What Is A Wide Angle Lens: Essential Guide

A wide-angle lens is a lens with a focal length approximately shorter than the focal length of a normal lens for a given film plane.

This type of lens allows more of the scene to be included in the photograph or film scene, which is useful in architectural, interior, and landscape photography where the photographer may not be able to move farther from the scene to photograph it.

It’s also become a staple of filmmaking, where wide angle lenses are commonly used to capture master shots.

The boundary between wide-angle and normal lenses is not definite, but in general, any lens with an angle of view wider than that of a 50 mm lens on a 35 mm camera is considered wide-angle.

Wide-angle lenses are also often preferred by documentary filmmakers, as they can get closer to subjects without having to move too much during an interview.
 

Wide-angle lenses are also great for shooting indoors as they allow you to capture large interiors in one shot with little distortion and less risk of getting cut off at the edge of your frame by moving subjects.

What Is a Wide Angle Lens?

Finding the right lens for your photography does not have to be difficult though, once you know what kind of photography you will be doing and what kind of shots you want to get. There are some lenses that are good for one type of photography but may not be as useful in other types.

This is why it is important to know first what kind of shots you want to take before even looking at different lenses.

Wide angle lenses are used in a variety of different kinds of photography from landscape shooting, architectural photography and interior design.

Wide angle lenses allow photographers to capture wider scenes than would otherwise be possible with normal lenses on these cameras.

Wide angle lenses do not give a sharp image like telephoto lenses do but they make up for this with their ability to capture wider.

Wide-Angle Lenses For 35mm Film Format

Wide-angle lenses are absolutely fantastic for 35mm film format. They allow you to capture a large amount of the scene and to include the foreground in your photos. The catch, however, is that they also have a short focal length and a wide angle in combination with the smaller image sensor on your digital camera can create issues with distortion.

There are several ways to combat this issue and make use of what makes these lenses so great. The first one is to only go near the corners of your photos, not right into the middle. When you get right up into your subject, it will distort no matter what lens you use because you’re putting more information into a small area.

The second is to not take too close of a picture. Maybe you don’t need to fill the entire frame with your subject because it’s more about the background than it is about filling every inch of space in the frame with your subject.

Finally, there is software like PTLens on PC and LensFix on Mac that allows you to correct some of these issues. They work fairly well and are a good option for those who don’t want to buy any new equipment or spend time doing manual corrections in Photoshop or Lightroom.

What Are The Main Types Of Wide Angle Lenses?

The main types of wide-angle lenses and the most important features when it comes to choosing one for your photography needs.

Tilt-Shift (aka Perspective Control)

Tilt-shift lenses are the widest angle lenses available, allowing for some serious perspective distortion. They’re most commonly used for architectural photography, but can be used for landscape photography as well.

They allow you to control which parts of the image appear in focus and which are blurred out of focus. This is great for emphasizing certain parts of a building or foreground while deemphasizing others.

If you wish to blur out the background in an image, tilt-shift lenses have a greater depth of field (area in focus) than other wide angle lenses. The downside to this type of lens is that they’re quite large and pricey compared to other wide-angle lenses.

They also tend to perform poorly at close distances because they have a narrow depth of field.Specialty  Wide-Angle Lens Specialty wide angle lenses are designed specifically for underwater photography, astrophotography and videography among other niche uses.

While not suited for every type of photography, specialty wide angle lenses can be a good investment if you need them for work or play. Because specialty wide angle lenses are often optimized.

When To Use A Wide Angle Lens

Having the right lens for an assignment can make or break a shoot. Understanding when to use a wide angle lens, and when to use a telephoto lens, is an important aspect of that.

Extensive use of wide angle lenses is common in photojournalism, sports, and documentary photography. To understand why this is so, we have to look at what they do best. Wide angle lenses excel in situations where you do not want the background to be a distraction.

The wide view that they offer means that you can fit more into your frame than you could with another lens. This is advantageous because it allows you to focus on your subject without having to deal with the chaos of a busy background or foreground.

If you are shooting at a wedding reception for example, there will be people in every direction as well as tables, chairs and other pieces of furniture. Focusing on your subject with another lens might mean losing some context from the background or foreground.

The key here is keeping your subject the star of the picture while still getting all of their surroundings in the shot. With a wide angle lens, you can achieve this by adjusting your distance from the subject and/or zooming in closer with the lens.

When Not To Use a Wide Angle Lens

I love wide angle lenses. I own a bunch of them and use them all the time. But if you don’t have a good reason to use one, don’t. They can be tempting because they allow you to capture a wider view of your subject, so it seems like they take up less space. Outdoors, they are more forgiving with certain types of distortion than longer focal length lenses.

As much as I love wide angles, they aren’t always the right choice. Sometimes I’m shooting inside and there just isn’t room for a 24mm lens on my camera body.

If I need a wide angle shot with a tighter perspective, I have to get in really close to my subject, which usually requires some type of lens support (tripod or monopod) to prevent camera shake from blurring the image when shooting at slower shutter speeds.

Sometimes I’m shooting indoors without the ability to move around my subject or light it differently, okay but not ideal. A wide lens also creates its own set of problems that sometimes call for creative solutions and other times require me to just go find another subject that’s better suited for the lens I have available.

The most common problem is distortion caused by converging verticals in photos taken with a wide angle lens.

Why Not Use Your Normal Lens?

It’s a common misconception that using your “normal” lens is the best way to take photos of kids. Trying to frame your child with a 50mm wide-angle lens might make you feel like you’re getting great shots, but you’re actually doing them a disservice. The truth is normal lenses are too close for kids.

With the wide angle, you miss out on the details in their faces, which are what make each child unique and special. You’d want to capture those details with a telephoto lens. A 50mm lens is actually 75mm from the widest part of your eye to the back of your head. That’s why it’s called a “normal” lens.

   

Here are some helpful tips for taking photographs of kids with that super-wide angle lens: Don’t sit directly across from your subject. Position yourself about 45 degrees off center. This allows more room for the camera in front and behind your subject, making them appear larger in the photo.

Don’t stand directly in front of your subject either. Instead, place yourself at an angle so that you can see both eyes clearly in one shot, instead of seeing one eye or half a face (which makes them look cross eyed).

Fit It All In The Frame With A Wide-Angle Lens

A wide-angle lens can be an invaluable tool for capturing the entire scene in a single shot. They have their place, in the right situation. If you’re considering purchasing a wide angle lens for your camera bag, here are some things to consider:

Wide angle lenses are best for objects that are very close to the camera or for making large objects appear larger in the frame. If you’re shooting a landscape photo and want to include more of the sky in the shot, a wide-angle lens would be ideal.

TIP: When taking a portrait, use a very shallow depth of field. This will blur out most of the background making it less distracting and allowing attention to be focused on your subject. The effect can also be used to emphasize certain parts of your subject by blurring out other parts of the frame.

If you’ve always wanted to get close to that beautiful mountain landscape but can’t because the view is just too vast, then you might want to invest in a wide-angle lens. It may seem like it’s simply out of your budget right now, but if you’re serious about getting beautiful landscape shots, it’s definitely worth looking into.

The wide-angle lens will give you a wider focal range, which means you’ll be able to capture more of that expansive landscape. It’s a good option for those who are on a budget and don’t have a large amount of money to spend on their photography gear. The wide-angle lens also makes it easier to get closer to the subject while avoiding distortion as well.

Wide-angle lenses often come with a short focal length and a large maximum aperture size. These two properties allow for better low-light performance, as well as the ability to capture bigger objects in your frame.

That does mean the camera will have trouble focusing at times when the object is far away or has less detail, but for the most part, it can handle most of what you throw its way.

When A Wide-Angle Lens Really Shines

When you’re shooting photos for a blog post, you want your photos to be crisp and clear. You may even want them to be panoramic so that you capture the entire scene. A wide-angle lens is a great way to accomplish this.

It’s best to use a wide-angle lens when the shot is going to include a large number of objects in it. This can be anything from an entire room, to a long road or field, or an entire crowd of people. If there are three or more things in the shot that are close together, then a wide-angle lens can help to fit them all in.

Wide-angle lenses also work well when you want to capture the sky as well as buildings, or if you have a large landscape shot that you wish to include additional elements into. A wide-angle lens also makes objects appear more dramatic and larger than they actually are. This can give your photo an epic quality that can draw attention to it.

If the viewer looks at your photo and says “wow” then you know that it’s effective. The downside of a wide-angle lens is that it does distort images somewhat, particularly with lines that are close together such as telephone wires or fences.

Wide, Wider, Widest Wide Angle Lenses

One of the most common questions we get at SLR Lounge is how to choose the right wide angle lens. This can be a difficult question to answer as there are so many factors involved, but I will try and give you some pointers to help narrow it down.

About 20 years ago, when I was first getting into photography, I tried out a few different lenses and found one that was good and I stuck with it. However, in recent years and after reading a lot more about the differences between focal lengths, I have tried a few other lenses and ended up realising how much better the wider lenses were for my style of shooting.

There are a lot of different wide angle lenses on the market today with focal lengths ranging from 10mm through to 24mm. There are also even some full frame fisheye lenses available now which offer up to 180 degrees field of view.

Basically that means that if you take an image using any of these lenses, there will be virtually no borders around your final photograph. This article will look at three different types of wide angle lens: 1) The 10-24mm ultra-wides; 2) The 12-24mm wide zooms; 3) The 15-35mm super zooms and how they compare.

How To Get The Best-Quality Lens

One of the biggest barriers for new photographers is understanding a lens’ full capabilities. I’m not talking about just being able to take some pretty shots, but also knowing how to get everything out of your lens.

Thing is, learning how to use a lens effectively takes time and practice. There’s no shortcut for that, but if you’re willing to put in the effort, I can help you choose the right gear. The more expensive a lens is, the better its quality – right? Not always. Good lenses are built to last and can be used for decades if properly taken care of.

Their build should be durable enough to withstand heavy abuse, while their optics should render images that are clear and precise. Cheap lenses are built cheaply; they’re meant to be replaced often.

They’re usually made with lower-quality materials that don’t hold up well under stress or constant use; their optics may not be as precise as those found in more expensive models, either. When shopping for lenses, it’s easy to be seduced by brand names or fancy features, but in many cases it’s better to go with a cheaper model instead of an expensive one – even though the former may not have received as much hype on forums or from amateurs.

What To Watch For When You Go Wide in Filmmaking

One of the interesting things about a wide shot is how it can make you more aware of how everything in the frame relates to everything else. Telling a story in a wide shot requires you to be aware of your background and foreground elements. For example, there are a few ways that you can tell where you are in a wide shot:

Shadows. In outdoor scenes, if there is no shadow being cast by your subject, then it is likely that they are standing in direct sunlight. If they are standing in direct sunlight, then it is likely that they are facing east or west (or south if they live in the southern hemisphere).

Distances. The further away something is from the camera, the smaller it will appear on the screen. If two objects are close together in a wide shot, then chances are that they are closer to the camera than something else in the frame.

The closer an object is to something else in a wide shot, the larger it will appear on screen. If two objects are far apart from each other but close to you and your camera, then chances are that those two objects are larger than whatever else may be in the background behind them.

Start Shooting Wide-Angle

When you’re just starting out, it’s tempting to try to get everything in the shot. You want to capture that perfect moment in its entirety. But there’s no need for such a closeup approach when you’re shooting photos for your blog.

In fact, shooting wide-angle gives you more flexibility and lets you change your perspective on the action without having to move around a lot. Here are some tips for getting the best wide-angle shots possible:

Shoot from above. When you shoot from below, the top of your subject can be cut off. Get down low and shoot up into your scene to capture more of it. Shoot from the side. Shooting from the side rather than head-on adds depth and perspective to your shots. It’s especially effective in nature photography — just be sure to frame so everything is still visible

Change your focus point. When you’re in tight, every little detail matters, but when you’re shooting wide, it’s okay to let some things go blurry. Shooting with an open aperture gives you a soft background and blurred foreground, which can make any subject look more interesting

All these techniques work well with most subjects, but they’re especially useful if your main subject is moving fast or if there are multiple people.

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Does A Wide Angle Lens Zoom?

Does a wide angle lens zoom? This is the question we will be answering today!

Before we begin, let me state that if you are looking for a tutorial on how to properly use your wide angle lens, then this article is not for you. You can find several excellent tutorials for using a wide angle lens on Youtube. For example, here’s one from Phlearn:

This article is only meant to explain the technicalities behind why a wide angle lens appears to zoom. So what exactly is a wide angle lens? A wide angle lens is a type of lens that has a short focal length and creates an image with a large angular field of view. The term “wide angle” is typically abbreviated as WA or W (see below) in photographic and videographic documentation.

A WA lens has its widest aperture at the widest focal length, and as it focuses closer, the aperture narrows down until it reaches its smallest value when focused at its shortest focal length. You may have also heard the term fisheye used interchangeably with WA lenses.

A fisheye lens is any lens that produces circular image projections. However, many people use the terms interchangeably with no problem because most photographers aren’t able to differentiate between the two unless.

How Wide Is A Wide Angle Lens?

The basic rule of thumb for wide angle lenses is the shorter the focal length, the wider the angle of view. A wide-angle lens allows you to capture more in a single shot than a long telephoto lens, but both are intended for different purposes.

A wide-angle lens is ideal for landscape photography because you can fit more into a single shot. It is also great for landscapes because it creates an exaggerated perspective that makes objects closer to the camera appear much larger than objects further away from the camera.

Our eyes perceive depth in a similar manner and this can create a feeling of vastness, which is ideal for landscapes. The wider view is a result of steep angles that are used to focus light on the sensor or film plane (or digital media), which results in images that are compressed toward the center and stretched at the corners.

The result is an image with more contrast and less depth of field. Wide-angle lenses are typically marked with their angle of view in degrees (e.g., 28mm has an angle of view of 84 degrees, 35mm has an angle of view of 63 degrees).

Wide-angle lenses have some major limitations too: They can distort lines that aren’t parallel to the camera’s sensor plane or film plane.

Fisheye Wide Angle Lens

The fisheye lens has a 180 degree angle of view which means it covers the entire area in front of you, as well as behind you! The lens provides a circular image that is perfect for taking photos, video, and even mapping.

Tilt Shift lenses have an optical formula that allows the photographer to control depth of field and perspective. This can be done by having either a very long or a very short focal length. The longer the focal length, the more pronounced the tilt will be.

By using this technique we can create an image with selective focus and an exaggerated perspective. This special lens produces images that mimic paintings due to it’s signature appearance, which is achieved by having a short focal length (20-35mm) and when used on a full frame camera,

the lens produces an image that is virtually identical to what you see with your eye while viewing something at arm’s length. When used on crop sensor cameras (APS-C), the lens will produce an image where the top and bottom parts are cropped off because of the smaller sensor size.

These are called “tilt shift” lenses because when looking through them, you will notice that some areas of your composition may appear slightly out of focus like they are falling off into space or being tilted.

Rectilinear Wide Angle Lens

There are two major types of lenses. A “normal” lens is used for general photography. It has a focal length that’s roughly equivalent to what the human eye sees and is called a normal lens because it “corrects” or rectifies the distortion that the eye sees.

The other kind of lens is called an extreme wide angle lens and it distorts the image so that straight lines appear curved. Tilting a normal lens will also cause distortion, so for our purposes we can consider that to be an extreme wide angle as well.

   

Extreme wide angle lenses are great for landscape photography since they allow you to capture a large area with a single shot. They can also be used for architecture photography or any instance where you want to capture a lot of scenery in the background. But they aren’t very good for close-ups because the distortion makes everything look bigger than it really is.

The most common rectilinear wide angle lenses have focal lengths of about 10mm through 20mm, with 15mm being one of the most popular choices for full-frame cameras, and 17mm being typical on crop sensor cameras. These lenses can be found in both prime (non-zoom) and zoom varieties, but I think it’s preferable to have a fixed lens.

Tilt-Shift Wide Angle Lens

The tilt-shift lens is one of the most interesting lenses available to any photographer. It allows photographers to control both the focus and the depth-of-field at the same time, resulting in some unique effects.

Tilt-shift lenses feature a very unique design, which allows for a number of distinct effects; these lenses typically have a greater depth-of-field than other wide angle lenses, as well as selective focus.

They are physically larger than most standard wide angle lenses, however they are quite light and easy to use. The special tilt and shift functions allow for control over both the focus and depth of field; different effects can be created by moving the lens elements around within the lens barrel.

Tilt Shift Lens Applications

The name “tilt shift” comes from the fact that these lenses allow you to either “tilt” or “shift” the lens in relation to its sensor plane. Tilt refers to holding or tilting one or more of the lens elements so that they do not line up with the camera’s sensor plane; shift refers to moving one or more of the lens elements so that they do not make parallel lines with each other as they normally would when focused on an object in front of them.

An example would be tilting.