Wide Angle Landscape Lens for 1D4 APS-H Screen

[Jay Gould]

Hi, those that are using a 1D series with an APS-H screen, what landscape lens are you using?

I have the 16-35; I want to consider other lenses that might do the job without the weight. I already have the 24-105 f/4; when I bought the 16-35 I thought I needed the f/2.8 for HH when in doors, e.g., at a museum, not realizing the benefits of IS. I regularly HH the 24-105 at f/4.

What wide lens are you using for your pro body?

Thanks!

[Jamie Strickland]

probably the cheapest option is the 17-40, its F4 and not IS but your probably like me and using it on a tripod for landscapes anyway

if you want really wide the other option is the 14L but $$$

[Paolo Piazza]

I have sigma 12-24 for landscapes.

[Jeff Donald]

In the past I've used the 15mm and defished it in software. The 15mm is very sharp and an f/2.8 (also much cheaper than the 14mm f/2.8).

[Christopher C.M. Cooke]

Jay I use the 17-40 on all my cameras but it is great on the MKIII and wonderful on the 5D MKII

[Roger Clark]

Jay,
The best way to save weight is to not have a shorter lens (e.g. than your 24-105). If you need wider, just do a mosaic for as wide as you need, then assemble it later with software. I do have a 20 mm f/2.8, but rarely take it. I go the mosaic route.

Roger

[Jay Gould]

Jay,
The best way to save weight is to not have a shorter lens (e.g. than your 24-105). If you need wider, just do a mosaic for as wide as you need, then assemble it later with software. I do have a 20 mm f/2.8, but rarely take it. I go the mosaic route. Roger

Roger, I cannot argue with success. You New Images (http://www.clarkvision.com/galleries...NEW/index.html) certainly support your statement since they were all made with a 28-135 and they are magnificent landscapes! You certainly know how to use the 5D2 for birds as well!! :D

Mosaic route: You use the 28-135 (at least with the new images you have posted on your site). However, you have traded a wider angle lense for a pano head; you have the ability to make your own pano head - as a traveler living in a 25' box on wheels when I infrequently return to Oz, isn't the mosaic route going to require that I purchase and carry with me a specialized piece of equipment, e.g., Nodal Ninja 5 Pano Head?

Some of your lovely images were only 2 frame mosaics; what is the difference between a 2 frame mosaic using PTGui and a 2 frame stitch using Photoshop?

Thanks Mate,

[Roger Clark]

Roger, I cannot argue with success. You New Images (http://www.clarkvision.com/galleries...NEW/index.html) certainly support your statement since they were all made with a 28-135 and they are magnificent landscapes! You certainly know how to use the 5D2 for birds as well!! :D

Thanks, Jay.

Mosaic route: You use the 28-135 (at least with the new images you have posted on your site). However, you have traded a wider angle lense for a pano head; you have the ability to make your own pano head - as a traveler living in a 25' box on wheels when I infrequently return to Oz, isn't the mosaic route going to require that I purchase and carry with me a specialized piece of equipment, e.g., Nodal Ninja 5 Pano Head?

Actually, most of the time I do not carry a pano head. And my "pano head" consists of a ball head, a Wimberly sidekick and a home-made L-bracket. A main issue with making panos is controlling depth of field. The classic pano head mounts the camera vertical but that means in a classic landscape the near and far points at the bottom and top of the frames are maximized. You really want the camera horizontal (landscape mode). Then in a classic landscape, the main parallax problem is in the foreground. So the "pano" setup I take when going light is simply a 6-inch Wimberly plate and a Wimberly clamp on one end. I put the plate in the clamp on the ballhead then mount the camera on that and slide the camera forward and back to the nodal point. So the camera is on the nodal point for horizontal movements. Each row in a mosaic registers just fine with this method, but could have parallax between rows. But the next row up from the bottom has always been further away in my images and parallax is too small to matter. Of course in a forest with close trees that could be a problem.

If I'm using a lens with a foot (e.g. the 70-200, 300, 500 etc) I use the Wimberly (sidekick or full) and use the foot to mount camera horizontal. The rotation on the scene is then very close to the nodal point.

Then there is the no tripod, hand held mosaic method. They work great too. If there are close objects, don't rotate with you neck; rotate about the perceived nodal point. And if things are far away, it doesn't matter.

So on my web site, there are panos from hand held, to lens + sidekick, lens+full wimberly, to lens + plate on a ball head to my full pano setup.

Check out: http://www.charliebrownphotos.com/
Many (most?) of his panos are hand held! And they are VERY impressive. I've seen a lot of Charlie's very large prints.

Some of your lovely images were only 2 frame mosaics; what is the difference between a 2 frame mosaic using PTGui and a 2 frame stitch using Photoshop?

Thanks Mate,

It depends on the frames and how easy it is to merge. If there are moving things in the scene, ptgui has "smart blend" and will try to move things to make the merge better.

If you do a lot of moving things at wide angle, then a wider lens is a better solution. Waves at a beach is one such example, or fireworks. That is why I sometimes carry the 20 mm f/2.8. It is a nice small, light lens.

Roger