wide angle, silly questions,,,

puyjapin · Mar 3, 2009

Ok now i have the long zoom i was considering at some point getting a wide angle, 10-20 or 12-24... the kit lens i have is 18mm. will the 10mm or 12mm bring a great deal more into the frame?
Also what i cant quite get is normally with a landscape or building you need quite a lot of DOF however it seems a lot of the wide angle goes own to low f stops. Why is this necessary when normally a blurry background is not needed on landscapes...

Chris Stegner · Mar 3, 2009

This past Christmas I treated myself to a new wide angle. I got a Sigma 12-24. I of course have a full frame 5D so I'm getting every bit of the 12mm.

I'd say if you're curious about how any given lens will look or react, the best thing you can do is to go to your local camera store and try some lenses on. Shoot with them and see what you get. Your local store may even order lenses for you to review just as a service. Of course I would suggest buying from them if you find something you like. I have actually paid a little more for equipment just to support a local store. It's worth the money knowing you have an expert or 2 locally if you need them.

tuck · Mar 3, 2009

Are super wide angles like 10-20 meant to be indoor performers ?

The widest Iv used is 28mm and it was satisfactory. Now the beaches I visit are a lot bigger too

puyjapin · Mar 3, 2009

whatabout outside of buildings if you cant get far enough away?
would a 10/20 perform on a d40? or would the 18mm be the best it would perform at?

jlykins · Mar 3, 2009

Wide angles are great for indoor shots. As a matter of fact, a lot of people buy them just for doing weddings and such. Yes a wide angle would perform just fine on a D40. You will be happy with the outcome too I would imagine.

Dao · Mar 3, 2009

You can visit flickr.com and search for "10-20mm" and see images taken with ultra wide angle lens like the 10-20mm.

The 10-20mm or most of the ultra wide zoom lenses are made for crop bodies. So 10mm in d40 will have a field of view of 15mm when compare with a 35mm film SLR camera or a full frame sensor SLR camera.

puyjapin · Mar 3, 2009

when u say for indoor use are they not great for buildings outside, beaches and skies , landscapes etc?

Dao · Mar 3, 2009

You can use it for anything you like. Indoor or outdoor. Landscape or portrait. You just need to understand the lens characteristics such as lens distortion.

Limitation is only your imagination.

Chairman7w · Mar 3, 2009

I have the Sigma 10-20mm for my Canon and I just love it. A fine lens.

dcclark · Mar 3, 2009

Here are some things to think about with ultrawides (like Sigma's 10-20mm):

- They are great for landscapes, skies, etc.
- They are great for architecture
- They are great for creative indoor shots

However:
- They are not meant to "get it all in". If you use a 10mm lens to try and cram more into your photo, you'll just end up with a tiny subject in the middle, lost among everything else. Instead, get up close to your subject and see what crazy things you can do with it.
- They (naturally) have extreme perspective "distortion", meaning that anything not in the center will appear to be "sucked" towards the outside edges. That's an awesome effect, but it can distort people and faces in a mightily weird way.

Keep those in mind -- but I absolutely love ultrawides, so I think you should at least rent one and give it a try!

kundalini · Mar 3, 2009

puyjapin said:
Ok now i have the long zoom i was considering at some point getting a wide angle, 10-20 or 12-24... the kit lens i have is 18mm. will the 10mm or 12mm bring a great deal more into the frame?

You can make up your own mind. Two examples.

Nikkor 18-55mm @ 18mm f/5.6

Nikkor 12-24mm @ 12mm f/5.6

You will note the pin-cushion / barrel distortion to (especially) vertical objects at the corners.

puyjapin said:
Also what i cant quite get is normally with a landscape or building you need quite a lot of DOF however it seems a lot of the wide angle goes own to low f stops. Why is this necessary when normally a blurry background is not needed on landscapes.

By their nature, wide angles create deep DoF even at the max aperture.

Tolyk · Mar 3, 2009

puyjapin said:
Ok now i have the long zoom i was considering at some point getting a wide angle, 10-20 or 12-24... the kit lens i have is 18mm. will the 10mm or 12mm bring a great deal more into the frame?
Also what i cant quite get is normally with a landscape or building you need quite a lot of DOF however it seems a lot of the wide angle goes own to low f stops. Why is this necessary when normally a blurry background is not needed on landscapes...

The sigma 10-20 f3.5-4.5 doesn't mean it can only go between 3.5 and 4.5, those are the minimum aperture ratings at the zoom ranges. So, at 10, the aperture can open as wide as 3.5, and 20 it only goes to 4.5

As kundalini said, wide angle lenses naturally have more depth of field, but if you want even more, you can still stop your aperture down. Go to f/10 or even up to f/16 if ya want, it's your choice.

For future reference, this is called a variable aperture, most "lower quality" zoom lenses have this (the 10-20 is a fantastic lens, they focused more on the elements and distortion than on having a constant aperture). Then there are lenses like the Tokina 11-16 that have a constant aperture through the entire zoom range, in this case it's 2.8, but you wouldn't shoot a landscape at that, for the most part.

Depth of field is affected by three things: Focal length, aperture, and distance to subject. Put your lens to 28 and take a picture of something 3 feet away, you'll see that quite a bit of stuff is still in focus. Do the same shot at your max zoom, and the depth of field will go down. An ultra-wide angle, even 6 inches from the subject will generally still have a somewhat large depth of field.

Hope this helps.