Nigel, there is a beautiful sense of calmness in your personality. That reflects in your photography as well. I watch your videos both to feel at ease and to enjoy your beautiful photos. Keep up your good work,
This video delivered a big "Ah ha" moment for me and explains why I have been generally disappointed with the results from my 10-18mm APS-C wide angle lens. It has also got me thinking about taking the plunge and buying a 12-24mm for my full frame camera. You have been so helpful. Thank you so much!
I think Nigel is my brother and help me to do perfectly. He always explains everything precisely to save details. Details are always important because important parts are always in detail.
Nice video and photography. When this question pops up, I always point to the possibility of panorama shots and stitching. There are two requirements. (1) if you want easy stitching you need a nodal slide and tripod head that can be panned after it was leveled. It is tempting to think in terms of 3D panorama kit, but that is seriously expensive. And you need to figure out where the nodal point is of your lens you want to use in the panorama. (2) Movement in the subject can make stitching difficult: grass, clouds, water, stars maybe, people. Some of this can be dealt with by Photoshop with or without your help (PS is incredibly awesome at stitching). Take, for example, the shot at 1:14 taken with a 14mm lens. That 14mm has a vertical angle of 81 degrees and horizontal of 104 degrees. If we put a 20mm on the same camera/sensor (full frame) and set the camera to "portrait" orientation, we get a vertical angle of 84 degrees, which is already more than the 14mm lens had vertically, in its landscape orientation. But the 20 mm now has a horizontal angle of 62 degrees, so to cover the 104 degrees of the 14 we need at least two shots. With more overlap, stitching may be a bit easier (depending on the program we use) and in that case we need three shots. But now we have taken two shots for the 104 degrees, we could equally well add more landscape horizontally for a letterbox format. Mental and other hurdles aside, we now have significantly more megapixels in the resulting shot. Printing to large format needs less upscaling/upsampling. Once we figured this out, we can do this with other lenses too. People shooting very wide angles need to go through a lot of practice to learn composition again, for instance to learn to avoid uninteresting foregrounds, Nigel points to this too in the video. Panorama shots and letterbox format need learning too, but can easily avoid uninteresting foregrounds that you would crop away in your early composition learning process (thus loosing pixels resolution). If you have a nifty fifty and its horizontal in landscape angle of 39 degrees would be enough for vertical use, then you can still get to the 104 degrees angle of the 14mm lens here: with 27 degrees angle available and 1/3 overlap you need about 6 shots to get at or over that 104 degrees. That nifty fifty panorama of 6 shots, using 2/3rd of your 45.7 megapixel sensor, thus, will give you about 180 megapixel of panorama picture. Take the same shot with the 14mm and crop 1/3rd away to remove some foreground and sky, and you end up with 30 megapixels. I know that 24 megapixels can do a lot. And am acutely aware that 100 megapixels have only twice the linear resolution of 25 megapixels. But if you are into hyper-realism, with beautiful gradation of very soft tones, potentially cloudy or foggy parts with very sharp parts where details are actually present, then you will enjoy this approach. If you use that same nifty fifty in architecture and have a 3D nodal panorama kit, you can get to the 14mm shot's angle of view in three rows of 6 shots (in portrait orientation) where the middle row primarily functions to give lots of overlap. Note that the angle of a lens in brochures or similar web publications is generally the diagonal angle. Lens angle is specified for distance setting at infinity and directly relates to your image format: sensor size as used in the shots. If you want to calculate the angle for any focal lens and any image format (at infinity), the MS-Excel formula (or Google Sheets) is =DEGREES(2*ATAN(B$29/(2*$F29))) where B$29 references the used sensor dimension (horizontal 35.9 in my case) and C29 holds vertical format plus D29 the diagonal. The cells only contain the number, not the units. You have to keep the units in all the cells the same, yourself. $F29 is the focal length for which the angle is calculated - all my length units are in millimeters. The dollar-signs give absolute references so a formula uses the same row/column/cell when you drag a formula to another row or column, depending on what you put the dollar-sign to. For reference, to get a horizontal angle of 90 degrees with a 35.9mm sensor, you need 17.8mm. If your camera has 36mm of sensor available to you, this becomes 17.9mm.
My first UWA was a 10-20 (APS-C). Last week I got the 14-30 and have yet to fire it in anger. I find the UWA especially useful for travel photography. Especially in the tight streets of Europe. You can pack a lot into the frame when needed. You are right about the edges, people sometimes look like they have been squished. Thanks Nigel.
I traveled to Norway with a 16-35 F4 and got some very satisfying images, but I felt like I was missing the ability to go into the mid-focal lengths. So I bought a 24-70 F4 in its place, which I feel more at home with. Now I just have a prime 14mm F2.8, that I can use if I ever need to go really wide. It's also a better option for astrophotography.
Hey there! I’m currently travelling Norway and found in Preikestolen my 24 wasn’t wide enough!? I’m going to get a 17-28 tomorrow as we’re going to Lofoten, am I crazy? 😂
Great explanation Nigel, I love the way you make every detail of photography personal, talking about how you feel or what you do while taking the shots that you show (amazing as always!), it helps people understanding that photography is more than just a hobby or a job, it's a choice, a personal and unique lifestyle, that can and will definitely change your life forever. There's a great component of photography that many people don't get: emotions, both in the shots and in the moment when the photo was taken, it's those feelings that make each and every shot unique, a piece of our story. (Sorry if I made some mistakes, I'm not English).
Another good lesson with those great images! The U.S. dawn patrol returns with the resumption of standard time, thus raising havoc with my equilibrium and body clock for awhile. 🙃 Pebbles!! 🐶😊 Rock on!
Thanks, Nigel. These are great considerations. I think you've also mentioned in other videos to be aware of losing your subject when shooting wide. Often we get so taken with the grandeur of a sweeping landscape that we reach for our wide-angle to capture it all. As a result, we sometimes lose the impact of our story that could be more powerfully told with a telephoto lens.
I always struggle with wide angle lenses. I can't find the balance between the foreground and the subject. Sometimes I even focus too much on a strong foreground and forget the rest of the image.
Great video showing the pros and cons. Bought a 14mm lens ten years ago, hated it, never used it, finally sold it this year. Worst camera purchase ever for me. Love my 17mm tilt-shift lens, though. Amazing image quality and basically no distortion (which was the main thing I hated about the 14mm). Plus, the manual focus slows you down.
I think ultra wide lenses are quite confusing in terms of "what you see is what you get". The perspective is extremely unusual for a human eye and it is hard to compose a picture if your eyes see a good one, or even if you have an example to reproduce. I think this is the biggest issue for most of the beginners (including me, honestly). The challenge is to start seeing wider. The picture at 6:27 looks amazing! I'd love to take a picture like this. So, the first thing I've thought was where would I get mountains covering 1/3 of a horizon? Unfortunately there is no any of them around. So, it would be wonderful if there is a video about ultra wide lenses in woodlands. Especially where trees grow straight up (if it is even possible to use ultra wide lense there).
I have just two lenses, Nikon's 14-24 mm f2, and the 24-120 mm f4. Those cover about 95% of what I need. I could use a 200-600 sometimes, but not enough to justify the cost. Crop sensors are no good for huge prints, and there's less dynamic range with smaller sensors. I would really like a med. format, but I'll have to keep my full frame Nikon for now. There's always focus stacking.
Top tips, Nigel. I recently purchased a dx 10-20mm lens and I'm having great fun experimenting with this new outlook. The 8 mm's added to my range can make quite a difference. Initially the scope felt somewhat intimidating yet it's what adds so much fun to shooting with this lens as well 😊 📸
The M Zuiko 9-18mm PRO is amazing! It can Focus from 2” to take close ups. It is important to have distinct foreground, middle distance and background with wide angle lenses for maximum impact.
Excellent explanation and examples to consider when using ultra wide angle. Question you mentioned that you use a 95mm Kase filter and use no more than 2 stacked. The 14-30mm lens has a 82mm thread. Do you use the 95mm to eliminate any vignetting?
That was a good explanation of some of the pros and cons of ~hitchhiking~ wide-angle lenses! Thanks for showing it with both more successful and less successful photos -- analysing what didn't go well can really help one learning to be better next time!
Some great points you raised Nigel. With no strong, interesting, foreground and/or distractions at the edges, an ultra wide lens is not appropriate at all. I am finding that with a few exceptions I prefer focal lengths of 20mm+ lately. One thing that I also wanted to comment perhaps for the benefit of others is the use of the magnetic Kase filters. I note you are using 95 rather than the 82mm filters. I do have the 82mm and they don't cause vignetting at 14mm unless you stack them which is very rarely the case, at least for me. My choice was based on the fact that I prefer to have the lens hood on. Of course if you zoom at 15 or 16mm this vignetting goes away. What was a bit surprising though is that the filters do cause the same or even worse vignetting on my 24-70 f2.8s.
Love shooting @14mm. Its very special and can give you shots that 24/28mm just cannot. It can also easily be cropped with today's high MPIX lenses. This is also an very important consideration - there are easy ways to make your 14mm "narrower" to make a narrow lens wider you need panning - and that only really works in one dimension.
Thank you Nigel, You do beautiful work and have a natural way to make complex issues with focal length and the physics of different lenses understandable. I really like your honest approach and conversations about lens and composition considerations.
10-18mm on my Canon 80D (crop sensor) is a great way to get it all in, as long as the foreground is the main interest. As you rightly say, the background certainly shrinks away. Thanks for sharing again Nigel. Hope the new UK lockdowns treat you well. Stay safe.
I used to use the same combination John and worked well at Horseshoe Bend when I visited the US last summer. I now have a EOS R and the 15mm-35mm RF lens which is f/2.8 so very useful.
I have a Nikon D5200 and love to use my Sigma 10-20mm on it. The ability to get so much into the shot that I'd not be able to include with a longer lens is great, but I agree, you have to be mindful not to try and get too much in. Another excellent video Nigel.
I got the Laowa 9 mm f 5.6 for Sony full frame. It allows absolutely incredible new angles of view in landscape. In most photos you have no choice but to shoot directly into the sun. But the reflections and sunrays are of an absolute beauty. It is not autofocus. But who would need autofocus with such incredible debts of field. As a prime lens, it has very little aberrations. Except barrel distortion, that is easy to correct, if needed. But in many photos, it is not necessary. Just watch out for the parallax. Everything is extreme. The photos too.
I prefer shooting landscapes with medium format or large format cameras. However, I do not have the 14mm to 24mm equivalent lenses for my medium and large format cameras like I have for my small format cameras. The widest I can shoot on my medium and large format cameras is a 28mm equivalent. I viewed this video to see what you had to say about ultra wide lenses. I stayed for the excellent images. I will now have to view more of your videos to see if they are of the same high quality.
This tutorial is just what I needed, using my Tokina 11-16 f2.8 is a gorgeous wide angle but I just couldn't get the composition right, cheers again Nigel!
I want to add that 14mm lenses always need very expensive special filters because of the bulbed front lens. The only exception is your 14-30 Nikon Z lens, Nigel. Sometimes there are rear filter solutions.
Wally Stellmacher Yes if you like more dust spots when taking out the filter. I use filters all the time but I take exposures with and without filters in the same shot. The rear filters would work for me. I’m super happy with my Nikon 14-30mm f/4 S lens.
This was exactly the sort of video I've been looking for. I just purchased the Rokinon 12mm for my Fujifilm X-S10 to do more landscape photography with but I've struggled in the past to capture mountains the way I'd really like to. This was so enlightening, thank you.
Shooting wide is addictive but I have lots to learn on composition. I often get by with 14-30 and 70-200 in the bag but on recent hike I did only take 24-70 and it was fine.
Great explanation on pros and cons and when to use ultra wide lenses. I just purchased the Sigma 14mm-24mm f 2.8 for my Canon 5D Mk IV to use primarily for night shots (great lens), but now have better appreciation for using in daytime landscapes.
Great video, thank you for sharing. I can’t wait for a dry day to get out with my camera again - what a wet and windy weekend. Pebbles made me smile, she is beautiful.
I have a 10-24, and a few of my favorite images were shot on it. But, it is a tricky little devil. Below 18 it needs real care, and below 14 it becomes an effect shot lens. But it lives in my bag for those occasional magic shots where it's the only lens I have that can get the job done right.
Ok I'm now on a Sony A7R4 and have the 16-35 GM. Strangely I wouldn't class this as ultra wide more a wide angle. I'd class ultra wide as a 12-20. Keen to hear your thoughts on this.. ;)
Great video. Not enough people consider the effect of focal length on perspective and use zooms essentially as a crop tool instead of choosing the perspective that suits the subject and then getting into the right position to frame the shot.
I’m thinking of getting the 14-30mm f4 or the 14-24mm f2.8 for Iceland. Weight/size is not an issue for me. What would you recommend? Is the 14-24mm worth the extra cost and hassle with larger filters?
In order to take advantage of the huge depth of field offered by a wide lens, I think knowing about hyperfocal distance is very useful. Sometimes, front to back sharpness will be impossible when focused on infinity...but possible when using the hyperfocal distance.
Absolutely fantastic video. So enjoyable and informative. Your enthusiasm comes through every time and is really inspiring. Thank you very much, Nigel.
Great video, once again, Nigel. To be honest, the more of these review videos I watch, the more confused I get on what lens I should get. My current lens starts at 25mm, and Lightroom shows the bulk of my raws being shot between 25-120mm-ish, with the bulk of that range being shot down at 25mm. This tells me that, for the type of photos I shoot, that it would be nice if I could've gone wider than 25mm. That's why I'm looking at the Sony 16-35mm. I figure that if I need anything wider than 16mm that I could try shooting a pano. Maybe I'll try to rent out the 12-24mm for a bit to see what I think..
A very nice video... Very informative... And you introduced me to Kase... After watching this video, saw your previous video on filters... I have been in a pickle for a long time as well for exactly the same reasons as you had been about using filters... And you just gave me the best filter system for my personal use case...
I believe I have discovered with my 16mm, in my own blundering way, all the pros and cons you cover . It was very helpful that you reinforced these attributes of the ultra wide angle. Thanks.
Great video. I have two questions. Firstly, how do you compare the Samyang 14mm vs the Nikon 14-30? Secondly, why have you selected the 95mm filter instead of the 82mm?
Depth of field is not just a function of focal length, but also format. A 90mm on and 8X10 camera is going to give similar DOF as a super wide angle on a full frame DSLR.
What a great episode Nigel! You really got in sooner great points that I hadn’t thought of before. If there is more you can share on the challenges unique to ultra wide angle lenses and how you address them; I’d love to see a follow segment. Perhaps even a behind the scenes walking through how you assess and approach the scenes!
Another great production, new hat? Some wonderful images there, some great tips once again. Really educational and you continue to deliver to us. The rock in the heather was a beautiful shot, then you zoomed in to show what we should have done.... wow.
very nice tuto, tips and tricks. Do you mean we can't use a 82mm VND polarpro or 82mm polarizer with Z 14-30mm we use with Z 35mm F/1.8, Z 24-70 F/2.8 and z 20mm F/1.8 ? do we really need to buy new 95mm filters and adapter ?
Thanks Nigel, awesome video as always! You've mentioned that you would prefer 9mm on APSC rather than 14mm on full frame. Could you share any more info or examples about that aspect, with equivalent FLs on APSC and FF?
I'd really appreciate this video. As always, it's very interesting and can help improve our knowledge :) May I ask if it's possible to do the same for the tele side ? I'm one of those who don't know what lens choose for the details, and really hesitate between a 70-200 and a much longer one (100-500)
I've got a Tokina 11-16mm lens and it does show star trailing on the edges, which isn't great. With some cropping, it's not too bad During the daytime, it's an awesome lens.
Thanks for this video! I have a little used 12-24mm Nikon 1.4 ED lens on my Nikon 7200,, and this makes me want to wipe off the dust and get outside and take some photos!
A super explanation of advantages and disadvantages of the super wide angle. Or, perhaps better said, a super explanation of how to take advantage of a super wide angle and its view.
Thanks for the tip about pointing the camera down; I´m going to try it. I bought a 10 -18 mm for my crop sensor a couple of years ago, and it's been quite difficult to manage.
Perfect timing with this topic Nigel! Awesome video as always! I'm struggling to chose between Nikon 16-53 Ff/4 and Nikon 14-24 F2.8 for my Nikon D810. I really struggle since optically 14-24 is legendary, but the 16-35 offers the possibility to use filters... Which one will you recommend going for? Many thanks!
My decision was between the 16-35 and 18-35, and ended up getting the 18-35--mainly because of size and weight! The 18-35 is plenty sharp, but I do find I shoot all the way down at 18 very often. You might enjoy the extra 2 mm of the 16-35 if you're ok with the extra bulk of the lens. If you want to use filters I'd look at one of these over the 14-24. I wish there was a 14-30 (like the Z's) for the F-mount!
@@nrice3623 thanks for that a lot! I do struggle with this choice, as 14-24 is legendary for its built quality and optical performance. Before going to Z, even Nigel was recommending the 16-35 f4... but in the short end its apparently quite bad... Also I alredy have 24-70 f2.8 VR and that 14-24 would complement it very nicely... The square filters for that are so expensive though...
@@ukaszczekaa3061 Yah, filters is big for me, as I like to play with long exposures from time to time. I currently use circular filters, but thinking of upgrading to some larger magnetic ones, or, 100x100 filters. I'm already finding it hard to figure out how to fit a 100mm system in my normal bag, I can't imagine having to carry around 150x150 for the 14-24!
Great video Nigel. Some belting shots too. I use the Nikkor 16-35 for a fair bit of landscape work, but recently picked up the Laowa 12 Zero Distortion lens for interiors/architectural work - wow! What a cracking piece of glass that is! Basic, heavy, and all metal - even the lens cap! Anyway, keep up the good work, and I'll look forward to the next vid 👍
Incredible knowledge and the way you share It. All focus on sharing more technical aspects of photography, but you are outstanding, you share the beauty of photography... great... Thanks.
Hi Nigel I love your work I’ve got a question hopefully that you can answer for me I discovered the Nikon 20 mm 1.8 about two years ago and I just absolutely love this lens for sharpness where do you feel 20 mm sits in terms of being ultrawide probably isn’t ultrawide but isn’t wide enough for most landscape photography
Thank you again. I struggle with wide angle Lens. Few photos looked good but most of them were Disasters. They were either distorted or overexposed.....
I find your lecture on the wide angle very useful. The idea of tilting your wide angle lens down to give your photo a more of a “WOW” factor was very useful information. Thank you
Great video. I'm looking at getting a wide angle lens for my Nikon so some good pointers here. Something I really liked is your filter system as it looks so easy to put on. Mine are so fiddly, I end up never really using them. What lens is that and what filters are they? Are they magnetic?
amazing video quality for a studio talking head shot, could you show us how do you setup for a simple studio vlog like this? what lens and lighting combo, and what camera setting do you shoot a to get a high quality video like this? thank you
Nigel, I really like the videos you do and this one too. I have the Z 14-30 lens (love it) , I am interested in the Kase filters but a little confused on the sizing and which kit to order. What do you recommend. Thanks
Thanks for more valuable insights! I very much appreciate that you always use plenty of your images as examples. I shoot on a crop sensor and favour my 17-55mm lens, rarely throwing the 10-18mm on the camera. This is some good inspiration to try it out a little more 👍 I am curious about one thing...most (all?) of these examples had mountains / large cliffs in the background. Has anyone found effective backgrounds when you don't necessarily live around epic scenes like that? Not sure I'll be getting to mountains anytime soon!
Very useful Nigel, Started to really use my Canon RF15mm-35mm lens last few weeks when up in the Lakes and got some hits and some misses with it. Definitely takes a bit of thought to get the best out of it.
Being a cheapo, I've been looking at the AF-P DX NIKKOR 10-20mm f/4.5-5.6G VR for my Z50. The mountain peaks in my area stand as monoliths against the range they rise from. Having access to the distortion effect, placing them in the upper 1/3rd or upper 1/5th of the frame to stretch them out sounds really exciting. I do worry about that distortion coming with some amount of edge sharpening, though I hope I would be able to overcome that with composition.
Nigel, a great lesson! Thanks a lot! At the beginning you mentioned, that you will upgrade to the Z 14-24/2.8. At the moment you use a Z 14-30/4, so do I. And I am also looking towards a 14-24/2.8, but I am hesitating because I would have to use large 150 filter with this lens again if I need GND filters.
Thank you for this video. I love wide angle photography and I learned a lot from this. I’m sure I will watch this video 3-4 more times maybe more . Thanks!
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Nigel, there is a beautiful sense of calmness in your personality. That reflects in your photography as well. I watch your videos both to feel at ease and to enjoy your beautiful photos. Keep up your good work,
This video delivered a big "Ah ha" moment for me and explains why I have been generally disappointed with the results from my 10-18mm APS-C wide angle lens. It has also got me thinking about taking the plunge and buying a 12-24mm for my full frame camera. You have been so helpful. Thank you so much!
I think Nigel is my brother and help me to do perfectly. He always explains everything precisely to save details. Details are always important because important parts are always in detail.
Nice video and photography. When this question pops up, I always point to the possibility of panorama shots and stitching. There are two requirements. (1) if you want easy stitching you need a nodal slide and tripod head that can be panned after it was leveled. It is tempting to think in terms of 3D panorama kit, but that is seriously expensive. And you need to figure out where the nodal point is of your lens you want to use in the panorama. (2) Movement in the subject can make stitching difficult: grass, clouds, water, stars maybe, people. Some of this can be dealt with by Photoshop with or without your help (PS is incredibly awesome at stitching).
Take, for example, the shot at 1:14 taken with a 14mm lens. That 14mm has a vertical angle of 81 degrees and horizontal of 104 degrees. If we put a 20mm on the same camera/sensor (full frame) and set the camera to "portrait" orientation, we get a vertical angle of 84 degrees, which is already more than the 14mm lens had vertically, in its landscape orientation. But the 20 mm now has a horizontal angle of 62 degrees, so to cover the 104 degrees of the 14 we need at least two shots. With more overlap, stitching may be a bit easier (depending on the program we use) and in that case we need three shots. But now we have taken two shots for the 104 degrees, we could equally well add more landscape horizontally for a letterbox format.
Mental and other hurdles aside, we now have significantly more megapixels in the resulting shot. Printing to large format needs less upscaling/upsampling.
Once we figured this out, we can do this with other lenses too. People shooting very wide angles need to go through a lot of practice to learn composition again, for instance to learn to avoid uninteresting foregrounds, Nigel points to this too in the video. Panorama shots and letterbox format need learning too, but can easily avoid uninteresting foregrounds that you would crop away in your early composition learning process (thus loosing pixels resolution).
If you have a nifty fifty and its horizontal in landscape angle of 39 degrees would be enough for vertical use, then you can still get to the 104 degrees angle of the 14mm lens here: with 27 degrees angle available and 1/3 overlap you need about 6 shots to get at or over that 104 degrees.
That nifty fifty panorama of 6 shots, using 2/3rd of your 45.7 megapixel sensor, thus, will give you about 180 megapixel of panorama picture. Take the same shot with the 14mm and crop 1/3rd away to remove some foreground and sky, and you end up with 30 megapixels. I know that 24 megapixels can do a lot. And am acutely aware that 100 megapixels have only twice the linear resolution of 25 megapixels. But if you are into hyper-realism, with beautiful gradation of very soft tones, potentially cloudy or foggy parts with very sharp parts where details are actually present, then you will enjoy this approach.
If you use that same nifty fifty in architecture and have a 3D nodal panorama kit, you can get to the 14mm shot's angle of view in three rows of 6 shots (in portrait orientation) where the middle row primarily functions to give lots of overlap.
Note that the angle of a lens in brochures or similar web publications is generally the diagonal angle. Lens angle is specified for distance setting at infinity and directly relates to your image format: sensor size as used in the shots.
If you want to calculate the angle for any focal lens and any image format (at infinity), the MS-Excel formula (or Google Sheets) is
=DEGREES(2*ATAN(B$29/(2*$F29)))
where B$29 references the used sensor dimension (horizontal 35.9 in my case) and C29 holds vertical format plus D29 the diagonal. The cells only contain the number, not the units. You have to keep the units in all the cells the same, yourself.
$F29 is the focal length for which the angle is calculated - all my length units are in millimeters.
The dollar-signs give absolute references so a formula uses the same row/column/cell when you drag a formula to another row or column, depending on what you put the dollar-sign to.
For reference, to get a horizontal angle of 90 degrees with a 35.9mm sensor, you need 17.8mm.
If your camera has 36mm of sensor available to you, this becomes 17.9mm.
I am in pure love with your photo at 5:40,,,I just stopped hearing you imagining myself trying to accomplish the same. wowwwww
My first UWA was a 10-20 (APS-C). Last week I got the 14-30 and have yet to fire it in anger. I find the UWA especially useful for travel photography. Especially in the tight streets of Europe. You can pack a lot into the frame when needed. You are right about the edges, people sometimes look like they have been squished. Thanks Nigel.
I do love the almost dynamically moving look proper wide angle gives
I traveled to Norway with a 16-35 F4 and got some very satisfying images, but I felt like I was missing the ability to go into the mid-focal lengths. So I bought a 24-70 F4 in its place, which I feel more at home with. Now I just have a prime 14mm F2.8, that I can use if I ever need to go really wide. It's also a better option for astrophotography.
There is the 20-40mm tamron that could be used for anything
Hey there! I’m currently travelling Norway and found in Preikestolen my 24 wasn’t wide enough!? I’m going to get a 17-28 tomorrow as we’re going to Lofoten, am I crazy? 😂
Great explanation Nigel, I love the way you make every detail of photography personal, talking about how you feel or what you do while taking the shots that you show (amazing as always!), it helps people understanding that photography is more than just a hobby or a job, it's a choice, a personal and unique lifestyle, that can and will definitely change your life forever. There's a great component of photography that many people don't get: emotions, both in the shots and in the moment when the photo was taken, it's those feelings that make each and every shot unique, a piece of our story. (Sorry if I made some mistakes, I'm not English).
Best wide angle photography I’ve seen so far in a YT video. Hats off 👌
Another good lesson with those great images! The U.S. dawn patrol returns with the resumption of standard time, thus raising havoc with my equilibrium and body clock for awhile. 🙃 Pebbles!! 🐶😊 Rock on!
Thanks, Nigel. These are great considerations. I think you've also mentioned in other videos to be aware of losing your subject when shooting wide. Often we get so taken with the grandeur of a sweeping landscape that we reach for our wide-angle to capture it all. As a result, we sometimes lose the impact of our story that could be more powerfully told with a telephoto lens.
I always struggle with wide angle lenses. I can't find the balance between the foreground and the subject. Sometimes I even focus too much on a strong foreground and forget the rest of the image.
Great video showing the pros and cons. Bought a 14mm lens ten years ago, hated it, never used it, finally sold it this year. Worst camera purchase ever for me. Love my 17mm tilt-shift lens, though. Amazing image quality and basically no distortion (which was the main thing I hated about the 14mm). Plus, the manual focus slows you down.
I think ultra wide lenses are quite confusing in terms of "what you see is what you get". The perspective is extremely unusual for a human eye and it is hard to compose a picture if your eyes see a good one, or even if you have an example to reproduce. I think this is the biggest issue for most of the beginners (including me, honestly). The challenge is to start seeing wider.
The picture at 6:27 looks amazing! I'd love to take a picture like this. So, the first thing I've thought was where would I get mountains covering 1/3 of a horizon? Unfortunately there is no any of them around. So, it would be wonderful if there is a video about ultra wide lenses in woodlands. Especially where trees grow straight up (if it is even possible to use ultra wide lense there).
I have just two lenses, Nikon's 14-24 mm f2, and the 24-120 mm f4. Those cover about 95% of what I need. I could use a 200-600 sometimes, but not enough to justify the cost. Crop sensors are no good for huge prints, and there's less dynamic range with smaller sensors. I would really like a med. format, but I'll have to keep my full frame Nikon for now. There's always focus stacking.
Top tips, Nigel. I recently purchased a dx 10-20mm lens and I'm having great fun experimenting with this new outlook. The 8 mm's added to my range can make quite a difference. Initially the scope felt somewhat intimidating yet it's what adds so much fun to shooting with this lens as well 😊 📸
This skewed cliff looks FANTASTIS! It is absurd as a result of distortion, but for some reason it looks fantastic to my eyes!
As a lover of Sigma 10-20 and currently Nikon 16-35 you talk sense here and back it up with some nice work.
Hello Brother Nigel, according to your experience which ultra wide angle lens is better in general between 15 mm and 16 mm ? thanks 🙏
I struggle with my wide angle and tend to fall back on the 24mm end of the 'go to' zoom. Will keep trying though. Thanks for sharing.
The M Zuiko 9-18mm PRO is amazing! It can Focus from 2” to take close ups. It is important to have distinct foreground, middle distance and background with wide angle lenses for maximum impact.
Excellent explanation and examples to consider when using ultra wide angle. Question you mentioned that you use a 95mm Kase filter and use no more than 2 stacked. The 14-30mm lens has a 82mm thread. Do you use the 95mm to eliminate any vignetting?
That was a good explanation of some of the pros and cons of ~hitchhiking~ wide-angle lenses!
Thanks for showing it with both more successful and less successful photos -- analysing what didn't go well can really help one learning to be better next time!
Some great points you raised Nigel. With no strong, interesting, foreground and/or distractions at the edges, an ultra wide lens is not appropriate at all. I am finding that with a few exceptions I prefer focal lengths of 20mm+ lately. One thing that I also wanted to comment perhaps for the benefit of others is the use of the magnetic Kase filters. I note you are using 95 rather than the 82mm filters. I do have the 82mm and they don't cause vignetting at 14mm unless you stack them which is very rarely the case, at least for me. My choice was based on the fact that I prefer to have the lens hood on. Of course if you zoom at 15 or 16mm this vignetting goes away. What was a bit surprising though is that the filters do cause the same or even worse vignetting on my 24-70 f2.8s.
Many thanks Nigel for your very helpful tips on the use of a wide angle lens which has now given me the insight and confidence to go out and buy one.
This was a really helpful video. Not so much concentrating on the gear but much more on how to position stuff in your image. Thanks very much.
Love shooting @14mm. Its very special and can give you shots that 24/28mm just cannot. It can also easily be cropped with today's high MPIX lenses. This is also an very important consideration - there are easy ways to make your 14mm "narrower" to make a narrow lens wider you need panning - and that only really works in one dimension.
Thank you Nigel, You do beautiful work and have a natural way to make complex issues with focal length and the physics of different lenses understandable. I really like your honest approach and conversations about lens and composition considerations.
I have 10mm Voigtlander and it is crazy wide! Mostly i am using 14mm Sigma f1,8. But the 10mm is small and handy and I love it!
10-18mm on my Canon 80D (crop sensor) is a great way to get it all in, as long as the foreground is the main interest.
As you rightly say, the background certainly shrinks away.
Thanks for sharing again Nigel.
Hope the new UK lockdowns treat you well. Stay safe.
I used to use the same combination John and worked well at Horseshoe Bend when I visited the US last summer. I now have a EOS R and the 15mm-35mm RF lens which is f/2.8 so very useful.
I decided to look into a wide angle lens and I feel you covered the pros, cons and tips well. This helped.
I have a Nikon D5200 and love to use my Sigma 10-20mm on it. The ability to get so much into the shot that I'd not be able to include with a longer lens is great, but I agree, you have to be mindful not to try and get too much in. Another excellent video Nigel.
I got the Laowa 9 mm f 5.6 for Sony full frame. It allows absolutely incredible new angles of view in landscape. In most photos you have no choice but to shoot directly into the sun. But the reflections and sunrays are of an absolute beauty. It is not autofocus. But who would need autofocus with such incredible debts of field. As a prime lens, it has very little aberrations. Except barrel distortion, that is easy to correct, if needed. But in many photos, it is not necessary. Just watch out for the parallax. Everything is extreme. The photos too.
Brilliant video as always. I love the way that you share your knowledge, it is so helpful and your images are awe inspiring. Thanks Nigel and Pebbles.
The CUUUUUTEST little pup eyes at the end there
Excellent presentation, especially hearing your thought process illustrated with photo examples.
I prefer shooting landscapes with medium format or large format cameras. However, I do not have the 14mm to 24mm equivalent lenses for my medium and large format cameras like I have for my small format cameras. The widest I can shoot on my medium and large format cameras is a 28mm equivalent.
I viewed this video to see what you had to say about ultra wide lenses.
I stayed for the excellent images.
I will now have to view more of your videos to see if they are of the same high quality.
This tutorial is just what I needed, using my Tokina 11-16 f2.8 is a gorgeous wide angle but I just couldn't get the composition right, cheers again Nigel!
I want to add that 14mm lenses always need very expensive special filters because of the bulbed front lens. The only exception is your 14-30 Nikon Z lens, Nigel. Sometimes there are rear filter solutions.
Wally Stellmacher Yes if you like more dust spots when taking out the filter. I use filters all the time but I take exposures with and without filters in the same shot. The rear filters would work for me. I’m super happy with my Nikon 14-30mm f/4 S lens.
This was exactly the sort of video I've been looking for. I just purchased the Rokinon 12mm for my Fujifilm X-S10 to do more landscape photography with but I've struggled in the past to capture mountains the way I'd really like to. This was so enlightening, thank you.
I definitely do need my Nikkor 14-24. I don't need it every day, but when I do need it, it's necessary.
Thank you very much. Your little compressed presentation helps me along.
Obviously you needed a wide angle lense today at Blea Tarn. Thanks for the tip and been so generous. Always pack a wide angle.
I LOVE my 14mm lens. In part because it’s the only lense I have right now!!
Shooting wide is addictive but I have lots to learn on composition. I often get by with 14-30 and 70-200 in the bag but on recent hike I did only take 24-70 and it was fine.
Great video. I see all these new camera reviews, but getting the right shot for composition etc is what photography is.
Great explanation on pros and cons and when to use ultra wide lenses. I just purchased the Sigma 14mm-24mm f 2.8 for my Canon 5D Mk IV to use primarily for night shots (great lens), but now have better appreciation for using in daytime landscapes.
Great video, thank you for sharing. I can’t wait for a dry day to get out with my camera again - what a wet and windy weekend. Pebbles made me smile, she is beautiful.
I think you have both, the Nikon z 14-24/2.8 and also the z 14-30/f4. Which one do you prefer and use more often?
Love, just love my 16-35mm, puts wildlife in its environment.... If you can get close enough. Great video, Nigel
Perfect done Nigel! Really good explanation of wide angle... and Pepps is so cute 😅
Glad you liked it!
I have a 10-24, and a few of my favorite images were shot on it. But, it is a tricky little devil. Below 18 it needs real care, and below 14 it becomes an effect shot lens. But it lives in my bag for those occasional magic shots where it's the only lens I have that can get the job done right.
Ok I'm now on a Sony A7R4 and have the 16-35 GM. Strangely I wouldn't class this as ultra wide more a wide angle. I'd class ultra wide as a 12-20. Keen to hear your thoughts on this.. ;)
Great video. Not enough people consider the effect of focal length on perspective and use zooms essentially as a crop tool instead of choosing the perspective that suits the subject and then getting into the right position to frame the shot.
I’m thinking of getting the 14-30mm f4 or the 14-24mm f2.8 for Iceland. Weight/size is not an issue for me. What would you recommend? Is the 14-24mm worth the extra cost and hassle with larger filters?
In order to take advantage of the huge depth of field offered by a wide lens, I think knowing about hyperfocal distance is very useful.
Sometimes, front to back sharpness will be impossible when focused on infinity...but possible when using the hyperfocal distance.
Absolutely fantastic video. So enjoyable and informative. Your enthusiasm comes through every time and is really inspiring. Thank you very much, Nigel.
Great video, once again, Nigel.
To be honest, the more of these review videos I watch, the more confused I get on what lens I should get.
My current lens starts at 25mm, and Lightroom shows the bulk of my raws being shot between 25-120mm-ish, with the bulk of that range being shot down at 25mm. This tells me that, for the type of photos I shoot, that it would be nice if I could've gone wider than 25mm. That's why I'm looking at the Sony 16-35mm. I figure that if I need anything wider than 16mm that I could try shooting a pano. Maybe I'll try to rent out the 12-24mm for a bit to see what I think..
A very nice video... Very informative...
And you introduced me to Kase... After watching this video, saw your previous video on filters... I have been in a pickle for a long time as well for exactly the same reasons as you had been about using filters... And you just gave me the best filter system for my personal use case...
I believe I have discovered with my 16mm, in my own blundering way, all the pros and cons you cover . It was very helpful that you reinforced these attributes of the ultra wide angle. Thanks.
Great video. I have two questions. Firstly, how do you compare the Samyang 14mm vs the Nikon 14-30? Secondly, why have you selected the 95mm filter instead of the 82mm?
Depth of field is not just a function of focal length, but also format. A 90mm on and 8X10 camera is going to give similar DOF as a super wide angle on a full frame DSLR.
What a great episode Nigel! You really got in sooner great points that I hadn’t thought of before. If there is more you can share on the challenges unique to ultra wide angle lenses and how you address them; I’d love to see a follow segment. Perhaps even a behind the scenes walking through how you assess and approach the scenes!
Another great production, new hat? Some wonderful images there, some great tips once again. Really educational and you continue to deliver to us. The rock in the heather was a beautiful shot, then you zoomed in to show what we should have done.... wow.
very nice tuto, tips and tricks. Do you mean we can't use a 82mm VND polarpro or 82mm polarizer with Z 14-30mm we use with Z 35mm F/1.8, Z 24-70 F/2.8 and z 20mm F/1.8 ? do we really need to buy new 95mm filters and adapter ?
Thanks Nigel, awesome video as always! You've mentioned that you would prefer 9mm on APSC rather than 14mm on full frame. Could you share any more info or examples about that aspect, with equivalent FLs on APSC and FF?
I have 14mm equiv. for both my FF and MFT, this inspires me to go out with both and do some comparison photos. Thanks.
Another excellent video. Thanks Nigel! It really helps to see those examples - so thanks for continuing to show these!
Will getting the 14-24, 2.8, Sigma, EF with metabones onto a canon eosm be better than the Sigma 14mm, 1.8? Mainly will use for video work.
I'd really appreciate this video.
As always, it's very interesting and can help improve our knowledge :)
May I ask if it's possible to do the same for the tele side ? I'm one of those who don't know what lens choose for the details, and really hesitate between a 70-200 and a much longer one (100-500)
I've got a Tokina 11-16mm lens and it does show star trailing on the edges, which isn't great. With some cropping, it's not too bad
During the daytime, it's an awesome lens.
Thanks for this video! I have a little used 12-24mm Nikon 1.4 ED lens on my Nikon 7200,, and this makes me want to wipe off the dust and get outside and take some photos!
A super explanation of advantages and disadvantages of the super wide angle. Or, perhaps better said, a super explanation of how to take advantage of a super wide angle and its view.
You are a really great photographer and teacher. Great pics; love to see it. Greetings from Germany near Frankfurt
Thanks for the tip about pointing the camera down; I´m going to try it. I bought a 10 -18 mm for my crop sensor a couple of years ago, and it's been quite difficult to manage.
Perfect timing with this topic Nigel! Awesome video as always! I'm struggling to chose between Nikon 16-53 Ff/4 and Nikon 14-24 F2.8 for my Nikon D810. I really struggle since optically 14-24 is legendary, but the 16-35 offers the possibility to use filters... Which one will you recommend going for? Many thanks!
I bought the 14-24 and it is very heavy and very sharp. I also bought the 18-35 very light.
My decision was between the 16-35 and 18-35, and ended up getting the 18-35--mainly because of size and weight! The 18-35 is plenty sharp, but I do find I shoot all the way down at 18 very often. You might enjoy the extra 2 mm of the 16-35 if you're ok with the extra bulk of the lens. If you want to use filters I'd look at one of these over the 14-24. I wish there was a 14-30 (like the Z's) for the F-mount!
@@nrice3623 thanks for that a lot! I do struggle with this choice, as 14-24 is legendary for its built quality and optical performance. Before going to Z, even Nigel was recommending the 16-35 f4... but in the short end its apparently quite bad... Also I alredy have 24-70 f2.8 VR and that 14-24 would complement it very nicely... The square filters for that are so expensive though...
@@ukaszczekaa3061 Yah, filters is big for me, as I like to play with long exposures from time to time. I currently use circular filters, but thinking of upgrading to some larger magnetic ones, or, 100x100 filters. I'm already finding it hard to figure out how to fit a 100mm system in my normal bag, I can't imagine having to carry around 150x150 for the 14-24!
Great video Nigel. Some belting shots too. I use the Nikkor 16-35 for a fair bit of landscape work, but recently picked up the Laowa 12 Zero Distortion lens for interiors/architectural work - wow! What a cracking piece of glass that is! Basic, heavy, and all metal - even the lens cap!
Anyway, keep up the good work, and I'll look forward to the next vid 👍
Great stuff Nigel. Got me thinking about foregrounds. Something I don’t usually put any major emphasis on. Cheers and have a great week mate.
Incredible knowledge and the way you share It. All focus on sharing more technical aspects of photography, but you are outstanding, you share the beauty of photography... great... Thanks.
Hi Nigel I love your work I’ve got a question hopefully that you can answer for me I discovered the Nikon 20 mm 1.8 about two years ago and I just absolutely love this lens for sharpness where do you feel 20 mm sits in terms of being ultrawide probably isn’t ultrawide but isn’t wide enough for most landscape photography
Always excellent. An artist with a phd is one heck of a combination ;)
Thank you for the composition tips on how to shoot at 14mm!
Thanks, that was very helpful I am just getting my first wide angle len 11mm -18mm this was a big help have a great day see you next sunday.
Thank you again. I struggle with wide angle Lens. Few photos looked good but most of them were Disasters. They were either distorted or overexposed.....
A great video with lot's of information. It helped with my decision to buy a wide angle lens for producing prints on my print store.
Monstrously excellent video, Nigel! Mammothly helpful, clear and helpful. Cheers from the States! 💛🙏🏼
P.S., Pepps-doggy is great touch at end.
I find your lecture on the wide angle very useful. The idea of tilting your wide angle lens down to give your photo a more of a “WOW” factor was very useful information. Thank you
Great video. I'm looking at getting a wide angle lens for my Nikon so some good pointers here. Something I really liked is your filter system as it looks so easy to put on. Mine are so fiddly, I end up never really using them. What lens is that and what filters are they? Are they magnetic?
amazing video quality for a studio talking head shot, could you show us how do you setup for a simple studio vlog like this? what lens and lighting combo, and what camera setting do you shoot a to get a high quality video like this? thank you
Nigel would you recommend the 14-30 or the 14-24 2.8?
Nigel, I really like the videos you do and this one too. I have the Z 14-30 lens (love it) , I am interested in the Kase filters but a little confused on the sizing and which kit to order. What do you recommend. Thanks
Your photography is phenomenal
Hey, Nigel. Most informative and interesting. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
Thanks for more valuable insights! I very much appreciate that you always use plenty of your images as examples. I shoot on a crop sensor and favour my 17-55mm lens, rarely throwing the 10-18mm on the camera. This is some good inspiration to try it out a little more 👍
I am curious about one thing...most (all?) of these examples had mountains / large cliffs in the background. Has anyone found effective backgrounds when you don't necessarily live around epic scenes like that? Not sure I'll be getting to mountains anytime soon!
ND great start to Sunday morning, very helpful. Thank you. Pebbles eyes say so much!! 😁
Very useful Nigel, Started to really use my Canon RF15mm-35mm lens last few weeks when up in the Lakes and got some hits and some misses with it. Definitely takes a bit of thought to get the best out of it.
Being a cheapo, I've been looking at the AF-P DX NIKKOR 10-20mm f/4.5-5.6G VR for my Z50. The mountain peaks in my area stand as monoliths against the range they rise from. Having access to the distortion effect, placing them in the upper 1/3rd or upper 1/5th of the frame to stretch them out sounds really exciting. I do worry about that distortion coming with some amount of edge sharpening, though I hope I would be able to overcome that with composition.
Nigel, a great lesson! Thanks a lot! At the beginning you mentioned, that you will upgrade to the Z 14-24/2.8. At the moment you use a Z 14-30/4, so do I. And I am also looking towards a 14-24/2.8, but I am hesitating because I would have to use large 150 filter with this lens again if I need GND filters.
Excellent info, video. I love my Canon 11-22 f/4 lens. Cities, architecture, landscapes... ultra-wides can be used anywhere.
err Canon 11-24 f/4 lens.
Thank you for this video. I love wide angle photography and I learned a lot from this. I’m sure I will watch this video 3-4 more times maybe more . Thanks!