p.1 #1 · How often do you use a lens wider than 20mm?
I have a pocketable 20mm Nikon Af-D lens but find myself nearly always using a zoom (which only goes as wide as 20mm).
I may be lazy, or made lazy by just not thinking outside the box (the zoom angle of view box). I also ran thru my photos by focal length and despite hating the "normal" 50mm an amazing proportion of my photos are close to 50.
Then I started looking thru Galen Rowell's Range of Light book - and his work seems to "wide-out" at 24mm too...
p.1 #2 · How often do you use a lens wider than 20mm?
Never, the reality distortion of UWA lenses is a turn off for me. My widest digital lens is 24mm and I have an aps-c dslr. I often use panos to get wider angle of view. I have a 45mm for my Pentax 67 (similar to 22-23 angle of view on full frame).
p.1 #3 · How often do you use a lens wider than 20mm?
I used to have a Nikon 14-24 and used that for 3+ years, and before had the Samyang 14mm for a year+ before that. Needless to say I am over the wide aspect right now.
Currently I have the Leica 35-70 f/4, Contax 35-70 3.4 and Contax 80-200mm. Bought a 21mm ZE last spring, but used it very seldom, so I sold it.
p.1 #4 · How often do you use a lens wider than 20mm?
I used to be a UWA junkie - before the genre seems to have become a bit cliche. Now I'm probably at 24-35mm range more often which I used to scoff at.
However, I personally wouldn't be without something in the 16-17mm range. And often carry a fish-eye, although I have no interest in 11mm FF.
In Rowell's time, zooms were not very good in general and primes wider than 24mm - at least the ones at 17mm were not great. You also could not use distortion corrections or CA corrections in post which also limited IQ of UWA lenses. His style and what he was generally shooting meant 24mm was probably wide enough.
I think it very much depends on your subject and style. IMO interesting photos, especially landscapes are the most difficult at 50mm because it is what we are so used to. But they can also be some of the best.
Obviously it can be hard to know, because if you don't try shooting UWA then it becomes difficult to visualize and hence you can never really miss it. It takes the right subject and practice to make it work without it looking like the fore-mentioned cliche UWA where the foreground is so obviously over-emphasized and background is tiny.
p.1 #5 · How often do you use a lens wider than 20mm?
Some locations/subjects lend them selves to wider focal lengths than others. Some days the 16-35 or the 11-24 are always on. Other times the 24-70 gets maximum play time. Others call for the 100-400.
It's good to be able to follow your inspiration.
p.1 #6 · How often do you use a lens wider than 20mm?
Who cares how often I may use a particular lens? What matters is that I use the right lens for the scene I want to capture in the way I envision my image. My usage has no relevance to anything you might do. I don't like or dislike any focal length. I like the one that will make the image I want. The whole idea is ridiculous.
p.1 #7 · How often do you use a lens wider than 20mm?
Thanks ejenner - those are some helpful comments
OregonSun - I have just 2 lens for my Hasselblad (a normal, and a moderate wide). I am slowly moving out of my Nikon system (which has the 20mm UW lens, which I rarely carry). I am mostly using a M43 system now, but don't have anything wider than my Pannasonic-Leica zoom (12-60, or 24-60 FF).
p.1 #8 · How often do you use a lens wider than 20mm?
My Canon 17-40mm f4L lens is practically welded to my camera for landscapes! I shoot between 17 and 24mm focal lengths. Other than that, I use a 14mm Rokinon lens, so I'd say I use focal lengths less than 20mm more often than not.
p.1 #9 · How often do you use a lens wider than 20mm?
Almost never, maybe a dozen times in the last 5 years. The majority of my photos are at focal lengths of 35mm and longer. I probably use focal lengths longer than 200mm and longer more than I use 24mm.
p.1 #10 · How often do you use a lens wider than 20mm?
My only lens is an Olympus 7-14, which equates to 14-28 on a full frame. I mostly take shots on the wider end due to both the terrain I like to hike in and the type of pictures I like to take. That is to say, getting close up in the terrain rather than viewing from afar.
p.1 #13 · How often do you use a lens wider than 20mm?
I use mine quite often for landscape, probably > 50% of the time. Personally, I really like the DOF my 16-35mm provides. I enjoy viewing and shooting images with very close foreground details, so for me it is a must.
Hey Jeffery, tell us what you really think lol. Jeffrey wrote:
Who cares how often I may use a particular lens? What matters is that I use the right lens for the scene I want to capture in the way I envision my image. My usage has no relevance to anything you might do. I don't like or dislike any focal length. I like the one that will make the image I want. The whole idea is ridiculous.
p.1 #14 · How often do you use a lens wider than 20mm?
I struggle with this too. I like the look of shots with close foreground subjects (but understand it's not to be used for every shot), but when composing I have a hard time actually incorporating it. I find most of my shots are around or above 24mm. This adds confusion to my debate about purchasing the upcoming 14-30 for my Nikon Z6; I want a wide-angle zoom for something below 24mm, and would like native mount, but doubt I would use wider than 20mm.
p.1 #15 · How often do you use a lens wider than 20mm?
I used to think that I "needed" an WA lens when I had FF DSLR's. Now that I've rebuilt my set-up with FF mirrorless body, I just have a 24-105 which covers me for essentially everything I shoot (cityscapes, landscapes, travel). I have no need to acquire a WA lens at this point.
p.1 #16 · How often do you use a lens wider than 20mm?
Before I got an 11-24, I was all over the place, 17mm all the way out to 80mm for landscapes. After the 11-24... I've been pretty much stuck on that lens' range, with an emphasis on 11mm.
p.1 #17 · How often do you use a lens wider than 20mm?
Really depends on what I'm shooting. If I'm shooting the Rockies, I typically stay in the 21-85 range, but when shooting seascapes, I do go wider. So it really depends on what I'm trying to achieve, but I don't try to force any lens into a situation which doesn't fit my vision.
p.1 #18 · How often do you use a lens wider than 20mm?
I am a landscape photographer and a big fan of wide angle lenses. I consider my Loxia 21 my normal lens. I also use the Voigtlander 15 and have considered getting the 12mm. I even own two fisheye lenses. Love wide.
Unlike most people here I own no 35mm lens and have zero interest in them. Personally, it is the dead zone. Rarely want to do or like a shot between 28 and 85mm. Basically I like wide and then a short telephoto lens.
I own a wonderful Sony 55 that I mainly keep as a long lens for astro Nightscape work. But I would drop it long before I part with my wides.
