mrpentaxk5ii

To each his own, I have Pentax 12-24 F4 the first photo I took was the overlook on St Thomas, and for so many photos after it is a lens that I use often. These are just two photos that I could not have taken with out this lens. both photos were taken at 12mm on a Pentax APSC camera.

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Leitz Loc: Solms

These back up Gene51's explanation of why wide angle lenses are a poor choice for landscapes.

Kmgw9v Loc: Miami, Florida

LMG Loc: Arizona

Thanks Gene for a very useful explanation for use of wide angle lenses

PeterM Loc: Scio, NY

For what it's worth, here is a different take on ultra-wides. Autofocus and short zooms are no big deal on ultra-wides. I've had a ball with a Rokinon 8mm/3.5 on my DX Nikons. Deep DOF makes manual focus easy, its fairly easy to determine exposure, and agonizing over distortion is silly on near fish-eye lenses - its part of the appeal. The Rokinon is affordable, built like a truck, and I've had a surprising number of published photos from this lens. I'd recommend it to advanced amateurs and pros. - Peter

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Thanks, Ralph. All too often beginners and those experienced in photography for a number of years, will resort to buying an ultra wide angle lens to "get it all in," not fully understanding the tradeoffs. With the excellent software that is out there, you don't even need a tripod to take landscape panos. I use an ultra wide from time to time, as I did in the last image I posted. It was a smaller area - the entire area from my camera position to the background could not have been more than 70 ft, the sunlight penetrating the water in several places was of interest, and I happened to have my 14-24 already on the camera when I came upon the scene. But I much prefer the freedom from distortions that longer lenses used for pano provide.

Before cameras artists still painted some pretty stunning landscapes, using only their eyes to "get it all in" - and they produced sweeping panorama-style images by merely turning their heads with their "normal lens visual perception." Creating a panorama image with a longer lens mimics the viewpoint and perspective found in the fine art landscapes. Other than something by M.C. Escher, you are not likely to see any landscape or architectural painting that looked like it was taken with a 10mm lens on an APS-C or a 14mm lens on a full frame camera.

The ultra wide lenses can be creatively to record an image with unusual impact, like an exaggerated illusion of depth (great for RE but frowned upon in Architectural and Interior photography), or to emphasize a foreground element - but the "look" quickly becomes an old and tired cliché.

The first image below shows that exaggeration, and the volume anamorphosis common to wide angle lenses. The chair on the left looks like it could hold 3 people. The booth is only 10' x 10'.

The second image shows the extension distortion often associated with ultra wide lenses. That glacial erratic is not that big, maybe 4 ft high and 6 ft at it's widest, and the distant shore is about 1/4 mile away.

The last image was taken with a D300 and a Sigma 10-20 - at the site of the World Trade Center in 2011. The exaggerated depth suggests a space that is much bigger than it actually is.

14mm, D700

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14mm, D800

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10mm D300

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Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

I need to get one of these.

mardic Loc: Fla.

Very nice presentation.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Thanks, but don't sell that wonderful lens just yet - at one point I had two, one was a backup. It is a pretty remarkable piece of optical engineering. I will not part with mine as long as I have full frame Nikons. And even if I went to the dark side (Canon full frame), I'd probably still keep it and use it with an adapter.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

You're welcome.
Thanks!

whfowle Loc: Tampa first, now Albuquerque

On a Nikon D7100, a crop sensor camera, a 15-30mm lens will give the perspective of a 22.5-45mm on a full frame camera. I think that is what mrpentaxk5ii was saying. While that is still a wide angle lens, it is not an ultra wide, if you consider under 20mm to be ultra wide.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

The perspective doesn't necessarily change, unless you move back on the crop sensor to achieve a similar composition to the full frame. But the angle of view does. It is still a 15-30mm lens, that takes in a narrower field of view, not unlike cropping in post processing. The perspective doesn't change when you crop in either situation - just the angle of view gets narrower.

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

Bob. What do you need the lens for? Is it Real Estate interiors or landscape or museum trips? The use makes a difference. I am impressed that others have been able to help you without knowing this. I, however, am slow. I need to know what the intended use for a tool is before I can say how well the tool will work.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

I think you missed the part where Bob wrote "I do anticipate using the lens primarily for landscapes and perspectives. I'm not the 'fit-it-all-in-one photo' kind of guy."

So our efforts are somehow less impressive, I suppose . . .

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

Oopps. I did miss that and I read ti twice.

Sorry