12mm Wide Angle Lens Advantage And Elephant Dung
April 10, 2008
Enjoy my Tokina 12-24mm – Nikon 12-24mm and Nikon 18-200mm wide angle lens comparison post illustrated with stellar examples?
Don’t you just hate when a photographic equipment review site’s example images are not up to par?
I tried to remedy this unfortunate phenomenon by this post. I selflessly risked camera sensor dust by switching my Tokina 12-24mm and Nikon 18-200mm lenses just so you good folks can see the difference!
Articles on the rules of photography and other photography tutorials often use the worst or most boring pictures to make their technical points so I decided to take comparison photos at times when a wide angle lens resulted in a better or at least a different photo during my Southeast Asia photography trip.
No brain surgery, just a quick visual guide to show the difference between focal lengths, perhaps useful when someone is trying to decide on their wide angle lens purchase.
The criteria to choose these photos was that when taken at 18mm I could not go backwards a few steps due to various obstacles to include more of the scene but I wished I could have.
So the second photo shows the added benefit of using a lens with 12mm focal length.
There are always reasons why a wider angle lens can save the day, sometimes it is not possible to step back due to obstructions or when stepping back something undesired shows up in the foreground.
So the photographer has to make the best of the widest angle lens in the camera bag and the distance between the camera and the scenery even if it comes at the price of distortion.
Unfortunately (or fortunately) I do not have the time or patience to take multiple photos to capture the whole scene and use a stitching software like RealViz or Stitcher later.
Some examples of what can be behind the fearless travel photographer preventing a few steps back:
- a wall
- a cliff
- non stop speeding traffic
- group of Japanese tourists
- fresh elephant dung
Continue reading the whole article with more brilliant example photos:
Tokina 12-24mm And Nikon Nikkor 18-200mm Lens Comparison
Um, isn’t it “Dung”? I think “Dong” is a different part of the elephant. LOL. :)