Example/Explanation of wide angle use

[James Rothwell]

Hi there,

Would someone be kind enough to explain to be what effects can be produced with a wide angle lens? When would using a wide angle lens be useful?

Some images taken with said lenses would be quite nice to see, also if you could say which lens it is.

Thanks.

 

[Sheep]

You can more of the view in the picture as it provides for a wider field of view through the lens such as a landscape

or get in really close to an object and capture the subject with more context

Both taken with a sigma 10-20 on a nikon D80....and you gets loads of depth of field...love the lens.

Kevin

 

[specialman]

It all depends on how wide you want to go.

A lot of folk on here have moved past their 'kit' lenses (17/18 - 70mm) and onto fisheye and 10mm zooms as their wide option. Some still stick with their standard lenses.

I'm still on my 18-70mm Nikon and I think that's wide enough for most things I shoot.

I tend to find that with the extreme wide angle lenses like the Sigma 10-20mm and the Canon 10-22mm, you get severe distortion that can look good in one shot, but pooh in another. You just have to look at objects around the edge of the frame to see if they look unnaturally skewed.

I took these two shots today for a magazine shoot, both of the same fish but they give a pretty good example of how the same kind of shot can be dramatically altered by using a wide angle and a telephoto..

Wide-angle (18mm)...

... and Telephoto (100mm)

 

[James Rothwell]

Wow thanks guys! I wasn't expecting any replies as helpful as that!

Quite interesting but I don't think I need to have one just yet, but perhaps when I am more affluent I may purchase a fisheye lens.

 

[foodpoison]

Or something like this

 

[James Rothwell]

I like that shot foodpoison. What lens is that?

 

[Sheep]

A fisheye will give you a different effect again to a wide angle lens.

 

[James Rothwell]

A fisheye will give you a different effect again to a wide angle lens.

oh? Now I'm confused again, I thought fish eye was just another word for wide angle?

Sorry to be so retarded and uninformed, but what is the difference?

 

[Canon Bob]

James,

A 'normal' wide angle is a rectilinear lens that the manufacturers design to counteract any distortions (within limitations). The biggest problem with a rectilinear wide angle is barrel distortion....ie, tending towards a fisheye effect.

Fisheyes are simply lenses that haven't been corrected.

If you look at Canon's current lineup then you'll see that they have a 15mm fisheye but a 14mm rectilinear....wider than the fisheye but distortion is engineered out (well, most of it is !)

Bob

 

[cherryrig]

No a fisheye is also know as a ultra wide angle lens. It gives the photo a curved look to it much like looking through a fish bowl and a fish's eye. You can fit a lot more in with a fisheye

Like in this shot

Flickr

 

[Sheep]

.....and you have to be careful not to get your feet in the picture too given the curve!

 

[kevin_c]

For effect you really need to go ultra-wide, but just watch your feet

Both taken with the Canon 10-22mm @10mm:

 

[James Rothwell]

I like the picture above this one! I might have to get one of these lenses at some point and have a play. Might come in useful when shooting static cars.

 

[reddeathdrinker]

Skies! Skies look brilliant with a wide-angle lens. Add the landscape, and you can't beat it!!

and

 

[john-oh]

Here's a picture taken with a Sigma 8mm (fisheye), notice the distortion and vignetting on a 40D. On a full frame sensor this would give a circular image.

Software can be used to 'de-fish' these images to get to fill full frame.

 

[James Rothwell]

Thanks for the superb posts which have helped me greatly understand this much better.