Looking for a good Cannon Wide Angle Lens for Car Dealership Photography

[jcreynold]

I own a small Automotive photography company and was designated by one of my dealer clients to find equipment for his new indoor studio. We are going to be shooting vehicles ranging in size from a big crew cab long bed truck to a compact car. I kinda need something that would cover all and in between. It needs to fit the subject without the fish eye look. I am not exactly sure how much room we will have to work with as the studio is still being built. We are going to be using the Cannon T4i body.

Also if anyone has input on what would work for a good lens for interior shots that would be great. Currently we are using the Ricoh 700se P&S for the majority of our work but this customer wants it a little more polished the the Ricoh can handle.

But any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

[pgriz]

I use a T1i with a Canon EF-S 10-22 mm wide angle. Very good quality. However, an ultra-wide angle lens is a specialty lens, and geometric distortion, especially at the wide end, can be very pronounced and dramatic, as well as the perspective distortion. Other people speak well of Tokina and Tamron wide-angle lenses. If you have access to a rental place, you should try them out and see if they give you the results you want.

 

[TCampbell]

The "fish eye" look comes from using a "curvilinear" wide angle lens. Such a lens will almost always be tagged as a "fish eye" in the marketing information on it. A fish-eye lines will "curve" straight lines (unless the line happens to run through the exact center axis of the lens).

The other wide-angle category is the "rectilinear" wide angle lens. Such a lens attempts to keep "straight" lines "straight" (they wont become all curvy as they will in a fish-eye lens.) Normal wide-angle lenses are "rectilinear".

Wide-angle lenses are preferred in automotive photography because they expand/stretch the space. Interiors look larger when taken with a wide-angle lens as long as you don't go crazy with how "wide" it is (too wide and it'll look quite obviously stretched.)

The Canon EF-S 10-22mm is probably the best lens for an APS-C crop-frame body Canon.

When you use a rectilinear wide-angle and the lens is not "level" to the horizon (if it's pointed, say, downward) then rectangular shaped objects (e.g. think doors, windows, etc.) take a on a trapezoidal / keystone shape. You can correct for that in Photoshop of Lightroom but it helps to give yourself some room for the adjustment (because after adjusting the image it needs to re-crop the image back to a normal shape and if you run your subject all the way to the edge of the frame you'll have no room to crop.)

 

[jaguaraz]

I have the Tokina 11-16 2.8 and it is a great lens for both auto and interior photography. If you have a well-lighted studio you could probably do well with the f4 version of the lens and save some money.

 

[KmH]

:lmao: Canons go 'click'. Cannons go BOOM!

 

[CanonJim]

I'd second TCampbell's notion - the Canon 10-22mm EF-S is very probably the top of the heap, value and IQ-wise, for the crop sensor camera. Get it, and a copy of DxO Optics to correct any perspective distortion, and you're good to go. It does not have IS but you should probably be on a tripod anyway, just for grins. Ya gotta remember, when you're photographing CARS, sharpness will be very important.