Wide Angle Lens or not a Wide Angle Lens, that is the question.

[cdg2985]

I recently purchased the Sigma 18-50mm f/3.5-5.6 DC HSM Wide Angle Zoom Lens:

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001GKPU9O/ref=oss_product]Amazon.com: Sigma 18-50mm f/3.5-5.6 DC HSM Wide Angle Zoom Lens for Nikon D90…[/ame]

When I got around to using it, I found myself very disappointed because it did not appear to be a wide angle lens at all, I set up my tripod, aimed it at one subject and snapped a shot, changed to my every day non-wide angle lens, set it to the same focal length and took a shot, the pictures were identical, am I doing something wrong or did I get tricked when buying this lens?? Does anyone have any recommendations for a true wide angle lens around or less than $300?

 

[Steve01]

Naturally.
The same focal length on both lenses have the identical field of view.
When you buy a lens you should try it out first.
Go to a camera shop and see if it's what you want even if you wind up buying on line.

 

[cdg2985]

Lesson learned! It still takes a nice shot, it's just not a wide angle shot

 

[Taylor510ce]

On a full frame camera that would be wide, but on crop factors notsomuch. I have a Tokina 16-50 and I think that the 16mm is quite useful in wide shots but by no means would I say its a super super wide lens. You wont find a wide angle ( around 10-12mm is what I consider super wide) worth buying for under 300 maybe used if lucky.

 

[cdg2985]

I hate to even ask this because I don't want to sound totally clueless, but...what's the difference between full frame and crop factors, how do I know which one I have? My main purpose for the lens would be for real estate photos...I might not need super wide, but just enough to get that effect that you always see. I had a feeling I'd be having to spend a lot to get what I'm looking for, guess I better start saving! Thanks for the info though!

 

[PJL]

Check out this article:

Crop Sensor (APS-C) Cameras and Lens Confusion

Basically, a crop sensor SLR will give you a smaller field of view than an equivalent full-frame or 35mm camera with the same focal length.

Whether you have one is a pretty simple question to answer: if it's a currently produced camera and you paid less than $2,000 for it, it's a crop sensor. Right now, the only Nikon full-frame cameras are the D3 series or the D700. Nikon uses a crop factor of 1.5, whereas Canon uses a crop factor of 1.6 (or 1.3 on their 1D cameras, but that's another story entirely).

 

[AdrianC]

Technically, anything under 35mm is considered wide angle, so you didn't really get tricked. Its just not as wide as you might wish.

As for crop factor, from what I understand its like an in camera zoom. Basically, lower end nikon cameras have a crop factor of 1.5, and that means that an 18-55 lens actually looks like a 27-82.5. On full frame cameras the crop factor is 1:1 so 18-55 looks like 18-55.

Dont think I explained it very well, but ah well.

 

[cdg2985]

Thanks guys! That helped! :thumbup:

 

[kundalini]

I posted this the other day. You may find it useful.

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/...rence-between-full-frame-cropped-sensors.html

As stated, 18mm on a cropped body isn't really that wide. For real estate photography you'll likely want to be 16mm or less. Just be mindful of the len's characteristics for barrel distortion / pincushioning. Some handle it better than others.

 

[cdg2985]

I see, very helpful, thank you! Now I don't feel totally clueless anymore, just slightly! lol
So what are the benefits of having a full frame camera as opposed to crop, or is it just preference?

 

[benlonghair]

There're a bunch of wide angle lenses reasonably priced on BH (depending on your definition of reasonable).

Bower's got a 14mm 2.8 (92.5° on your camera) for under $500. It's MF but whatever, that wide you don't really need AF anyhow.

Look at it this way, for the wide end, crop sensors suck. For the long end, they're awesome. Hook up a sigmonster to a D3 with a 2x tc you're getting 1600mm. Hook it up to a D300 it's the equivalent of 2400mm.

 

[Taylor510ce]

Yeah, I was going to mention the bower line but dont have any experience with them. They have a wide fisheye too.

 

[Robin Usagani]

basically you bought a kit lens from Sigma

 

[Derrel]

I recently purchased the Sigma 18-50mm f/3.5-5.6 DC HSM Wide Angle Zoom Lens:

Amazon.com: Sigma 18-50mm f/3.5-5.6 DC HSM Wide Angle Zoom Lens for Nikon D90…

When I got around to using it, I found myself very disappointed because it did not appear to be a wide angle lens at all, I set up my tripod, aimed it at one subject and snapped a shot,changed to my every day non-wide angle lens, set it to the same focal length and took a shot, the pictures were identical, am I doing something wrong or did I get tricked when buying this lens?? Does anyone have any recommendations for a true wide angle lens around or less than $300?

Your testing procedure shows that you were on the right track. I think you'd like a 10-20 or 12-24mm zoom...there are more and more of these lenses being made now...11-16mm,etc,etc. heck there's now an 8-16 as I understand. THAT is wide!

 

[Taylor510ce]

I recently purchased the Sigma 18-50mm f/3.5-5.6 DC HSM Wide Angle Zoom Lens:

Amazon.com: Sigma 18-50mm f/3.5-5.6 DC HSM Wide Angle Zoom Lens for Nikon D90…

When I got around to using it, I found myself very disappointed because it did not appear to be a wide angle lens at all, I set up my tripod, aimed it at one subject and snapped a shot,changed to my every day non-wide angle lens, set it to the same focal length and took a shot, the pictures were identical, am I doing something wrong or did I get tricked when buying this lens?? Does anyone have any recommendations for a true wide angle lens around or less than $300?

Your testing procedure shows that you were on the right track. I think you'd like a 10-20 or 12-24mm zoom...there are more and more of these lenses being made now...11-16mm,etc,etc. heck there's now an 8-16 as I understand. THAT is wide!

Yeah, that Sigma 8-16 has an MSRP of $1000. But I have yet to see anyone actually carrying it, so who knows what it will REALLY cost.