Ultra Wide for more than just landscapes

26. February 2008 by admin.

 For years I never used a lens wider than 28mm.  This was the old standard “wide angle” lens for a 35mm camera.  For many years anything wider than that was kind of a “specialty” lens, and many of them weren’t even rectilinear lenses–they were fish eye lenses.  Times have changed…along with the digital revolution in cameras, a new crop of ultra wide angle lenses are now on the market at reasonable prices that put them in the reach of many consumers.  My personal favorite is the Sigma 15-30mm.   It’s big, but light weight, and at 15mm it’s got an enormous field of view on a full frame or 35mm camera.  It also performs well on 1.6 crop sensor cameras, but it really shines on a full frame sensor.  At first glance, most people tend to think of and ultra wide (wider than 24mm) lens as the tool of choice for getting those sweeping views when shooting landscapes.  But they’re really much more.  The distortion they create and their extreme close focusing ability make these lenses a very interesting creative tool.  As an example, see the photo below.  I shot this at 15mm on a full frame camera.  I was very close to the car, and the ultra wide angle really gives a unique stretched perspective you can’t get any other way.

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