Ultra wide angle lenses - do you need one?


An ultra-wide angle lens is usually considered anything with a focal length less than 24 mm relative to a full-frame camera.  On an APS-C crop sensor camera, that would be anything less than 16 mm.

What exactly are ultra-wides good for?  I find them especially useful for landscape and architectural shots where the background can easily overwhelm the foreground.  They are also valuable when shooting in confined spaces as you can't back up far enough to use a regular wide-angle lens. 

I currently own one ultra-wide angle lens for my Nikon Z system, but I have owned many before it.  These include lenses for both full-frame and crop-sensor cameras.  They also include a few primes, my favourite being a 20mm f/1.8 beauty.

There are two main features about ultra-wide angle lenses.  The first is that they seriously distort the image by bending the lines of perspective inward.  Things that are near the camera look much larger and things away from the camera appear much smaller.  The lower the focal length, the more these characteristics are exaggerated.  This is why they are handy in tight spaces or when wanting to reduce overwhelming backgrounds.  The downside to this is the barrel distortion it causes. Lines that should be straight appear curved.

Grand Canyon shot with a 20-35 mm lens at 20 mm on a full-frame body camera.
Notice the curved horizon.

The second feature is the enormous depth of field you get with the lower focal lengths.  With small apertures you can manage focus zones from 6 inches to infinity.  This comes in especially handy when shooting landscapes where the foreground is very important, especially if it close at hand.  When shooting lovely vistas I will often include flowers in the shot that become the center point of the image.  Shooting with nearly unlimited depth of field is called hyperfocal focusing.  I have written several blogs on the subject.

In general, I would suggest that an ultra-wide lens, prime or zoom, is valuable to any photographer that shoots landscapes or architecture.  They tend not to be too expensive, although you can drop serious cash on higher-end models.  I have bought both used and new and can say that I have enjoyed them all.  If you find you are not getting the use out of it that you hopped, you can always sell.

And if it gets you out the door more, all the better.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com


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