Hi all,
I'm at a point where I'm convinced that my copy of the Nikkor 18-55mm VR has seen its best times (I dropped it once and ran around with the camera a couple of times) - its softness on the edges even at f8 especially from 24mm - 55mm is outrageous (though the very center is still sharp). I could put pictures up if needed (e.g. a mountain range at the same distance just starts to become very blurry when moving towards the edge, even at f8).
So I'm in for a new lens for my hiking and backpacking trips besides the 35mm f1.8 and 50mm f1.8 that I own, mainly for landscapes. For the record, I have a D5100. The things I care about:
- Consistent sharpness from center to edge (at f5.6 onwards is fine), I hate corner softness
- 24 mm should be the sweet spot, could also do a 24mm prime if it's lightweight, I just realized this is the main focal length I shoot at for landscapes of different kinds
- Lightweight: Overall I want to be able to especially cover the range 24-35 (16-35 would of course be nicer, also wouldn't mind 50mm but is not priority if it saves money and weight) with my lenses with a total lens weight of <1 kg, preferred is <600 g
- budget shouldn't be too much above 700$ (used is also fine)
Things I do not care too much about if it saves me weight:
- I don't need f1.8, f2.8 would be more than enough, I could even live with f3.5
- don't need a zoom lens could do with three prime lenses. But if theres a very good zoom lens which is heavier and could replace my primes 35mm and 50mm for landscape pics, I'm fine with that too.
- don't need macro
Basically the 18-55mm would have been a fine lens for all these purposes if it were still as sharp as people claim it is, but my copy is just not (anymore) and I'm ready to cash in a bit to go beyond a kit zoom lens if it gives me better sharpness in the pictures. Now I've looked at several models which went into the direction:
- Sigma 18-35mm f1.8 (sharp but heavy - don't need f1.8)
- Nikkor 16-85mm (don't need the range)
- Tokina 12-24mm (24 doesn't seem to be the sweet spot there and I don't need ultrawide)
- Sigma 17-50mm
- Tamron 17-50mm (not as sharp?)
Can anyone help me out in terms of choice or have other suggestions for my purposes? Is there a cheap and light ~24mm prime similar to the 35 and 50mm? Somehow I couldn't find anything in that direction but that also kind of makes sense.
I feel like the sharpness of the Sigma 18-35mm is extraordinary and most appealing to me, and it feels like I could get this and compliment it with my 50mm to have a nice choice of focal lengths. But it's slightly on the heavy and expensive side and I really don't need the f1.8. So I was going to look for others but I found their sharpness is generally slightly worse.
I'd appreciate if people have new suggestions I haven't thought of or read about. I've read many many websites and posts but people all have slightly different preferences so I'd be really happy if you could share your experiences.
Thanks in advance and sorry for the long post :)