What to look at when choosing a wide angle lens?

KoolBlue · 19th June 2003

What are the stuff that I should look at when choosing a wide angle lens?

Will a bigger or smaller appature be better? Wat's the difference between a 28mm and 35mm wide angle lens?

Just wanna know how these stuff affects the photo.

Cheers!

eug · 19th June 2003

You are shooting low-lighting subjects or well-lighted subjects?
If you are getting a prime, it is better to get the wider 28mm than 35mm

hongsien · 22nd June 2003

The lower the mm's the wider the lens covers. Your eyes view the world around you roughly the same as using a 45-50mm lens. For many a 35 mm lens is a 'standard'.

The 28 mm lens will show you more of the world.......but because of this the subjects look smaller. Another effect is that due to perspective, the more wide (smaller mm's) the lens is, it gives you stronger skewed images at the extreme corners (a round coin in the extreme corner will look oval).

Making wider lenses is usually harder to do to eliminate optical problems.
Before buying these lenses you should check mainly two things:

1. distortions at the edges (most wideangles show barrel distortion: straight lines at the edge are shown curved inwardly)

2. light fall-off, typically visible in the extreme corners showing as darker corners, usually visible at full opening up to two stops or so.

Hong Sien

ninelives · 22nd June 2003

Quote:

Originally posted by hongsien

Before buying these lenses you should check mainly two things:

1. distortions at the edges (most wideangles show barrel distortion: straight lines at the edge are shown curved inwardly)

2. light fall-off, typically visible in the extreme corners showing as darker corners, usually visible at full opening up to two stops or so.

Hong Sien

you only will know if you bought the lens.

hongsien · 24th June 2003

Quote:

Originally posted by ninelives
you only will know if you bought the lens.

Yes, for point two, take some shots with the lens before buying at full opening pointing to an evenly lit subject.

For the distortion part you can in most cases see it in the viewfinder by looking at straight lines, check the longer side of the image. Most prisms inside the camera won't distort too much.

Hong Sien

19th June 2003	#1
KoolBlue Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: TP Posts: 127	What to look at when choosing a wide angle lens? What are the stuff that I should look at when choosing a wide angle lens? Will a bigger or smaller appature be better? Wat's the difference between a 28mm and 35mm wide angle lens? Just wanna know how these stuff affects the photo. Cheers!

19th June 2003	#2
eug Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Buangkok Posts: 537	You are shooting low-lighting subjects or well-lighted subjects? If you are getting a prime, it is better to get the wider 28mm than 35mm

22nd June 2003	#3
hongsien Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Hong Kong Posts: 2,904	The lower the mm's the wider the lens covers. Your eyes view the world around you roughly the same as using a 45-50mm lens. For many a 35 mm lens is a 'standard'. The 28 mm lens will show you more of the world.......but because of this the subjects look smaller. Another effect is that due to perspective, the more wide (smaller mm's) the lens is, it gives you stronger skewed images at the extreme corners (a round coin in the extreme corner will look oval). Making wider lenses is usually harder to do to eliminate optical problems. Before buying these lenses you should check mainly two things: 1. distortions at the edges (most wideangles show barrel distortion: straight lines at the edge are shown curved inwardly) 2. light fall-off, typically visible in the extreme corners showing as darker corners, usually visible at full opening up to two stops or so. Hong Sien