home brewer Loc: Fort Wayne, Indiana

I am starting to question how often i will use my f.8 14-24 lens and if i want to lug around a seldom used lens that weighs 35 oz. For those that use that lens or a similar lens; when do you use it? Would you post photos.

bpulv Loc: Buena Park, CA

I bought it for two situations; room interiors and landscapes. Since Adobe added the Panorama function to Lightroom, I leave it at home.

justhercamera Loc: NW Michigan

I often use mine with landscapes when there are partially cloudy skies. It adds such a dramatic effect to them.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

I bought one maybe 10 years ago. It gets little use.
Most of the time it's not with me because I have so much other stuff in my bag and that lens is pretty bulky.
Most of the time when I need that wide a lens, I am shooting landscapes or some other static scene. For those shots I stitch, using my 24-70. Dynamic scenes needing wide angles do not occur for me that often. I would use it if I were in a situation where I had a large group in a restricted space, but I don't run across that situation often.

I have used it occasionally, and it's a really nice lens. Just inconvenient for me. The weight, for me, is unimportant. It's primarily the bulk.

Retired CPO Loc: Travel full time in an RV

I'm assuming you mean the f2.8 14-24mm. I use mine all day every day. I'll look around and post a photo or two.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Similar field of view: 10-18 mm on APS-C Canon T3i. Ultra-lightweight, but limited IMO because best use was for ultra-close up. I had an 18-135 mm to cover the rest.

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BebuLamar

I only have a 20mm and I very seldom use it. I think 24mm is wide enough in most cases.

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

I rarely use the 14-24.
20/20 hindsight tells me I would have made better use of the 16-35.

Linda S.

Perhaps because I am an amateur and haven't yet achieved the quality and drama (composition) in my photos as Linda from Maine has, I would keep the lens just to carry when taking local shots with my photography group and finally learn how to use it!

Two years ago, when I was going to Alaska, a UHH gentleman posted photos to show me what could be taken there with that lens.

So, I bought the Canon 16 - 35 f /2.8 lens (similar field of view). Couldn't figure out how to use it to get those types of photos, so when I returned, I traded it in at B&H Photo for something else that I wanted.

But I kept seeing photos posted here with that same type of composition, so then I repurchased the lens but as the F/4.

I just love the look of Linda for Maine's photos depicted above and someday maybe I'll be able to capture shots like that as well!

So, in short, if you like that type of composition shown above, keep the lens. If you use it more for panorama shots, then trade it in

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Thank you, but I did quickly run out of photo ops because of the wide open spaces here, and being prevented from getting closer in many cases (muddy ditches, barbed wire fences, loose dogs), and also the massive scale of places like Mt Rainier National Park.

Here is a topic on ultra-wide angle lenses I hosted in For Your Consideration shortly after buying the lens:
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-336465-3.html#5654538

The link above is to kymarto's photos directly, who is a pro photographer and videographer. Another hugely talented UHH user, alissaspieces, shared some here:
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-336465-4.html

Her two of the flip flops are absolutely delightful IMO.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

btw, a lot of mine ended up being vertical orientation. I was able to use the camera's rotating LCD screen for low angle views.

Kmgw9v Loc: Miami, Florida

I don’t use my 14-24 often. But I did use it last week to take some shots of outdoor Christmas lights. 😄

Selene03

My Canon 16-35 f4 is my most used lens, but I have a Sony 12-24 F4 lens that I really like for European travel on my a7riii. It is terrific with interiors, especially when crowds prevent stitching, etc. I had a Canon 11-24 f4 that used sporadically for landscapes and got some very dramatic effects in some circumstances, but it was heavy and had a large protruding bulb that made it less than ideal for hiking. When I was shooting Nikon, I thought about getting the 14-24, but never did. I probably would have used it if I had it, but in general, I like the 16-35 range.

AndyH Loc: Massachusetts and New Hampshire

Ultra wide lenses are specialty tools. In film days they were also very expensive - the shortest I could afford was a 20mm Pentax Super Takumar, (which I'm planning to replace this year at a cost that amounts to pennies on the dollar, adjusted for inflation).

Linda from Maine has posted a couple of great links, and her images are excellent examples of what you can do only with an ultrawide lens. Ken Rockwell (yeah, I know...) has an excellent guide on his website that shows many examples of how he uses them.

I carry my DX format 10-20 mm with me most of the time, but that's because I have a particular look I like. In general, most people starting with one get the use wrong, shooting objects far away and trying to encompass a "big sky" type of view. It never conveys what you think it will.

The keys to making an effective ultrawide shot are getting in close to the subject and using diagonal lines in the composition, in my opinion. Linda's shots above are great examples. Remember that you have to move the camera to change the perspective, not just change the lens. Ultrawides will distort the closest parts of the subject, so you probably don't want to use them for portraits unless you favor the Jimmy Durante look. But the use of a central or corner foreground subject with long diagonal lines can be a pretty effective technique, of which you can see some examples in Linda's links.

It's not for everyone or every purpose, but it can make for very striking images. As one of my first photography mentors told me, you can always crop in for a tighter shot, but you can't do the reverse and get good results. The depth of field and close focusing abilities of the ultrawides just can't be created in processing or stitching.

Hope this helps a little. Just my opinion and photographic taste, though.

Andy

JD750 Loc: SoCal

It is my favorite creative lens that I rarely use.