Wide angle lens question

nikmolson · December 4, 2008

i have been looking for a wide angle lens i can afford and i keep seeing all these lenses advertised as wide angle from around 35mm and under yet in the stats the lens' angle of view is less then my 18-55 kit lens, how are these considered wide angle? am i missing something?

pathfinder · December 4, 2008

A 35mm lens is a mild wide angle lens on a standard 35mm full frame SLR, but it is not a wide angle lens on a crop body with an APS sensor size. On a crop body 35mmx1.6 = 56mm - a standard lens on a full frame camera.

18mm is pretty wide even on a crop body with a 1.6 mag factor like a Canon 40D or 50D.

18mm x1.6 = 28.8 mm equivalent on a full frame camera - that is a modestly wide angle today - 20 years ago that was thought of as a real wide angle on a 35mm camera.

Candid Arts · December 4, 2008

yeah, if you look at the array of focal lengths, 10mm to roughly 800mm (on a FF body), 35mm is fairly wide angle. Ultra wide angle is a different thing, there you're getting into 16, 14, or even like the 10-22 Canon ultra wide zoom.

What body do you have? If you're looking for a 16mm, and have a crop body, buy a 10mm, and you'll have a 16mm, assuming you're on a 1.6x crop body.

Hope that helps.

nikmolson · December 4, 2008

ah yes i have a nikon D60, a 1.6 crop body i belive that is? a 10 mm is out of my price range so i will have to wait, but atleast i wont waste any money on anything less, thanks

swintonphoto · December 5, 2008

The Sigma 10-20 is a great price. I have one and have been very pleased with it: http://www.adorama.com/SG1020NKAF.html

Tee Why · December 5, 2008

For full frame bodies, a focal length of about 16-24mm is considered ultrawide. About 24-35mm is in the wide angle range. I guess in theory anything under 50mm in full frame/35mm film format can be considered wide and anything over 50mm a telephoto.

For for cropped sensors, 10-24mm range lenses make the ultrawide zooms. Wide angle lenses for cropped sensors start at about 16/18mm or so and can go up to just under 28mm or so. 30mm's like the Sigma 30mm f1.4 is considered a normal lens for cropped lenses. So I guess anything under 30mm on a 1.6x crop factor camera can be considered a wide angle.

Your 18-55 has a 35mm film format equivalent of 28.8-88mm, where as a Sigma 10-20mm would have a field of view equivalence to 16-32mm on a full frame. So your kit lens covers a wide angle range already.

It may be a bit confusing at first but after a while it'll start to make sense.

Wide angle lens question

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