Many people who buy ultra wide angle lenses end up disappointed because they do not know how to use them properly. Many people buy such lenses to enable them to fit more into their shots and believe that by simply investing in an ultra wide angle their sunset or landscape shots will automatically move up to a different level. Wrong.
The best way to use an ultra wide lens is to get in close to your subject and let your lens make the subject the focal point of the shot by using it’s wideness to include other background details in that would be missed with other lenses.
Ultra Wide
Another common mistake people make with ultra wide lenses is believing that they are fish eye lenses. If you want a fish eye, buy a fish eye that will distort the edges of your pictures and curve the fringes of your shots. Ultra wide angle lens manufacturers aim to avoid distortion in their lenses shots so don’t expect it!
What is an ultra wide angle lens?
First of all we should define exactly what we mean by ultra wide when taking about these types of lenses. In very rough terms an ultra wide angle lens can be described as one that is less than 20mm. The wider your lens is below 20m the more you’ll be affected by the common problems people find with wide angle lenses. In addition the more you will be able to benefit from their craziness.
Don’t forget that if you are using a cropped sensor camera then you effectively need multiply the focal length by 1.6 to get the true focal length. If you are using a cropped sensor camera then the lenses we are talking about are most likely going to be the Canon 10-22mm or the Tokina 11-16mm.
Why Ultra Wide images have such an impact?
When you get an ultra wide image right it is usually very dramatic. Unlike normal zoom lenses that seem to compress the depth of the image an ultra wide lens stretches it. A good ultra wide image will have elements of interest throughout a large range of distances form the foreground to the background. They exaggerate the elements in a scene making the depth or perspective much more dramatic.
Avoid the common ultra wide mistake
One of the most common mistakes people make with ultra wide lenses is not getting close enough to their subjects. These types of lenses get so much in the shot that you can very easily end up with a boring shot with lots of irrelevant detail and your main subject in tiny detail somewhere near the horizon. This is often what causes disappointment to recent purchasers of ultra wide angle lenses.
Instead you should aim to have some sort of focus in the foreground of your shots. This could be a tree, person or even the ground. What we are trying to explain is that ultra wide angle lenses work best when they are showing and emphasising the depth between different subjects in your pictures.
Your ability to get something in the foreground of your picture will depend on what your are shooting. If you are simply taking a simple landscape shot, then this can be achieved by shooting from a few inches above the ground. This will have the dramatic effect of emphasising the sense of scale and distance in your scene.
Any easy way to get the best from an ultra wide angle is to use them in a confined space or indoors. The most common uses you may see are in large railway stations or architecturally ornate buildings such as the British Museum shot above. An ultra wide lens used in such a building will give you the best chance of emphasising the scale and complexity of the architecture.
Even when using these lenses indoors do not forget that your primary aim should be to fill all of the frame with interesting detail. Hunt around the room you are in for an angle that keeps all the corners of the shot interesting.
Of all of the Ultra Wide lenses we have tested by far the best we’ve seen to date are the Canon 10-22mm and Tokina 11-16mm.
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