Wide angle lenses.

soupdragon

soupdragon

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Tony
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I have a wide angle lens but never use it.
What is the point of them or, what do you guys use them for?
 
I think the point of any piece of equipment is having the eye to use it for whatever you want. You can use a wide angle not just for landsacpe but for portraits as well, It depends what you see as an image or not. Think outside the box sometimes and you'll be amazed.
 
How wide do you mean?

I use my Canon 16-35 for landscapes but rarely use the Sigma 12-24.
 
I like wide angles, they can make an image jump out at the viewer...

Billy Boy boat beached south of Imperial recreation ground Exmouth GM5 _1050924.jpeg

Sometimes, they're just the only way to get the whole subject into a single image...

Victor bomber at Yorkshire Air Museum GM5 _1040742.JPG

and sometimes you just can't get far enough away from your subject...

Marine mechanics Fuji 645.jpg
 
Oh I really do enjoy a wide angle lens, great for overall effectiveness...!
This was shot at the wide 10mm end of the Fuji XF10-24 zoom lens, quite close to the subject.



Serenity by APM Photography, on Flickr



And another wide angle capture at the 10mm end;



Untitled by APM Photography, on Flickr
 
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I did a photowalk around Chelmsford with a few friends from a Facebook group last year. I took my 7.5mm fisheye lens (around 12mm FF equivalent), and I very much enjoyed being able to get complete buildings, signs etc into my shots while everyone else was looking for angles to shoot.

DSCF4792.jpeg

DSCF4777.jpeg

DSCF4799.jpeg

Obviously the fisheye look isn’t always ideal, but these were at 12 or 13mm too:

DSCF3911.jpeg



DSCF4611.jpeg
(Crappy picture of Canterbury Cathedral, I know: I was pretty gutted when I got there and saw all the scaffolding! Wouldn’t have got the whole thing in shot with any of my other lenses, though)

DSCF3851.jpeg
 
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Common uses for wide angles include landscape, seascape, astro, architecture.

As others have said though, wide angles can be used on virtually any subject matter if you can see a composition where it works
 
I absolutely love wide angle lenses - I love the depth and immersion you can create with them. It’s true they take more practice than a telephoto where often you are isolating a single subject, but I find they are very versatile- actually more versatile than any other focal length, imo.

a few recent wide angle shots - mostly 24mm, first one is 35mm

Blue by Sparkling Pictures, on Flickr

Cambridge Botanical Gardens by Sparkling Pictures, on Flickr

Cactus by Sparkling Pictures, on Flickr

Cote by Sparkling Pictures, on Flickr

Kitchen by Sparkling Pictures, on Flickr
 
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Brentor said:
How wide do you mean?

I use my Canon 16-35 for landscapes but rarely use the Sigma 12-24.
Click to expand...
Yes, 16-35mm.

There are times I want ever so slightly wider but not too often. Distortion usually becomes too significant. 14mm is absolutely bonkers. I had cheapo samyang ages ago.

Pretty much the only major use would be vertical interiors showing off tall special ceiling while retaining similar width as 16mm horizontally would.
And of course all the astro which I don't do all that much
 
LongLensPhotography said:
Yes, 16-35mm.

There are times I want ever so slightly wider but not too often. Distortion usually becomes too significant. 14mm is absolutely bonkers. I had cheapo samyang ages ago.

Pretty much the only major use would be vertical interiors showing off tall special ceiling while retaining similar width as 16mm horizontally would.
And of course all the astro which I don't do all that much
Click to expand...

Thanks for this, it was actually meant for the OP.
 
The widest I've had has been 15mm and on the basis of that I feel that I could handle a 10 or a 12mm. I tended to use it out in the land rather than in town, and would sometimes do a letterbox crop using the full width ...

If I was younger I'd probably be more adventurous, I'm a bit set in my ways ... ;-)

But the answer, of course, is to free your mind, try it and see ...
 
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As Kerry points out above, fisheyes can get more in but they are also good for putting smiles on faces...

Kirsten fisheye.jpg

jazzing up a boring picture of a railway station...

Seefeld Bahnhof fisheye Olympus E-PM1 5270408.jpg

Or even illustrating the slightly surreal quality of an early morning summer commute...

Woman standing in London Tube fisheye Canon 40D 7244.JPG
 
Wide-angle lenses are like other kinds: just tools for a job. If inspiration or subject dictates, then use one.

I do a lot of architecture, especially churches, therefore I use a wide-angle lens often. There is nothing I hate more than those wide-angle shots where the snapper wanted to “get it all in” at all costs, didn’t even bother stepping back and just tilted the camera upwards until “yeah! it all fits!” —ending up with one of those so frequent and ugly snaps with converging verticals and a disfigured monument or building that looks just like it’s about to fall over backwards!

So, either I use a tilt-shift lens, or if I don’t have one in my bag, I take precautions so that I will be able to correct the perspective in post-.

It is just a matter of respect for the monument, the architect, the mason.
 
Quite useful on an APS-C as it makes it a 'full-frame' size capture!
 
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