Dragonophile

I have a nice Canon 24-105 L lens on a Canon 7D body. I take pictures of ships - container and tankers. I notice when I get very close to them and shoot near the wide end of the lens, the pictures are very distorted looking. The proportions are just odd. Are there any lenses, prime or zoom, that might do a better job or is this an inherent fact of photography one must accept? Now, I just get my best pictures by letting the ships get more distant and avoid super closeups.

Rab-Eye Loc: Indiana

We might need more information, but because you were specific about proportions, it could be this: a wide angle lens tends to expand things. If you shoot a person with a wide angle from a short distance, the nose will be too big. A long lens does the opposite and makes distances appear compressed. Is that your issue?

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

The older 24-105L is known for this distortion at the 24mm end. Have you looked at distortion correction in the camera or in post processing? I believe your 7D lets you download lens profiles to the camera body for processing of JPEGs. DPP allows the same for RAW processing as well as any competent PP software.

To your question, yes, other lenses have less distortion, typically primes and higher end zooms such as the 24-70 f/2.8L. The various 16-35L models also have less distortion at 24mm than the 24-105L although they have some amount of distortion at their wider 16mm end.

rjaywallace Loc: Wisconsin

Wide angle lenses are, in many cases, not well-suited to close-up work. The most common example of the problem is when a photographer captures a close-up of a beautiful woman using a wide-angle lens. The exposure and color rendition may be correct, but the woman will not thank him because her nose will appear 2-3x larger than normal and way out of proportion. Use a longer focal length and be aware of how your subject is portrayed (or maligned) in the photo.

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

What you are seeing is perspective distortion that is related to relative distances from the camera to different objects. It is totally independant of the lens.

Back off your camera to subject distance and there will be less distortion. You might also try a full frame sensor using a similar focal length to achieve the same framing at a better distance.

Rich1939 Loc: Pike County Penna.

A perspective control lens could help or alternatively (and infinitely less expensively) use your current lens at 50mm or >, take multiple images and then stitch them in post.

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

That is a different "perspective". It will not change the distortion that enlarges a nose.

Stitching helps, when done from a greater distance.

Rich1939 Loc: Pike County Penna.

My bad! A wide angle PC won't get the job done. A longer PC lens could.

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

You have already had some excellent responses. I would suggest that you are correct that it is this an inherent fact of photography that one must accept.

Given the the fact that you are using a 7D - APS-C / crop sensor camera - you are probably experiencing less optical distortion than you would with a full frame camera. Regardless of individual lens characteristics, each different lens focal length gives a different rendering of perspective in relation to the medium recording the image.

A 'normal' lens delivers a similar perspective rendering to the human eye, which is why 50mm lenses were the standard lens for 35mm (FF) cameras. A normal perspective lens for an APS-C camera would be around 35mm, which is a moderate wide angle with mild perspective distortion on a 35mm (FF) camera.

Wide angles stretch perspective, telephotos compress perspective. It is the nature of the optics, and something to be learned. It can be used creatively, or may need to be understood when one chooses the vantage point for creating an image.

The amount and type of distortion depends upon the relationship between the lens and the recording medium / film / sensor size.

selmslie Loc: Fernandina Beach, FL, USA

Neither will change the perspective.

As Floyd correctly pointed out earlier, the only thing that will correct the apparent distortion from being too close to a large subject is to back away from the subject and use a longer (normal or short telephoto) focal length.

Rich1939 Loc: Pike County Penna.

Hmm, then a longer PC doesn't qualify?

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

The PC functionality won't be useful.

Oddly, using a wide angle lens from a greater distance and then cropping to get the framing right will work.

Of course with a zoom lens the workflow would be to first choose the location that gives the desired perspective, and only then zoom to a focal length that correctly frames the shot as desired. (Note that "zoom with your feet" is a compositional disaster!)

Rich1939 Loc: Pike County Penna.

{i}"The PC functionality won't be useful"[/i]
I respectfully disagree. Try it you might like it.

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

Disagree all you like. For straight on "portraiture" type shots it will do nothing. Verticals can be made to be parallel, but making objects of similar size look the same size it does nothing. You are the one who needs to try these things...

Rich1939 Loc: Pike County Penna.

RIGHT