Nikon 10.5 vs Nikon 10-24

[Ryan DS]

I'm having a bit of a hard time deciding between these two lenses. I have been shooting a lot of skateboarding and I am starting to feel a little restricted using my 35 f/1.8 so I'm between these 2 lenses for my D90. I like the versatility of the 10-24, and I feel it would give me a full focal range under my 35 f/1.8, but I don't want to lose any quality or distortion with it being a wide zoom lens.

Any input would be helpful.

[OsmosisStudios]

Originally Posted by Ryan DS

but I don't want to lose any quality or distortion with it being a wide zoom lens.

Well, the 10-24 has more distortion than your 35, but the 10.5 is a fisheye, which is distortion city.

A lot of skateboarding stuff is done with a fisheye, but it's been done and is somewhat overused. The 10-24 will give you a great sense of "wide" view, but without the fishy look.

I'd say go for the 10-24. The 10.5 is a specialized tool and, while it does have uses, it's nowhere near as versatile.

[Ryan DS]

That's exactly my line of thinking. I've been skateboarding myself for close to 9 years now and sometimes get a bit sick of seeing the "normal" fisheye shot in every magazine. Thanks for the post Osmosis.

[kirbinster]

My understanding is the fisheye is the lens of choice for skateboarding. There is a lot of software out know that will take the fisheye image and "correct it" Fisheye Hemi comes to mind, but the new lightroom has this type of lens correction built in. I just watched a Kelby video on it and was amazed at how it can adjust a fisheye image.

[Ryan DS]

That was my other thought as well, especially since I just upgraded to LR3 and the videos of the lens correction tools are quite remarkable. I think I'm just gonna rent both lenses first for a couple days and see which one works better with my style. I don't want to drop $800 on the 10-24 and wish I had the 180 degree angle of the 10.5mm or buy the 10.5 and wish I had just a little more reach.

[JF808]

wide angle lenses are fun, I would say go with the 10-24, much more usable, at 10mm you can get creative and still achieve it if your looking for that lens distortion look. The fisheye is a cool lens, but I consider it a "special effects" lens. shooting an entire event with the fisheye gets old fast. the 10-24 is more versitile

[Ryan DS]

I ended up going to the shop today and checking out both lenses and I have to say I really didn't like the distortion on the 10.5 as much as I thought I would. The 10mm on the 10-24 was as wide as I need with a good amount of distortion so I ended up getting that. I can't wait to test it out tomorrow morning. Thanks for the advice everyone.