at night, some photos on flickr)

Edited by Tikcus
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Personally.  Speaking JUST FOR MYSELF.  The 10-24, though an extremely versatile and beautiful lens, is way too heavy to carry around.  With that having been said, I have the Zeiss 12 2.8, and th 16 1.4 and I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE my 16 1.4   

It is the most versatile of the primes.  Does Macro work (at least for me), does the landscape well. It's crystal clear, sharp, fast, and the contrast is amazing.

 

And, it's also a beautifully designed lens.  I know that shouldn't count for much but hey, I gotta look at it too you know...

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Patric’s advise Is most certainly good advise but the difference between 12 and 16 ( once you have them both) will be too little to warrant having them both.

I would disagree. The difference between an 18mm and 24mm FOV is enormous, IMO.

 

I generally find having zoom versatility to be far more useful than a couple of extra stops. You are unlikely to be really blurring the background with a WA, whereas that trite cliche about "zooming with the feet" conveniently forgets that this changes the perspective.

 

I'll say get the zoom - and then get a manual focus UWA lens for cheap if you want one later.

 

I say this as someone who got a Fuji with a 16/1.4 instead of the 10-24, but that's because I have a full set of Canon L lenses from 17-200mm in f4. Never regretted giving up stops for weight savings or the greater ability to get the crop and perspective I wanted.

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I generally find having zoom versatility to be far more useful than a couple of extra stops. You are unlikely to be really blurring the background with a WA, whereas that trite cliche about "zooming with the feet" conveniently forgets that this changes the perspective.

 

 

 

Also, there are lots of situations where your feet cannot get somewhere. 

 

For example, shooting in a crowd and wanting to get a bit of elevation and the only quick vantage point is on top of a newspaper box. Then some zoom matters more than anything else for framing the photo. Ultimate image quality doesn't matter in the slightest if one cannot get an effective composition in the first place.

 

The 10-24 is an awesome lens. For shooting events, parades, protests, and other large gatherings it is way more versatile than a single prime.

 

With the 10-14 range you can squeeze into little spaces between groups of people and still capture the whole group or banner etc. Then you can zoom out to 24 and do a portrait of an individual. 

 

There are lots of situations like that where it is not possible to move the feet for framing.

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I do a wide variety of shooting now. Landscape, Street, Portrait, but i also want to get into more night shooting of downtown los angeles and the urban architecture and life and low light shooting.

Firstly decide what you want to specialise in, then the lens picks itself. Nobody is great at all kinds of photography. Pick and develop your style.

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Always difficult to make decisions with someone else’s wallet.

 

But even if money would be no object... since many here have made often enough that kind of comment when I have voiced thrift concerns, one should wonder whether buying something that will stay unused would be a good attitude towards not wasting.

 

Call me a moralist, which indeed to some extent I am, although I hope not to come across as a bigot or a luddite, but I like the luxuries of life but I despise waste.

 

In other words, I am not rich now but I was better off in the past. I have always enjoyed things but never wasted money into consciously buying something that I wouldn’t use. If I did I would have sold it.

 

This was precisely what I did with the 10-24.

 

I bought it and used it with great pleasure but at a certain point I noticed that, in practice, I used it 90% of the times on 10mm only.

 

The Autofocus in these wide lenses is, the way I use them, not a relevant feature.

 

So I sold the lens to a friend whom needed it at a small loss (his gain), bought the 12mm Samyang and everyone was happy.

 

Besides, a lens that you leave at home isn’t going to help you when you need it and if you duplicate things at some point you will end  up bringing the wrong lens for the purpose with you or you will take too much weight and volume with you.

 

I remember once, many years ago, one of the first assignments which we ever did in my beginning studio in Milan was actually something that my more expert business partner ( he was my former boss) had arranging.

 

We went to a trade fair and he wanted to impress the customer ( a consumer electronic magazine) so we took all the formats which we had at that time : 35mm, 6 x7cm, 4” x 5”.

 

We arrived there loaded with equipment as mules! In the end we could have done everything with a lot less. From then on traveling light ( but use big bags) has become my mantra. 

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My solution to this dilemma will be to buy both.

 

 

that was my solution... but then I primarily shoot wide angle, a mix of day and night and use both frequently.

 

for night on the street, the fast primes are the only real option for me. I use the 23, 16 and 56 (most used first) and am often shooting 3200 iso @ f1.4 in order to keep a shutter speed that freezes the action. 

 

in other situations the 10-24 is fantastic... it is one of my favorite lenses. 

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Always difficult to make decisions with someone else’s wallet.

 

But even if money would be no object... since many here have made often enough that kind of comment when I have voiced thrift concerns, one should wonder whether buying something that will stay unused would be a good attitude towards not wasting.

 

 

The telephoto end is my least used. I just purchased the 50-140 and it feels like a bit of an indulgence since I have the 18-135. I have 30 days from purchase to return the 50-140 (or of course sell it past that). I'll see if it is useful enough to justify it.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Personally.  Speaking JUST FOR MYSELF.  The 10-24, though an extremely versatile and beautiful lens, is way too heavy to carry around.  With that having been said, I have the Zeiss 12 2.8, and th 16 1.4 and I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE my 16 1.4   

It is the most versatile of the primes.  Does Macro work (at least for me), does the landscape well. It's crystal clear, sharp, fast, and the contrast is amazing.

 

And, it's also a beautifully designed lens.  I know that shouldn't count for much but hey, I gotta look at it too you know...

 

You know that the 16 1.4 is only 35 gram lighter and that both the 16 1.4 and the Zeiss 12 2.8 together are more than a third heavier than the 10-24? The 10-24 combines a lot of lenses in one (e.g. a 10, 12, 16, 18, 23) and that was one of the reasons I bought it and take it with me when I want to go light....

Edited by AlexJoda
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I love my 10-24 especially because of the ability to zoom. Sometimes the 10-12mm is too wide if you have have people at the edges of the frame. They look very strange.  For that you can go to 24mm without changing. For land- and cityscapes this lens is awesome (and also for helicopter sightseeing as a testet some weeks ago. it can compensate for the shaking with OIS) ! It is my most used lens on vacations. The best lens for non moving night shots (10mm and OIS). For people at night and for DOF effects I have always my lightweight 35 1.4 with me, a perfect companion for the 10-24. 

 

This lens can easily hold against the wide primes in terms of sharpness. Compare the MTF figures at photozone....It´s the sharpest zoom I ever had...

Edited by AlexJoda
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