Ultra Wide Angle users...

[ukaskew]

Bit of an odd question, but do many of you use the 20mm end of your wide angle (i.e. Sigma 10-20, Canon 10-22) very often?

Currently figuring out what to get with my Christmas money, and whilst I loved my Sigma 10-20, I feel like I should try something different, and to be honest never use wide angles a great deal, so could get away with something a bit unusual.

Current thought is a Sigma 20mm 1.8. Varied reviews but it has immense close focusing abilities (20cm iirc), which combined with nice bokeh could make for some very interesting shots...some of the Flickr examples are very nice, very unique shots. The other benefit is it's reasonably cheap (£280ish) and I can probably dig one up second hand much cheaper.

Just not sure if 20mm is too long, but considering I only have 50mm at the moment I probably wouldn't notice.

 

[Clart]

i rarely use 20mm although i do if there are people in the shot, 10mm tends to do weird things to people's heads.

 

[GaryS]

Rarely, the pics look too "normal" at 20mm so I tend to use it the other end (Sigma 10-20 btw).

Not sure if you already have one but what about getting a flashgun?

 

[Bash]

Depends, when I helping out on a high fashion shoot I or normally a much better photographer then me will use a longer lens so peoples faces wont appear fat however some of the models I have seen you could use a fish eye and they will still look thin.

 

[BenWall]

Only really use 10mm, 20 for portraits sometimes.

I would go for this http://www.onestop-digital.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=24_28&products_id=169

Always wanted a fish eye in my collection. 2.8 too, for low light.

 

[Paul_G]

I almost exclusively use my Sigma 10-20 at the 10mm end, this personally is the reason for having an UWA. Other lenses out there will do a better job at the longer focal lengths.

I'm really interested in picking up a Sigma 30 f1.4 next...for some DOF fun, plus I've been impressed with the Sigma lenses....either that or a Canon 70-200 f4...

Decisions....this photography lark is proving to be a great drain on the bank account, although thankfully it's Christmas and I hoping they'll be a few camera bits under the tree. ;-)

 

[dunganick]

I would agree, the 10 end is alot more fun than the 20 end. Ive been borrowing a friends canon 10-22, excellent lense. The 10 end gives some interesting photos.

 

[Towzer_182]

Agree with the rest of them, I rarely go for the 20mm mark on my Signma 10-20mm.

 

[dk]

another one for not using the 20 end, would use my 17-55 if i moved over 15mm as its faster.

Love the 10 end of the canon though, I never seem to get any distortion so its either the way I use it, luck or a bloody good lense.

 

[unofficialPete]

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/ExposurePlot.html

ExposurePlot says very often at the wide end. Saying that, I think a 20mm fast prime would be interesting, as you can see I enjoyed using my 28mm f/1.8 which also had a very good MFD and think using a 20mm on its own as a walk around would be interesting.

 

[BenWall]

This is cool for the price. http://www.mpbphotographic.co.uk/index.php?id=23&product_uid=947

 

[Andy.]

If I stick the UWA on then it is normally only used at the wide end (Tokina 12-24), but it does not get used that often. I find that the 24mm of my walk around or the Sigma 30 works fine in most situations.

It sounds to me that you want to use a fast widish lens to play with anyway, and none of the UWA's are that fast except for the Tokina 11-16 f2,8.

Go for the 20mm second hand, play with it and sell it on if it does not do what you want it to without loosing money. Works for me.

 

[Lagerlout]

Nearly always use mine at the bottom end. I like taking pictures of people and they're like "You'll never get us all in! You're too close!" lol
Certainly bought for UWA stuff. Brilliant lens for the money imho.

This is 10mm @ f/8 (f/8 is the sweet spot for this lens apparently, but I only know that because I've read it on POTN lol )

 

[ukaskew]

Thanks for the advice guys, decided I can't do what I really want with just the one lens, so I've opted for two instead, Nikon 10.5mm Fisheye, and the Sigma 20mm f1.8. Got one already nicely under budget, hopefully the other won't be too far behind as my Birthday isn't far off...

 

[Bash]

How much can you find a fisheye for?

 

[Tigger]

^ Depends how big your rod is

I love my Sigma 10-20mm

 

[Bash]

yea I dont wanna pay alot for a lens I would only use a few times, I know which ones and all, but no one I know, know's of any going cheep.

 

[BenWall]

Nice fish eye. Can't wait to get one of them.

Get some samples up Chris.

 

[ukaskew]

yea I dont wanna pay alot for a lens I would only use a few times, I know which ones and all, but no one I know, know's of any going cheep.

They hold their value really well, I guess because there aren't too many in circulation. Cheapest I've ever seen a Nikon 10.5mm second hand is about £60 cheaper than the best prices new online, so around £330 (cheapest new is about £390 in the UK).

 

[Bash]

Yeah I know, they do hold their value like the good china. Can't justify it to my studio as they take pictures of people, guess I need to find 100 anorexic clients.

 

[ukaskew]

Yeah I know, they do hold their value like the good china. Can't justify it to my studio as they take pictures of people, guess I need to find 100 anorexic clients.

Probably not great for portraits, you could always start a side-line in quirky animal photos though

Other reason I bought mine is that there is some extremely good distortion correction software out there (cheap, too) that easily turns pics back to 'standard'. Should be useful if I ever do need completely straight, ultra-wide angle shots.

 

[Bash]

What soft' does that with out introducing blatant artefacts? I'm trying to get them to start a sideline venture with cars but as everyone keeps saying every one who can afford to spend money on a car can afford to become a GWC and wont pay for pictures cause they or their mates think they can do em better.

 

[jimbo666]

i only use the top end of my 10-20 when i dont want any lens distortion. but thats very rarely. i like the effect of distortion on some shots.

 

[ukaskew]

What soft' does that with out introducing blatant artefacts? I'm trying to get them to start a sideline venture with cars but as everyone keeps saying every one who can afford to spend money on a car can afford to become a GWC and wont pay for pictures cause they or their mates think they can do em better.

Nikon Capture NX does it automatically from RAW files, otherwise there is...

http://www.dxo.com/intl/photo/dxo_optics_pro/optics_geometry_corrections/distortion

http://www.imagetrendsinc.com/products/specpage_hemi.asp#hemi_tips

I've seen samples from the Image Trends Software and it seems excellent, will give both a try though as they both have free trials available.

 

[JJ!]

Never used a wide angle lens, may get one in the future but not sure if it would get used enough to warrant the purchase! My walk around lens starts at 16mm, there is actually more of a difference between the wideness of 16mm and 18mm than I thought there would be!

 

[ukaskew]

Never used a wide angle lens, may get one in the future but not sure if it would get used enough to warrant the purchase! My walk around lens starts at 16mm, there is actually more of a difference between the wideness of 16mm and 18mm than I thought there would be!

Yep the mm's really do add up at that end of the scale (due to the crop factor I guess), the difference between 10mm and 12mm when you're shooting with a Sigma 10-20 is massive!

180 degree shooting ftw anyhow, will need to keep my big feet out of the frame!

 

[Nigel]

I must admit my 10-20 is the only lense i've bought that I wouldn't purchase again! i've just never been that impressed with it.

 

[Clart]

did see the fish eye on talk photography and thought you might snap it up

 

[ukaskew]

did see the fish eye on talk photography and thought you might snap it up

That was the one, can't wait

 

[Rasclart]

Nearly always use mine at the bottom end. I like taking pictures of people and they're like "You'll never get us all in! You're too close!" lol
Certainly bought for UWA stuff. Brilliant lens for the money imho.

This is 10mm @ f/8 (f/8 is the sweet spot for this lens apparently, but I only know that because I've read it on POTN lol )

I only ever used it at around 10mm end. Rarely if ever at the 20mm end.

I used to get that, I remember lending it to missus brother and vast majority of photos at 10mm had his feet in PMSL

 

[Bash]

Ah, have the software but never bother using it as everything is imported straight into light room.

Nikon Capture NX does it automatically from RAW files, otherwise there is...

http://www.dxo.com/intl/photo/dxo_optics_pro/optics_geometry_corrections/distortion

http://www.imagetrendsinc.com/products/specpage_hemi.asp#hemi_tips

I've seen samples from the Image Trends Software and it seems excellent, will give both a try though as they both have free trials available.

 

[ukaskew]

Nice fish eye. Can't wait to get one of them.

Get some samples up Chris.

Ta da! Arrived just in time for Christmas. Nothing exciting to show as yet, but gave it a quick test around the house this morning...as expected, blown away. Already got 2 shots with my finger in the frame, and 3 or 4 with my legs and feet in it.

Product shot to show how tiny it is (probably smaller than the 50mm 1.8):

and some fishyness...

Interestingly, if you frame the subject in a certain way and take pictures at certain angles, there is very little distortion except at the extreme edges of the frame. I took a few of our living room and some are very obviously fisheye, yet some could almost pass for ultra wide angle and could easily be straightened up.

 

[vibrio]

generally I will use my 10-22 at the wider end but it depends on what I'm shooting as it picture may frame better with a longer focal length.

 

[BenWall]

LOL @ the fisheye pictures, do you find it wider than the 10-20?

 

[Revels]

Love that pic of your desk.

 

[vibrio]

LOL @ the fisheye pictures, do you find it wider than the 10-20?

10mm fisheye will have around 180 degree FOV on a DX sensor, a 10mm rectilinear lens has a FOV about 102 degrees on a DX sensor

 

[ukaskew]

LOL @ the fisheye pictures, do you find it wider than the 10-20?

Silly wide, no idea how it even gets past the built in hood to be honest. Point it down slightly and your feet and legs are in frame. I can stand in my living room, point the lens up (8ft ceiling, I'm 6ft) and get the entire ceiling in the frame easily.

To give you an idea, in my 3 test pics above I was literally mm's from touching the subjects. I've already knocked into several things, thinking I was still miles away from it.

 

[Revels]

Chris, how many times have you tried motion/motorsport pics on the Scalextric? lol

 

[vibrio]

Silly wide, no idea how it even gets past the built in hood to be honest. Point it down slightly and your feet and legs are in frame. I can stand in my living room, point the lens up (8ft ceiling, I'm 6ft) and get the entire ceiling in the frame easily.

To give you an idea, in my 3 test pics above I was literally mm's from touching the subjects. I've already knocked into several things, thinking I was still miles away from it.

I poked my dog in the eye trying to get his attention thinking the same thing lol