Super-Wide APS-C Lens on Full Frame Camera?

[William Baroo]

I would like to fool around with a wide angle lens, to complement my 24-70mm. I've seen some zero-distortion stuff from Laowa that comes in at very short focal lengths: 9, 12, and 15 mm. These are light, inexpensive lenses that would be good for learning without spending a lot. Problem: they're made for an APS-C camera, and my camera is full frame.

I was thinking of getting one anyway and slapping it on there. Seems to me that with the enormous amount of megapixels my camera has, I should be able to do just fine in crop mode. Good idea?

Also wondering how effective Photoshop is at removing distortion, if I use a lens that isn't distortion-free. Would the results still be quality images?

 

[adamhiram]

It will likely work, but there are 3 considerations I would look at:

• Don't expect edge-to-edge sharpness, particularly outside of the APS-C coverage area
• You will likely experience some degree of vignetting depending on the lens. I had an APS-C Tokina 11-16 that actually had full-frame coverage for part of its range, just not all the way out to 11mm.
• Depending on the manufacturer and model of the camera body, it may force you into crop mode. This was not the case with Nikon DSLRs, but with Nikon's mirrorless bodies it is automatic. So even if the lens has full frame sensor coverage, you may be locked into crop mode.

 

[snowbear]

I did this with a film body. Interesting effect - something like <O>. I'm not sure where the print is.

 

[William Baroo]

I figured that with the camera set to APS-C mode, it would cut off the problem areas.

 

[Rickbb]

Using a crop sensor lens on a FF body set to crop sensor mode is the same as using the same lens on a crop sensor body. No visible difference.

 

[William Baroo]

So I'll get the same picture I would get with an APS-C camera, but instead of my full frame's 33MP, I'll get more like 16 MP.