Let's Talk Wide Angle

rangerrick9211

TPF Noob!
Joined
Apr 12, 2009
Messages
56
Reaction score
0
Location
College Station, TX
Can others edit my Photos
Photos NOT OK to edit
Here's the skinny. Canon 40d body and looking to buy into an L-series wide angle lens. But, seeing as it's a crop sensor body, I know that can mess with things. But again, I will eventually be looking to upgrade to a full frame body and would like for my lenses to translate easily.

I mainly shoot scenic and have recently begun to work with engagement and wedding shoots. Just for fun with friends, but would like to see where it could possibly go.

So suggestions if you don't mind. And thank you in advance. :hug::
 
Very wide angle lenses flatten scenics which takes away visual interest In group shots their use can make the faces rather small if you are shooting from even a short distance and distorted if you are shooting from really close.

I don't go any wider than 28mm full-frame for most of my shooting of scenics and groups A wide angle prime may also provide less distortion than a wide angle zoom.

Some distortion can be corrected by Photoshop and like programs and the DX0 plug-in improves on that capability.

skieur
 
looking to buy into an L-series wide angle lens
For Canon L Wide angle lens (or ultrawide) ... I do not think there are many choices ...

EF 14mm F/2.8L
EF 24mm F/1.4L
EF 16-35mm F/2.8L
EF 17-40mm F/4L

Edit
or maybe the 24-70mm F/2.8L
 
So, pardon my ignorance. I've seen the term ultrawide/superwide tossed around before in reference to wide angle. Is this as simple as it sounds, a wider than a wide angle. Or is there more to it? (ratios, aperture, etc.)

Thank you again for the responses. I appreciate it.
 
On a 35mm full frame/film based camera, the field of view of a lens with focal length of 24mm or 28mm is wide. And so the 14mm, 17mm and 18mm for sure is wider (you can see more)

But when the same lens mounted on a cropped body, focal length such as the 24mm doesn't seem to be wide enough as the field of view of the lens now is similar to a 38mm lens on a 35mm full frame/film body.

So if you have a kit lens that can zoom to 18mm, you can try it on your camera and see if the field of view is wide enough for you. How about zoom to 24mm? Is that wide enough for you? Personally, I really do not care too much about the focal length with the crop factor simply because my first SLR type camera is a cropped body. I really do not care whether it is equivalent to 38mm or 85mm, as long as it can capture the image with the field of view I am looking for.

So if 17mm is not wide enough for me, I need a wider one, if 200mm is not long enough for me, I need a longer one.
 
Here's the skinny. Canon 40d body and looking to buy into an L-series wide angle lens. But, seeing as it's a crop sensor body, I know that can mess with things. But again, I will eventually be looking to upgrade to a full frame body and would like for my lenses to translate easily.

I mainly shoot scenic and have recently begun to work with engagement and wedding shoots. Just for fun with friends, but would like to see where it could possibly go.

So suggestions if you don't mind. And thank you in advance. :hug::

I love my Sigma 10-20mm f4.5-5.6 ... It's not an "L" and it's an EF-S mount, but the build is outstanding as is the IQ. For some insight into what you can do with an ultrawide lens, check out 10-20mm.com
 
So, pardon my ignorance. I've seen the term ultrawide/superwide tossed around before in reference to wide angle. Is this as simple as it sounds, a wider than a wide angle. Or is there more to it? (ratios, aperture, etc.)
Those are mostly 'marketing words'...there are there for the people who sell lenses, not those who buy them.

A shorter focal length is a wider angle of view...end of story.

You are in a bit of a pickle in that you want a fairly wide view, but also want to upgrade your camera to full frame. My advice is to go ahead an buy the lens you want. Good quality lenses hold their value very well, so you should be able to sell it for a large portion of what you paid for it.
I went with the Canon EF-S 10-22mm and I absolutely love it.
 
Yeah, I think VIllage idiot is right that currently the "best" Canon wide zoom is the 16-35/f.2,8 L-II; the newer II version is better than the original. But the much lower priced 17-40 f/4 L gets great reviews, and is the lens I am considering as the best all-around performance/value lens in Canon's premium wide zoom lineup right now.

For landscape work, you do not need wide-aperture lenses. On APS-C though, those shorter focal lengths are handy, but on people photos, using short focal lengths like 10 to 19mm looks awful much of the time--lots of distortion of facial features, the edges of the frame have distorted shapes, etc. If you want a wide angle of view, the 10-20mm Sigma has been a mainstay of landscapers for several years now, but I would never,ever consider using it for engagement photos. It's far better to be farther back from people, using slightly longer lengths, than standing close and shooting wide.

Enter the 17-50 or 18-50 f/2.8 lenses from Tamron and Sigma...wide enough for much landscape work, and long enough and fast enough for some people photography uses (but not all people photo uses). One you buy a FF body, you can sell any APS-C only lenses; OR buy only costly, FF capable Canon lenses that will actually be worth migrating forward to a FF sensor body.
 
tokina 12-24. good price point.
sigma 10-20. decent price point.
 
Great advice all the way around. I'll let you all know of my decision. But for now, keep it coming. I need to learn more!!!
 

Most reactions

New Topics

Back
Top