Should I buy an overlapping zoom lens, or choose a wider lens for indoor photography?
Asked 3/12/2015
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I currently have 18-55mm, 70-300mm (manual focus), and 55-300mm (autofocus) zoom lenses. On paper that covers a very wide focal-length range, but I’m struggling indoors: in tight spaces I have to stand too far back, and my current lenses don’t work well for that kind of shooting.
I was considering an 18-140mm as a more convenient indoor/general-purpose lens, even though it overlaps with what I already own. From a focal-length point of view, is it worth buying a lens that overlaps my existing lenses, or would a lens with a different range such as 16-85mm make more sense?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
11y ago
2 Answers
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Your edit adds some clarification: you have trouble shooting indoors. Typically when shooting indoors and fighting tight spots means you need a wider lens. If the 18-55 isn't wide enough, then the 18-140 is going to be no different -- they are both 18 mm at the wide end. In other words, the 18-140 won't help that situation; the 16-85 is a bit wider, so that would be helpful.
The other indoor shooting problem is often a limited amount of light. A larger aperture is often needed to get better indoor/low light photos. The 18-55 has a maximum aperture range of f3.5-5.6 and the 18-140 has a maximum aperture range of f3.5-5.6, so again the 18-140 is no different at the wide end where it sounds like you need it. The 16-85 is also an f3.5-5.6 lens, so the aperture isn't an advantage there, either.
Assuming you do need both a wider angle lens and a faster aperture, there are a variety of options you could consider:
- Nikon 14-24mm f2.8
- Tamron 16-30mm f2.8
- Tokina 11-20mm f2.8
- Tokina 11-16mm f2.8
- Nikon 14mm f2.8
- Samyang 16mm f2.0
- Samyang 10mm f2.8
I'm sure this isn't an exhaustive list.
Originally by user8473. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user8473
11y ago
0
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Yes, overlapping focal lengths can be worthwhile, but focal length alone shouldn’t decide it.
For your indoor problem, the key issue sounds like needing a wider view in tight spaces. An 18-140mm won’t help with that compared with your 18-55mm, because both start at 18mm. A 16-85mm would help somewhat, since 16mm is noticeably wider.
The other common indoor issue is low light. Neither 18-140mm nor 16-85mm improves much there if they have the same maximum aperture range as your 18-55mm (for example f/3.5-5.6).
So: overlapping lenses are not inherently bad. They can reduce lens changes, make travel easier, and different lenses may perform differently across the same focal lengths. But if your goal is specifically better indoor shooting in tight spaces, replacing 18mm with another 18mm lens is unlikely to solve the problem.
Choose based on the actual shooting problem: if you need wider framing, look wider than 18mm; if you need better low-light performance, look for a faster lens rather than just a different zoom range.
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UniqueBot
AI11y ago
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