I want a wide angle lens for scenery shots but my kit lens goes to 18mm so I'm not clear what I could do with a dedicated wide angle lens that I can't do with my kit.
Hi Katherine - I don't have a wide-angle shot handy to post but I just wanted to remind you that on your Canon, the 18mm wide end of your kit lens is an effective aperture of 29mm, so only medium wide. A 10-20mm or 10-24mm lens would give you an effective minimum focal length of 16mm... and then there is the Sigma 8-16mm which is an effective focal length of just 13mm. I'm talking here of regular W/A lenses not fisheye lenses - hope this helps.
All at 16mm full-frame (10mm on a crop-frame like your T2i):
My 16-35mm lens (10-20mm on a crop-frame camera) is my most frequently-used lens, accounting for probably 80% of my shots. In all cases, I am considerably closer to the 'action' than it appears in the photo, which is the real trick to using a wide-angle lens -- you need to get exceptionally close.
Thanks for the comments and examples of what that lens will do. The deal is that we're going on a road trip through Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, and Colorado. Photo opportunity overload and of the vistas. I love that part of the country even if it dries my skin like a mummy.
I got mine for xmas. It's intended for a full frame and it's manual (therefore cheap), but it's on my T2i. My first shot. Today's shots come from it as well (cropped, though). It's not just landscape you can do. Never think of a lens for just one thing. I've learned that and feel fine pushing limits.
@abirkill You give me hope. I've just gotten mine and I know that it's not really a great one, but it's for a full-frame on my crop frame camera. Some day...
@darylo If that's the Bower 14mm f/2.8 lens, it's one of the best wide-angle lenses available for full frame cameras, regardless of price -- provided you can put up with the manual focus and aperture controls. It's not as outstanding on a crop-frame, but still very respectable.
@abirkill It is that lens!!! Hope for me then. I'm soooo glad that year one was all about learning manual setttings. I took my shots today with it. Up close means hard time focusing, so I am just really taking my time with it. Some day, I hope to have a full frame. My husband bought me a sigma 35mm prime for full frame that operates as a nifty-fifty on my Rebel T2i.
Here's the Sigma f/3.5 10-20 in action. It is specifically for an APS-C body, but it has worked well for me on both the Nikon D5100 and D7100. I believe a dedicated wide angle lens, this 10-20 zoom for example, will provide you much sharper images than you kit lens at the extreme end of its zoom. They are not inexpensive however. A zoom like this you will find more versatile than a fixed length prime, and almost as sharp so it's hard to tell the difference. The Tokina 9-16 is a good choice as well.
Perspective corrected for a "straight" image shot from some distance back.
Perspective unaltered for a classic wide angle "up" shot close in.
A lot of great shots here. I'm getting my annual bonus next month. Last year I handed the whole thing over to the nice man putting in my new air conditioner and duct system so I think this year it isn't unreasonable to blow part of it on a lens.
It's worth remembering that for landscapes ultra wide lenses make mole hills out of mountains which is not always what you want, this is because the nearer something is the bigger it appears but as things recede they become smaller than they really appear - a consequece of the angle of view, so if you are photographing a mountain range that is mainly in the background an ultra-wide will actually render them smaller than they look to the human eye (and arguably less impressive). I personally think they are great for squeezing lots into the frame and can be very effective for architectural shots and in addition as demonstrated here give a very dramatic look to things taken up close. I had a Sigma 10-20 on a crop sensor camera- peferred the short end of a standard zoom (17mm in this case) for landscape shots. In the right hands ultra-wides can produce dramatic and stunning results though
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the wide angle allows the vision to extend outside of the center field of view.
and another
r
and this one was kind of fun ;p
and i'm working on another one now, but it isn't "done" yet...
My 16-35mm lens (10-20mm on a crop-frame camera) is my most frequently-used lens, accounting for probably 80% of my shots. In all cases, I am considerably closer to the 'action' than it appears in the photo, which is the real trick to using a wide-angle lens -- you need to get exceptionally close.
And a couple from Colorado:
Perspective corrected for a "straight" image shot from some distance back.
Perspective unaltered for a classic wide angle "up" shot close in.
Some 10mm shots:
and a good tripod
and a bigger camera bag
;-)
16mm on crop