I have a love for
taking landscape pictures; after I got used to the 50mm and was frustrated by the limited field of view offered by
this lens, I decided to get a wide angle lens.
Wide angle
lenses generally increase in price as you go wider. The 24mm
was the break point as far as what I could afford and it turned out to be the perfect choice to learn with.
After working with
the 50mm for so long, it was a bit of an adjustment to make
good pictures at 24mm. I soon learned that the most important
aspect of using a wide angle lens is the need to have an interesting
subject near the foreground. This is not an absolute rule,
but it generally helps your pictures turn out stronger.
The Nikon 24mm
f2.0 AIS is a great lens. The lens is also available in
a slightly slower f2.8 version.
I decided that the extra stop may be useful and decided
to spring for the larger aperture. Galen
Rowell apparently would have disagreed with this decision.
He chose to use the f2.8 version as it was lighter and
supposedly less prone to flare. A good argument. Also,
if you are using a tripod (as you should), you can compensate for the added shutter length resulting from the 1-stop light loss.
The lens was
great to learn with. I am glad that I decided not to go wider
than 24mm. I have a challenging time with composition with wide angles and I think my initial results would have been
even worse with a wider lens. The biggest reason I would
want to go wider is for interior and architectural pictures.
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