Wide Angle Lens: Good morning, This fall I am planning a trip to New Mexico to the international balloon festival. I shoot with a d-700 and do not have a wide angle lens. I plan on...

PHOTOBILL71 Loc: Corinth, Ms

Good morning,
This fall I am planning a trip to New Mexico to the international balloon festival. I shoot with a d-700 and do not have a wide angle lens. I plan on buying or renting one for this shoot and wondering if any of you have a suggestion as to which lens will give me the best result to capture wide angle to get as many colors and balloons in this shooting situation? A these fixed lens or zoom?

Cdouthitt Loc: Traverse City, MI

Wide zoom...14-28mm range is perfect (that's FF terms), especially if you can get right up next to them.

dragonswing Loc: Pa

I don't have advice on the lens, but have fun at the festival!!!!

One Camera One Lens Loc: Traveling

I think something in the 14-28 range should do it......been to the festival, it's a blast, lots of colors and great scenery with the mountains and just one fantastic time, have a great adventure and enjoy.................

eurobird Loc: uk

Hi i have just joined today and was having look through the topics have a look at the sigma 10-20 lens im very happy with this lens on my d5100 takes great shots get real close and wow
All the best Bert

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

PHOTOBILL71 wrote:

Good morning,
This fall I am planning a trip to New Mexico to the international balloon festival. I shoot with a d-700 and do not have a wide angle lens. I plan on buying or renting one for this shoot and wondering if any of you have a suggestion as to which lens will give me the best result to capture wide angle to get as many colors and balloons in this shooting situation? A these fixed lens or zoom?

The Nikon 14-24mm is very hard to beat at any price, but that price is a bit steep to match.

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

eurobird wrote:

Hi i have just joined today and was having look through the topics have a look at the sigma 10-20 lens im very happy with this lens on my d5100 takes great shots get real close and wow
All the best Bert

Pretty much a worthless suggestion for the OPs full frame camera as that lens is for crop sensors.

KlausK Loc: Brewster, NY

I'd be thinking about a matching polarizer, too.

PHOTOBILL71 Loc: Corinth, Ms

Klausk, Not sure what you mean by matched polarizer/ Can you be more specific. Also it seem like I heard that the Nikon 14x24 will not take a filter....is this correct. I agree that I would think a day shot into the sky that a polarizer would be good, but would not think so for a night shot when trying to catch light up balloons??

KlausK Loc: Brewster, NY

PHOTOBILL71 wrote:

Klausk, Not sure what you mean by matched polarizer/ Can you be more specific. Also it seem like I heard that the Nikon 14x24 will not take a filter....is this correct. I agree that I would think a day shot into the sky that a polarizer would be good, but would not think so for a night shot when trying to catch light up balloons??

I am not I Nikon guy, but I am afraid that you are correct about the 14-24. What you could use is a Cokin or similar (circular polarizing) gadget to hold in front of the lens. Other than that I meant a circular polarizing filter in a size that matches the lens.

mcveed Loc: Kelowna, British Columbia (between trips)

First off don't use a polarizer on a wide angle lens. You will get uneven polarization and you'll curse yourself for not testing before using. If I was going I would take my 17-35 f2.8 for close up shots during the inflation period when you may have access to the take-off field. You will need a fast lens as the balloons are usually inflated in the dark in preparation for a dawn mass lift off. Later you will need a longer lens as the balloons go higher. Once the sun is up and the light is good I would use either my 24-120 or 70-200 with a polarizer.

KlausK Loc: Brewster, NY

mcveed wrote:

First off don't use a polarizer on a wide angle le... (show quote)

I agree that you have to use a polarizer carefully on super-wide angles. You might find this video helpful (skip to 14 minutes to go directly to the filter discussion):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8HZCdieSAo

PHOTOBILL71 Loc: Corinth, Ms

Thanks for your comments....it makes sense that polarizer on wide angle might not be good. I have a 24x105 with a polarizer and can switch to that lens later in the day when sun is up good.

KlausK Loc: Brewster, NY

So much for the Nikon not taking filters ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_x_gwR3Hnw&list=TLLajc-23L07f-aI-oGnla3M7LlpEr-PQi

amehta Loc: Boston

PHOTOBILL71 wrote:

Good morning,
This fall I am planning a trip to New Mexico to the international balloon festival. I shoot with a d-700 and do not have a wide angle lens. I plan on buying or renting one for this shoot and wondering if any of you have a suggestion as to which lens will give me the best result to capture wide angle to get as many colors and balloons in this shooting situation? A these fixed lens or zoom?

Either the 14-24mm f/2.8 or the 16-35mm f/4 would serve you well. You probably want to shoot raw (or raw+jpeg) so you can fix distortion more easily, since you will not be able to always keep the camera level. This shot was taken with a D800 and 24mm lens, processed with DxO Optics Pro 9. You can see how much of the edges are lost in straightening it, but it can be worth it. The effect with a lens in the 14-18mm range is even more dramatic.

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