Wide angle

[mrbessentials]

I would like to know what would be the best wide angle lens for a graduation group shot?

 

[TCampbell]

The question is: How far away will you be standing? You could take such a shot with a relatively long telephoto if you're standing far enough away.

Also, you didn't mention which camera you're using, but I'm assuming it's probably an APS-C crop-frame body (since all of the Canon entry & mid-range bodies are APS-C.)

The lens which is probably the "best" is also one that I wouldn't recommend. I have a TS-E 24mm ... which would be fantastic, but I don't recommend it. One of the wonderful things about "tilt shift" lenses is that you can get an entire crowd of people all in tack-sharp focus (but you'd want to be shooting from up above.) But "tilt shift" lenses have quite a bit of a learning curve so unless you were experienced in using one, you wouldn't be able to achieve the desired result without a lot of trial and error.

The "kit" lens that comes with most entry-level bodies is an 18-55mm standard zoom. Use a hight f-stop to provide maximum depth-of-field -- that way the entire crowd will be in reasonably good focus (if you want absolute tack-sharp focus, you'd need a tilt-shift lens, which I don't recommend because everything is manual and it has a challenging learning curve.)

 

[msaha]

Yeah, The kit 18-55mm, 18-135mm, 18-200mm lenses are more than enough for that type of photography.