February 13, 2024 • 24 mins
The wide angle lens is a thing of beauty--it's probably the most crucial piece of any photographer's gear bag. They're a must for landscape photography, but also really excellent at travel and cultural photography, and even wildlife photography if you get the right one. Plus, they give you a lot of bang for your buck and are often a beginner photographer's first entry into high quality lenses due to relative affordability.
In this episode I dive into everything that makes up this category of lens, including zoom range and ideal focal lengths, aperture ratings, overall quality, focus motor, image stabilization, and even prime lenses and ultrawides.
If you're thinking about upgrading or simply wanting to know more about the abilities and flexibility you have with your wide angle lens, this is a packed episode full of photography goodness.
My top pick for a wide angle lens: 24-105mm f/4
Canon
Nikon
Sony
Other considerations
Canon 24-70 f/2.8
Sony 24-70 f/2.8
Nikon 24-70 f/2.8
Rokinon Page
Canon Page
- Check out Court’s photography and conservation work: CourtWhelan.com
- Follow Court Whelan (@courtwhelan) on YouTube for more photography tips
- Sign up for Court's conservation, travel and photography blog at www.courtwhelan.com
- View Court's recommended camera gear
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey folks, welcome to the Wild Votographer.
Today's episode is for thebeginners out there and maybe
even the intermediates that arelooking to buy a wide-angle lens
.
This might be their firstwide-angle lens.
It might be a big upgrade.
Today's episode is an attemptto give you pretty good detail
on the ins and outs of why youmight want to look at this as
(00:21):
your first really big upgrade orreally your first purchase of a
solid lens the why's, the how's, the what's, kind of everything
that you want to know about it.
Again, from the idea ofselecting slash purchasing maybe
first, maybe an upgrade, let'sstart off with why they're great
(00:46):
, why we need them, why Ipersonally view this as probably
, even as a wildlifephotographer, a good, solid
wide-angle lens might be my mostimportant lens in my kit.
Well, they're great for justwalking around.
They're great for all thein-between shots.
They're great for practicing.
They're great for landscapesand travel shots and cultural
(01:07):
shots.
They can be very, very good forwildlife shots, whether it's
close wildlife, big wildlife,wildlife in landscapes, and you
get a lot of bang for your buck.
When we talk about telephotos,it takes thousands and thousands
and thousands of dollars to getto that point where you have
tip-top quality in your glass,for wide-angle lenses not so
much.
You can get a really, reallysolid wide-angle for eight, nine
(01:30):
, $100, $1,000, and it's gonnabe among the best for your
camera system.
So there are many, many reasonswhy you need these.
If we get into the videographyaspect, they're kind of like the
go-to for most videography aswell.
So there's just a litany ofreasons why you need a great
wide-angle lens, and I'm gonnatell you what to look for going
(01:52):
forward in terms of sussing outthe aperture, looking at the
billed quality, the focallengths, the range, et cetera,
et cetera.
We're also gonna touch on primelenses as well.
I mentioned a wide-angle lens.
I didn't say wide-angle zoomlens.
Zoom lenses mean those thathave ranges, but in this case
we're just talking about all ofthem.
So let's get further into thedifferent focal lengths to start
(02:15):
off with.
So your focal length range isessentially the range.
If I were to look at a, say, 18to 55 millimeter lens, that 18
to 55 is the zoom, it is therange, and what I'm trying to
get across to you here is whybigger range isn't always better
.
I think it's really temptingfor beginning photographers to
(02:36):
look at these 18 to 400s or 28to 200, 28 to 300s, and say, oh,
one lens that does it all.
I don't wanna change lenses.
This is a lens that I could usefor everything and it seems to
be pretty good quality.
Well, while there is some realsolid founding in those thoughts
there, you're gonna getsignificantly better quality and
(02:59):
probably a quite betteraperture range if you go for a
smaller range.
So there's always a balance.
There's a yin and yang herewhere if you select those lenses
with a more narrow range, likean 18 to 55, like a 24 to 70,
you're gonna get specialbenefits that you're not gonna
get from the big 24 to 240lenses.
So this is really just to saythat bigger range isn't always
(03:22):
better.
The classic ranges that I'mtalking about here that I really
look for in a wide angle isgonna be like your 24 to 105s.
That's probably the biggestrange I'm gonna personally use.
24 to 70 is a very, veryvenerable lens, a very venerable
range.
I have seen the 18 to 200s fromTamron.
They're pretty darn good.
(03:42):
Again, if you are just adamantabout not changing lenses, it's
a pretty good coverage acrossthe spectrum for everything
except for really kind of primewildlife photography.
And then you also have theprime lenses of like the 24 1.8
or 24 1.4, the 35 1.4, eventhough 35 isn't super wide, I
(04:04):
would still consider it on thewide end of the spectrum.
And then, last, we're going todo a little bit of a deep dive
later in the episode about theultra-wides like the 16 to 35
f2.8s.
Those are really really greattoo, but honestly, most of this
episode is going to concentrateon like the 24 to 1.5, 24 to 70,
which in the crop frameequivalent would be like your 18
(04:26):
to 55s, 18 to 70s.
Okay, so let's dive intoprobably the most important
other number to look for whenyou're shopping for a lens, and
that's aperture.
This is your f number.
This dictates the maximumaperture which lets in a lot of
light, which gives you thatbeautiful blur in the background
.
Now, it does a lot of otherthings aperture that is, but
(04:48):
really what we're looking for isthe smallest f number possible.
This correlates again toletting in as much light as
possible, but also means thatwhen you're getting that great
portraiture work, a lot of thesewide angle lenses can be great
portrait lenses.
If you're shooting in an f4,it's quite different than an
f2.8.
An f2.8 is going to be a lotmore blur in that background and
(05:09):
foreground.
So generally what we're lookingfor the correlation with
quality here is a low f number.
The other thing you're going tosee oftentimes, especially with
zoom ranges, when you have an 18to 55 or 24 to 105, or
especially the bigger rangeslike the 18 to 200s is you're
going to see either a fixedaperture throughout, so you're
(05:32):
going to see f slash in just onenumber, or you're going to see
f slash a number, a dash and asecond number.
That's a.
It's an aperture range and sobasically what it means is like
a classic example is the 18 to55 that comes with most kits.
It's going to be an f 3.5 to5.6.
That means somewhere along theline it's going to change from
(05:53):
3.5 at the widest end of thespectrum, so at 18 millimeters,
and as you zoom in it's going tochange steadily from 3.5 to 4,
from 4 to 4.5 all the way to 5.6at the maximum focal length.
So don't worry about exactlywhere it changes.
The idea is that you just won'thave a constant aperture
(06:14):
throughout.
I think it's a little bitfrustrating to have that.
It's not a deal breakerwhatsoever.
Most lenses, especiallyintroductory lenses, have that
range, but it's really reallynice, it's a luxury to have a
constant aperture throughout,because you can make better
predictions and calculationsbased on light.
In addition, the higher endlenses will usually have a
(06:34):
constant aperture and it'llusually be a pretty low F number
, or what we call a big maximumaperture.
The reason that the smallnumber and the big aperture are
the same thing is becauseaperture really refers to the
opening to the lens, and thebigger that opening to the lens,
the more light it lets in andessentially the smaller number
(06:54):
that that correlates to Justsomething you have to memorize.
There's not a ton of rhyme orreason around it.
Again, small F number means bigaperture, but the really high
quality lenses have small Fnumbers.
The 24 to 105 that I use andshoot with most often as my wide
angle zoom, is a constant F4.
I can't go to 2.8.
(07:15):
But also I can keep it at F4all throughout that range.
If you're shooting on like at18 to 200 or some of the really
really big ranges like 18 to 400, you might start at 3.5, which
is pretty decent, but then youmight go all the way to 5.6, 6.3
, sometimes even 7.1.
And this has to do with theamount of lens elements and
(07:36):
construction.
It's just hard to have yourcake and eat it too.
If you were to have an 18 to200 F2.8 throughout, the lens
would be four times the size andcost 10 times as much.
I don't think it even exists.
But just to give you an ideathat yes, it'd be nice to have
that small F number for thosebig ranges, but what we usually
see is those small F numberswith the more conservative
(07:59):
ranges, like the 24 to 70sversus the 24 to 105.
In fact, canada just came outwith, I believe, the first ever
24 to 105 F2.8 throughout.
The thing looks like a bazooka.
It's not a big wildlife lensbut it looks like one, simply
because the amount of glass andconstruction needed in all the
(08:20):
elements and in the workings ofthe lens.
So anyway, it's really worthunderstanding that you can't
always have every element of alens in the package.
You kind of have to balance itand give and take a little bit.
So anyway, moving on from there,we're going to go into this
quality discussion, and this isanother big part.
So there's a really easy way tofigure out whether one lens is
(08:44):
better quality from a photostandpoint than the other, and
that's price.
A more expensive lens is goingto be higher quality in some way
, shape or form.
But quality is really in anumber of buckets.
One sense of quality is thataperture.
So you can have two verysimilar lenses, but one shoots
at a 2.8 and one shoots at a 4.
(09:04):
The 2.8 is always going to bemore expensive.
Now, that being said, it'salmost always the case that the
lens that goes down to 2.4 isgoing to be better quality as
well.
So there's a really high degreeof correlation there.
But if one lens is $500 and onelens is $1,000 and the focal
range is the same and theaperture is the same, there's
(09:26):
probably something else going onin there, and it's usually just
the quality of the photo.
It's better sharpness, it'sbetter contrast, it's better
colors.
It sometimes is also betterbuild quality.
Now again, all these thingsusually come into one package.
But, for instance, the Canon Lseries lenses, which are really
their top of the line, theirhighest quality, they also come
(09:47):
with really high buildconstruction, and that means
it's going to be a magnesiumalloy frame and barrel versus
plastic.
The rings, the focusing dials,are going to be a little bit
better constructed, sometimes alot better constructed, and then
ultimately they're going to beprobably weather and dust proof.
None of these lenses are trulywaterproof and you certainly
(10:08):
can't submerge them.
But having some pretty darngood gaskets and seals on lenses
, especially if you're shootingnature and wildlife travel, is
going to be really really wellworth the money.
Not worrying about a littlespeck of dust getting into your
camera when you're on Safari,not worrying about a little, mr
Rain, when you're in Alaska,makes a big difference.
You do have to pay for that,but again, what usually happens
(10:31):
is once you go and bump up toany brand of cameras, top the
line lenses whether it's Sony,olympus, canon, nikon, any of
them there's going to be apretty big price bump.
You might be wondering wellgosh, everything looks really
really similar.
The only thing different is theF number and just the look of
(10:51):
the lens, and it's going from$400 for the inexpensive version
to $1,200 for the top of theline.
Well, it's probably waterproof,it's probably dust proof, it's
probably a significantly betterimage and it probably has a
better aperture rating.
Even if a small differenceagain, like F4 to F2.8, it makes
a really big difference forprofessional photographers and
(11:13):
it's something that you mightwant to consider getting into.
One quick side note here it'softentimes a lot to swallow if
you're a beginner photographerin looking at a big investment.
You might have paid less foryour camera than the lens you're
about to buy.
But I will tell you that lensesat the top end of quality very,
very often hold the vastmajority of their value as long
(11:33):
as you're buying them, not whenthey're just about to be
replaced by the cameramanufacturer with a new version.
You know something like ifthey're within the last four or
five years, you can probablyresell them at some point for 70
, 80% of their value, whichmeans that when you go to make
this big investment yes, it'smoney out of your pocket, but
(11:55):
it's not like it's out of yourpocket forever You're going to
be able to recoup all that.
And sometimes you know I've donecalculations of my lenses over
the years and I've essentiallyrented a great lens for $400 for
four or five years because Ibuy it for 1200, and I sell it
four or five years later for 800.
And it's still worth thatamount of money.
I'm not pulling a con man thingover anybody.
(12:17):
It's still worth that amount ofmoney.
People are willing to pay forit because you bought the top of
the line, less expensive lenses.
If I were to buy a $400 lens,the chance of selling it for 350
, four or five years later, very, very slim.
Cammin manufacturers replacethose lenses more often in terms
of newer, better versions andgenerally you're just not
(12:38):
getting a lot of people lookingfor used lenses at that more
beginner category.
They do look for them, but youmight buy a lens for 400 and be
able to sell it for 100 or 150,something like that.
So, again, really nice torecoup that investment and just
knowing that when you're makingthat initial decision of you
know how big are you going to go, I think makes a big difference
.
(12:59):
Now the next thing we're goingto talk about is weight and size
of your lens and as a beginneryou're going to really want to
consider this because you'regoing to have to travel with it,
you're going to have to hold it, you're going to have to put in
your backpack, you're going tohave to put in your carry on.
So the weight and size makes abig difference.
I will tell you, personallyit's something that I rarely,
rarely consider and look at.
I know that the weight and sizeis going to increase with
(13:20):
quality lenses, especially whenyou get into those lower F
numbers, those bigger maximumapertures, if you take two
lenses and one is an F4 and oneis a 2.8, it's going to increase
by 50% weight, 100% weight, itmight you know, it might truly
double.
Like I just said, from thisexample, the 24 to 105 that
(13:42):
Canon has, the F4 version lookslike a quote unquote normal lens
.
The F2.8 version looks like abazooka.
So just know that that is afactor when you get into these
lenses.
Obviously, when you're thinkingabout a bigger range, an 18 to
200 is a heck of a lot biggerthan an 18 to 55.
Interestingly, when you comparethe 24 to 105, the 24 to 70,
(14:06):
that 24 to 72.8 is actuallybigger than the 24 to 105
because well, you guessed it,it's F2.8.
Now the other thing I want totalk about is you know, I'm just
sort of getting in my mind tothe idea of these prime lenses,
girls.
We're talking about weight andspace and size.
If you're the kind of personthat wants to absolutely be
(14:26):
minimal and are willing tosacrifice some flexibility
pretty much all the range,meaning you're not going to be
able to zoom, you're stuck andfixed at that focal length you
might want to consider lookinginto prime lenses and when we're
talking about wide angle lensesfor beginning photography of
landscape, travel, even wildlifein landscape, usually what I'm
looking at is, on a full framecamera, something around 24
(14:49):
millimeters, and for a cropframe camera, something around
18 millimeters.
That's sort of the the nicewide end of the spectrum, such
that you don't really need to gowider unless you're in really
special circumstances.
Like I said, we're going to getinto those ultra wides in a
second.
But as far as prime lenses, whatare you going to get with a
prime lens that you don't have?
(15:10):
With the range, what is?
What is the quid pro quo?
What is the balance there?
Well, the first thing you'regoing to get is a better price
Usually prime lenses, becausethey don't have as much tech and
development and inner workings.
You're going to get a reallyhigh quality lens for maybe half
the price, or at least the sameprice as one of these zooms,
but you're going to get asignificantly better aperture.
(15:32):
You're going to getsignificantly better glass
quality.
So by sacrificing that range,you do bump up other parts of
your lens that are really reallynice to have.
So, for instance, a 24 to 1.8or 1.4 might be five or $600,
but it's going to be the samequality as a 24 to 105.
(15:52):
That might be $1,000 or $1,200.
What are you not going to get?
Well, you're just not going toget that range.
It's going to be smaller, it isgoing to be lighter, you're
going to get a better apertureand the quality is going to be
very, very similar.
Now, one other thing I haven'ttalked about much and it's just
donning on it on me to mentionthis now is the idea of image
stabilization.
This is now a prettycommonplace thing in photography
(16:16):
and that's something you wantto absolutely be on the lookout.
When you see the focal lengthof the wide angle lens you're
looking at, picking out, and allthese numbers and letters
behind it.
We talked about aperture, sothat f slash number is your
aperture.
What we didn't talk about isthe IS or the VR.
Canon uses IS, nikon uses VR, Ithink Sony uses VR, and they
(16:38):
are all just basically acronyms,initials for their vibration
reduction system or imagestabilization system, is for
image stabilization.
Having it is really really,really, really nice.
Not many cameras are without it.
Most cameras have imagestabilization or, sorry, most
lenses have image stabilizationthese days, so it's not
(16:59):
something that you need tointently look out for, and you
probably won't be weighing a lotof differences, apples and
oranges, between two lenses andone that doesn't have IS and one
that does.
But be careful when you get inespecially.
The reason I'm mentioning thisnow, especially in a prime
lenses, is that oftentimesthey're such niche lenses that
they may or may not have imagestabilization.
(17:20):
And if you say, oh gosh, well,I don't need to zoom and I want
a small package, I want a really, really great aperture, I'm
going to pick up this, this 24,this 20, those are the category
of lenses that sometimes thatimage stabilization or that
vibration reduction drops off.
So just be aware of that.
The final thing we're kind of onthis nomenclature thing I want
(17:41):
to talk about is the focus andmechanism.
So obviously all these lensesnowadays are going to be
autofocus.
There are very, very few cameramanufacturers that stick with
manual focus and they're morefor niche category of lenses
like astrophotography et cetera.
Samyang and Rokinon they make alot of really great, affordable
lenses in the prime range, like20 millimeters, 24 millimeters.
(18:05):
They don't zoom, they're you'restuck at that focal range, but
extraordinary apertures like 1.8, 1.4, sometimes 1.2, at pretty
affordable prices like less than$500.
What do you not get with those?
Well, you don't get imagestabilization and you probably
don't get autofocus.
To me, autofocus is a must forthis category of lens.
(18:26):
It just saves me so much time.
It's more accurate oftentimesthan what I can see in the back
of the screen or through myviewfinder to manually focus.
It's just a pretty crucialthing.
But what you will often seewhen the lenses are being named,
or the actual writing on thebarrel of the lens, is it might
say USM or other variousacronyms that stand for the type
(18:50):
of focus mechanism.
Now every camera manufacturerhas a slightly different way of
explaining their nano focusingmicrogear technology.
I just want you to be awarethat with the advent of new
cameras and new lenses, theselenses are getting better at
focusing.
They're more silent and they'requicker.
(19:11):
So I didn't mention this when Iwas talking about quality, but
that's another real, realbenefit of a high quality lens
is focusing speed, autofocusingspeed.
You can usually get a muchfaster focus with a high quality
lens.
So I know.
I'm a Canon guy, so I knowCanon has a USM designation,
which stands for ultrasonicmotor.
(19:31):
I think they even have a fasterone like STM that stands for
something fancy.
These days I don't really getinto the weeds of the category
of fancy autofocus speed, but Ido make sure that I'm
considering that when I'mlooking at the price versus the
range, versus the aperture, am Igetting all of this or just
part of it?
And what is most important tome?
(19:51):
Usually that quiet focusingmotor is most important for
videography, but oftentimes theyare associated with the fastest
autofocusing speed as well.
So, yeah, if you're getting anew lens with new tech, you're
probably going to be getting oneof those really nice quiet
focusing motors, but again,something as a beginner to keep
an eye out for when you'reshopping for a lens.
(20:12):
Okay, last but not least, I toldyou we're going to talk a
little bit about ultra wideangles.
So ultra wide angles are thosethat are even wider than your
classic wide angle lenses.
So I keep on going back to likethe 18 to 55 on crop frames,
the 24 to 70 on full frames.
An ultra wide would be like a10 to 22 on a crop frame or a 15
to 35 on a full frame.
(20:34):
You wouldn't think that thatyou know nine millimeters or
eight millimeters of differencein the number makes a big
difference, but it absolutelydoes.
There's a disproportionateeffect of each unit.
As you go towards the lowernumbers, the wider angle of the
spectrum.
So, yeah, a 10 to 22 gives youa lot wider shot than the 18 to
(20:55):
55.
It makes quite a big difference.
So, uh, do I recommend them?
I don't think they replace yourgeneral wide angle lenses, your
your multi purpose wide anglezooms.
They're really really nice tohave.
There was a period of my lifewhere I was shooting mostly on
my 16 to 35 and and kind ofkeeping my 24 to 105 in my bag.
But honestly, now that I'mshooting more and more in far
(21:19):
flung destinations, that extrareach is hugely important for me
.
I just prefer to have that onbecause if a wildlife spectacle
does present itself and I'mstuck with a 16 to 35, I can
probably photograph or film thereactions of people around me,
but I'm definitely not able tozoom into that animal unless
it's like an elephant 20 feetaway.
So I like them a lot, but theyhave much more niche
(21:42):
applications for, like indoorphotography.
They're really they are greatfor people photography, because
people you can get really closeto and oftentimes, especially in
travel photography, you are incloser quarters, you're in
vehicles, you're in boats, andso they're really great for
documenting the action and thevibe of an experience.
They're really great for biglandscape photography.
(22:03):
But oftentimes people think, ohyeah, big, beautiful landscapes
, let me get my ultra wide angleout.
Ironically, sometimes those biglandscapes necessitate zooming
in a little bit, so an ultrawide is not always the best case
for big landscapes.
To boil it down, an ultra wideangle lens is really great for
if you are in tight quarters orphotographing the aurora
(22:26):
borealis.
That's kind of what a boils outto.
If you're photographingNorthern Lights, heck yeah, you
want as much sky as possible andultra wide is fantastic.
In fact, I'm heading to Icelandsoon to hopefully photograph
Northern Lights.
But yeah, you know, you kind ofwant to be judicious in
considering an ultra wide versusa wide angle, because there are
(22:47):
merits to each.
But I don't think an ultra widereplaces a wide angle lens.
And there you have it, folks.
That's.
That's my deep dive on allthings.
For a beginner, shopping for anew, new, upgraded or just brand
new first time general wideangle lens.
If you have any additionalthoughts or questions, please do
(23:07):
not hesitate to email me atthewildphotographerpodcast at
gmailcom.
Again,thewildphotographerpodcast at
gmailcom.
We'd love to hear from youideas for new episodes,
questions that are burning inyour mind.
If you want deeper informationon anything I've talked about
here, this is how I get fuel andinspiration for future episodes
(23:29):
, so please don't hesitate togive me an email and, of course,
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(23:49):
get my reach out there andsupport the podcast.
So thank you so much and we'lltalk to you next time.
Hey folks, welcome to the Wild Votographer.
Today's episode is for thebeginners out there and maybe
even the intermediates that arelooking to buy a wide-angle lens
.
This might be their firstwide-angle lens.
It might be a big upgrade.
Today's episode is an attemptto give you pretty good detail
on the ins and outs of why youmight want to look at this as
(00:21):
your first really big upgrade orreally your first purchase of a
solid lens the why's, the how's, the what's, kind of everything
that you want to know about it.
Again, from the idea ofselecting slash purchasing maybe
first, maybe an upgrade, let'sstart off with why they're great
(00:46):
, why we need them, why Ipersonally view this as probably
, even as a wildlifephotographer, a good, solid
wide-angle lens might be my mostimportant lens in my kit.
Well, they're great for justwalking around.
They're great for all thein-between shots.
They're great for practicing.
They're great for landscapesand travel shots and cultural
(01:07):
shots.
They can be very, very good forwildlife shots, whether it's
close wildlife, big wildlife,wildlife in landscapes, and you
get a lot of bang for your buck.
When we talk about telephotos,it takes thousands and thousands
and thousands of dollars to getto that point where you have
tip-top quality in your glass,for wide-angle lenses not so
much.
You can get a really, reallysolid wide-angle for eight, nine
(01:30):
, $100, $1,000, and it's gonnabe among the best for your
camera system.
So there are many, many reasonswhy you need these.
If we get into the videographyaspect, they're kind of like the
go-to for most videography aswell.
So there's just a litany ofreasons why you need a great
wide-angle lens, and I'm gonnatell you what to look for going
(01:52):
forward in terms of sussing outthe aperture, looking at the
billed quality, the focallengths, the range, et cetera,
et cetera.
We're also gonna touch on primelenses as well.
I mentioned a wide-angle lens.
I didn't say wide-angle zoomlens.
Zoom lenses mean those thathave ranges, but in this case
we're just talking about all ofthem.
So let's get further into thedifferent focal lengths to start
(02:15):
off with.
So your focal length range isessentially the range.
If I were to look at a, say, 18to 55 millimeter lens, that 18
to 55 is the zoom, it is therange, and what I'm trying to
get across to you here is whybigger range isn't always better
.
I think it's really temptingfor beginning photographers to
(02:36):
look at these 18 to 400s or 28to 200, 28 to 300s, and say, oh,
one lens that does it all.
I don't wanna change lenses.
This is a lens that I could usefor everything and it seems to
be pretty good quality.
Well, while there is some realsolid founding in those thoughts
there, you're gonna getsignificantly better quality and
(02:59):
probably a quite betteraperture range if you go for a
smaller range.
So there's always a balance.
There's a yin and yang herewhere if you select those lenses
with a more narrow range, likean 18 to 55, like a 24 to 70,
you're gonna get specialbenefits that you're not gonna
get from the big 24 to 240lenses.
So this is really just to saythat bigger range isn't always
(03:22):
better.
The classic ranges that I'mtalking about here that I really
look for in a wide angle isgonna be like your 24 to 105s.
That's probably the biggestrange I'm gonna personally use.
24 to 70 is a very, veryvenerable lens, a very venerable
range.
I have seen the 18 to 200s fromTamron.
They're pretty darn good.
(03:42):
Again, if you are just adamantabout not changing lenses, it's
a pretty good coverage acrossthe spectrum for everything
except for really kind of primewildlife photography.
And then you also have theprime lenses of like the 24 1.8
or 24 1.4, the 35 1.4, eventhough 35 isn't super wide, I
(04:04):
would still consider it on thewide end of the spectrum.
And then, last, we're going todo a little bit of a deep dive
later in the episode about theultra-wides like the 16 to 35
f2.8s.
Those are really really greattoo, but honestly, most of this
episode is going to concentrateon like the 24 to 1.5, 24 to 70,
which in the crop frameequivalent would be like your 18
(04:26):
to 55s, 18 to 70s.
Okay, so let's dive intoprobably the most important
other number to look for whenyou're shopping for a lens, and
that's aperture.
This is your f number.
This dictates the maximumaperture which lets in a lot of
light, which gives you thatbeautiful blur in the background
.
Now, it does a lot of otherthings aperture that is, but
(04:48):
really what we're looking for isthe smallest f number possible.
This correlates again toletting in as much light as
possible, but also means thatwhen you're getting that great
portraiture work, a lot of thesewide angle lenses can be great
portrait lenses.
If you're shooting in an f4,it's quite different than an
f2.8.
An f2.8 is going to be a lotmore blur in that background and
(05:09):
foreground.
So generally what we're lookingfor the correlation with
quality here is a low f number.
The other thing you're going tosee oftentimes, especially with
zoom ranges, when you have an 18to 55 or 24 to 105, or
especially the bigger rangeslike the 18 to 200s is you're
going to see either a fixedaperture throughout, so you're
(05:32):
going to see f slash in just onenumber, or you're going to see
f slash a number, a dash and asecond number.
That's a.
It's an aperture range and sobasically what it means is like
a classic example is the 18 to55 that comes with most kits.
It's going to be an f 3.5 to5.6.
That means somewhere along theline it's going to change from
(05:53):
3.5 at the widest end of thespectrum, so at 18 millimeters,
and as you zoom in it's going tochange steadily from 3.5 to 4,
from 4 to 4.5 all the way to 5.6at the maximum focal length.
So don't worry about exactlywhere it changes.
The idea is that you just won'thave a constant aperture
(06:14):
throughout.
I think it's a little bitfrustrating to have that.
It's not a deal breakerwhatsoever.
Most lenses, especiallyintroductory lenses, have that
range, but it's really reallynice, it's a luxury to have a
constant aperture throughout,because you can make better
predictions and calculationsbased on light.
In addition, the higher endlenses will usually have a
(06:34):
constant aperture and it'llusually be a pretty low F number
, or what we call a big maximumaperture.
The reason that the smallnumber and the big aperture are
the same thing is becauseaperture really refers to the
opening to the lens, and thebigger that opening to the lens,
the more light it lets in andessentially the smaller number
(06:54):
that that correlates to Justsomething you have to memorize.
There's not a ton of rhyme orreason around it.
Again, small F number means bigaperture, but the really high
quality lenses have small Fnumbers.
The 24 to 105 that I use andshoot with most often as my wide
angle zoom, is a constant F4.
I can't go to 2.8.
(07:15):
But also I can keep it at F4all throughout that range.
If you're shooting on like at18 to 200 or some of the really
really big ranges like 18 to 400, you might start at 3.5, which
is pretty decent, but then youmight go all the way to 5.6, 6.3
, sometimes even 7.1.
And this has to do with theamount of lens elements and
(07:36):
construction.
It's just hard to have yourcake and eat it too.
If you were to have an 18 to200 F2.8 throughout, the lens
would be four times the size andcost 10 times as much.
I don't think it even exists.
But just to give you an ideathat yes, it'd be nice to have
that small F number for thosebig ranges, but what we usually
see is those small F numberswith the more conservative
(07:59):
ranges, like the 24 to 70sversus the 24 to 105.
In fact, canada just came outwith, I believe, the first ever
24 to 105 F2.8 throughout.
The thing looks like a bazooka.
It's not a big wildlife lensbut it looks like one, simply
because the amount of glass andconstruction needed in all the
(08:20):
elements and in the workings ofthe lens.
So anyway, it's really worthunderstanding that you can't
always have every element of alens in the package.
You kind of have to balance itand give and take a little bit.
So anyway, moving on from there,we're going to go into this
quality discussion, and this isanother big part.
So there's a really easy way tofigure out whether one lens is
(08:44):
better quality from a photostandpoint than the other, and
that's price.
A more expensive lens is goingto be higher quality in some way
, shape or form.
But quality is really in anumber of buckets.
One sense of quality is thataperture.
So you can have two verysimilar lenses, but one shoots
at a 2.8 and one shoots at a 4.
(09:04):
The 2.8 is always going to bemore expensive.
Now, that being said, it'salmost always the case that the
lens that goes down to 2.4 isgoing to be better quality as
well.
So there's a really high degreeof correlation there.
But if one lens is $500 and onelens is $1,000 and the focal
range is the same and theaperture is the same, there's
(09:26):
probably something else going onin there, and it's usually just
the quality of the photo.
It's better sharpness, it'sbetter contrast, it's better
colors.
It sometimes is also betterbuild quality.
Now again, all these thingsusually come into one package.
But, for instance, the Canon Lseries lenses, which are really
their top of the line, theirhighest quality, they also come
(09:47):
with really high buildconstruction, and that means
it's going to be a magnesiumalloy frame and barrel versus
plastic.
The rings, the focusing dials,are going to be a little bit
better constructed, sometimes alot better constructed, and then
ultimately they're going to beprobably weather and dust proof.
None of these lenses are trulywaterproof and you certainly
(10:08):
can't submerge them.
But having some pretty darngood gaskets and seals on lenses
, especially if you're shootingnature and wildlife travel, is
going to be really really wellworth the money.
Not worrying about a littlespeck of dust getting into your
camera when you're on Safari,not worrying about a little, mr
Rain, when you're in Alaska,makes a big difference.
You do have to pay for that,but again, what usually happens
(10:31):
is once you go and bump up toany brand of cameras, top the
line lenses whether it's Sony,olympus, canon, nikon, any of
them there's going to be apretty big price bump.
You might be wondering wellgosh, everything looks really
really similar.
The only thing different is theF number and just the look of
(10:51):
the lens, and it's going from$400 for the inexpensive version
to $1,200 for the top of theline.
Well, it's probably waterproof,it's probably dust proof, it's
probably a significantly betterimage and it probably has a
better aperture rating.
Even if a small differenceagain, like F4 to F2.8, it makes
a really big difference forprofessional photographers and
(11:13):
it's something that you mightwant to consider getting into.
One quick side note here it'softentimes a lot to swallow if
you're a beginner photographerin looking at a big investment.
You might have paid less foryour camera than the lens you're
about to buy.
But I will tell you that lensesat the top end of quality very,
very often hold the vastmajority of their value as long
(11:33):
as you're buying them, not whenthey're just about to be
replaced by the cameramanufacturer with a new version.
You know something like ifthey're within the last four or
five years, you can probablyresell them at some point for 70
, 80% of their value, whichmeans that when you go to make
this big investment yes, it'smoney out of your pocket, but
(11:55):
it's not like it's out of yourpocket forever You're going to
be able to recoup all that.
And sometimes you know I've donecalculations of my lenses over
the years and I've essentiallyrented a great lens for $400 for
four or five years because Ibuy it for 1200, and I sell it
four or five years later for 800.
And it's still worth thatamount of money.
I'm not pulling a con man thingover anybody.
(12:17):
It's still worth that amount ofmoney.
People are willing to pay forit because you bought the top of
the line, less expensive lenses.
If I were to buy a $400 lens,the chance of selling it for 350
, four or five years later, very, very slim.
Cammin manufacturers replacethose lenses more often in terms
of newer, better versions andgenerally you're just not
(12:38):
getting a lot of people lookingfor used lenses at that more
beginner category.
They do look for them, but youmight buy a lens for 400 and be
able to sell it for 100 or 150,something like that.
So, again, really nice torecoup that investment and just
knowing that when you're makingthat initial decision of you
know how big are you going to go, I think makes a big difference
.
(12:59):
Now the next thing we're goingto talk about is weight and size
of your lens and as a beginneryou're going to really want to
consider this because you'regoing to have to travel with it,
you're going to have to hold it, you're going to have to put in
your backpack, you're going tohave to put in your carry on.
So the weight and size makes abig difference.
I will tell you, personallyit's something that I rarely,
rarely consider and look at.
I know that the weight and sizeis going to increase with
(13:20):
quality lenses, especially whenyou get into those lower F
numbers, those bigger maximumapertures, if you take two
lenses and one is an F4 and oneis a 2.8, it's going to increase
by 50% weight, 100% weight, itmight you know, it might truly
double.
Like I just said, from thisexample, the 24 to 105 that
(13:42):
Canon has, the F4 version lookslike a quote unquote normal lens
.
The F2.8 version looks like abazooka.
So just know that that is afactor when you get into these
lenses.
Obviously, when you're thinkingabout a bigger range, an 18 to
200 is a heck of a lot biggerthan an 18 to 55.
Interestingly, when you comparethe 24 to 105, the 24 to 70,
(14:06):
that 24 to 72.8 is actuallybigger than the 24 to 105
because well, you guessed it,it's F2.8.
Now the other thing I want totalk about is you know, I'm just
sort of getting in my mind tothe idea of these prime lenses,
girls.
We're talking about weight andspace and size.
If you're the kind of personthat wants to absolutely be
(14:26):
minimal and are willing tosacrifice some flexibility
pretty much all the range,meaning you're not going to be
able to zoom, you're stuck andfixed at that focal length you
might want to consider lookinginto prime lenses and when we're
talking about wide angle lensesfor beginning photography of
landscape, travel, even wildlifein landscape, usually what I'm
looking at is, on a full framecamera, something around 24
(14:49):
millimeters, and for a cropframe camera, something around
18 millimeters.
That's sort of the the nicewide end of the spectrum, such
that you don't really need to gowider unless you're in really
special circumstances.
Like I said, we're going to getinto those ultra wides in a
second.
But as far as prime lenses, whatare you going to get with a
prime lens that you don't have?
(15:10):
With the range, what is?
What is the quid pro quo?
What is the balance there?
Well, the first thing you'regoing to get is a better price
Usually prime lenses, becausethey don't have as much tech and
development and inner workings.
You're going to get a reallyhigh quality lens for maybe half
the price, or at least the sameprice as one of these zooms,
but you're going to get asignificantly better aperture.
(15:32):
You're going to getsignificantly better glass
quality.
So by sacrificing that range,you do bump up other parts of
your lens that are really reallynice to have.
So, for instance, a 24 to 1.8or 1.4 might be five or $600,
but it's going to be the samequality as a 24 to 105.
(15:52):
That might be $1,000 or $1,200.
What are you not going to get?
Well, you're just not going toget that range.
It's going to be smaller, it isgoing to be lighter, you're
going to get a better apertureand the quality is going to be
very, very similar.
Now, one other thing I haven'ttalked about much and it's just
donning on it on me to mentionthis now is the idea of image
stabilization.
This is now a prettycommonplace thing in photography
(16:16):
and that's something you wantto absolutely be on the lookout.
When you see the focal lengthof the wide angle lens you're
looking at, picking out, and allthese numbers and letters
behind it.
We talked about aperture, sothat f slash number is your
aperture.
What we didn't talk about isthe IS or the VR.
Canon uses IS, nikon uses VR, Ithink Sony uses VR, and they
(16:38):
are all just basically acronyms,initials for their vibration
reduction system or imagestabilization system, is for
image stabilization.
Having it is really really,really, really nice.
Not many cameras are without it.
Most cameras have imagestabilization or, sorry, most
lenses have image stabilizationthese days, so it's not
(16:59):
something that you need tointently look out for, and you
probably won't be weighing a lotof differences, apples and
oranges, between two lenses andone that doesn't have IS and one
that does.
But be careful when you get inespecially.
The reason I'm mentioning thisnow, especially in a prime
lenses, is that oftentimesthey're such niche lenses that
they may or may not have imagestabilization.
(17:20):
And if you say, oh gosh, well,I don't need to zoom and I want
a small package, I want a really, really great aperture, I'm
going to pick up this, this 24,this 20, those are the category
of lenses that sometimes thatimage stabilization or that
vibration reduction drops off.
So just be aware of that.
The final thing we're kind of onthis nomenclature thing I want
(17:41):
to talk about is the focus andmechanism.
So obviously all these lensesnowadays are going to be
autofocus.
There are very, very few cameramanufacturers that stick with
manual focus and they're morefor niche category of lenses
like astrophotography et cetera.
Samyang and Rokinon they make alot of really great, affordable
lenses in the prime range, like20 millimeters, 24 millimeters.
(18:05):
They don't zoom, they're you'restuck at that focal range, but
extraordinary apertures like 1.8, 1.4, sometimes 1.2, at pretty
affordable prices like less than$500.
What do you not get with those?
Well, you don't get imagestabilization and you probably
don't get autofocus.
To me, autofocus is a must forthis category of lens.
(18:26):
It just saves me so much time.
It's more accurate oftentimesthan what I can see in the back
of the screen or through myviewfinder to manually focus.
It's just a pretty crucialthing.
But what you will often seewhen the lenses are being named,
or the actual writing on thebarrel of the lens, is it might
say USM or other variousacronyms that stand for the type
(18:50):
of focus mechanism.
Now every camera manufacturerhas a slightly different way of
explaining their nano focusingmicrogear technology.
I just want you to be awarethat with the advent of new
cameras and new lenses, theselenses are getting better at
focusing.
They're more silent and they'requicker.
(19:11):
So I didn't mention this when Iwas talking about quality, but
that's another real, realbenefit of a high quality lens
is focusing speed, autofocusingspeed.
You can usually get a muchfaster focus with a high quality
lens.
So I know.
I'm a Canon guy, so I knowCanon has a USM designation,
which stands for ultrasonicmotor.
(19:31):
I think they even have a fasterone like STM that stands for
something fancy.
These days I don't really getinto the weeds of the category
of fancy autofocus speed, but Ido make sure that I'm
considering that when I'mlooking at the price versus the
range, versus the aperture, am Igetting all of this or just
part of it?
And what is most important tome?
(19:51):
Usually that quiet focusingmotor is most important for
videography, but oftentimes theyare associated with the fastest
autofocusing speed as well.
So, yeah, if you're getting anew lens with new tech, you're
probably going to be getting oneof those really nice quiet
focusing motors, but again,something as a beginner to keep
an eye out for when you'reshopping for a lens.
(20:12):
Okay, last but not least, I toldyou we're going to talk a
little bit about ultra wideangles.
So ultra wide angles are thosethat are even wider than your
classic wide angle lenses.
So I keep on going back to likethe 18 to 55 on crop frames,
the 24 to 70 on full frames.
An ultra wide would be like a10 to 22 on a crop frame or a 15
to 35 on a full frame.
(20:34):
You wouldn't think that thatyou know nine millimeters or
eight millimeters of differencein the number makes a big
difference, but it absolutelydoes.
There's a disproportionateeffect of each unit.
As you go towards the lowernumbers, the wider angle of the
spectrum.
So, yeah, a 10 to 22 gives youa lot wider shot than the 18 to
(20:55):
55.
It makes quite a big difference.
So, uh, do I recommend them?
I don't think they replace yourgeneral wide angle lenses, your
your multi purpose wide anglezooms.
They're really really nice tohave.
There was a period of my lifewhere I was shooting mostly on
my 16 to 35 and and kind ofkeeping my 24 to 105 in my bag.
But honestly, now that I'mshooting more and more in far
(21:19):
flung destinations, that extrareach is hugely important for me
.
I just prefer to have that onbecause if a wildlife spectacle
does present itself and I'mstuck with a 16 to 35, I can
probably photograph or film thereactions of people around me,
but I'm definitely not able tozoom into that animal unless
it's like an elephant 20 feetaway.
So I like them a lot, but theyhave much more niche
(21:42):
applications for, like indoorphotography.
They're really they are greatfor people photography, because
people you can get really closeto and oftentimes, especially in
travel photography, you are incloser quarters, you're in
vehicles, you're in boats, andso they're really great for
documenting the action and thevibe of an experience.
They're really great for biglandscape photography.
(22:03):
But oftentimes people think, ohyeah, big, beautiful landscapes
, let me get my ultra wide angleout.
Ironically, sometimes those biglandscapes necessitate zooming
in a little bit, so an ultrawide is not always the best case
for big landscapes.
To boil it down, an ultra wideangle lens is really great for
if you are in tight quarters orphotographing the aurora
(22:26):
borealis.
That's kind of what a boils outto.
If you're photographingNorthern Lights, heck yeah, you
want as much sky as possible andultra wide is fantastic.
In fact, I'm heading to Icelandsoon to hopefully photograph
Northern Lights.
But yeah, you know, you kind ofwant to be judicious in
considering an ultra wide versusa wide angle, because there are
(22:47):
merits to each.
But I don't think an ultra widereplaces a wide angle lens.
And there you have it, folks.
That's.
That's my deep dive on allthings.
For a beginner, shopping for anew, new, upgraded or just brand
new first time general wideangle lens.
If you have any additionalthoughts or questions, please do
(23:07):
not hesitate to email me atthewildphotographerpodcast at
gmailcom.
Again,thewildphotographerpodcast at
gmailcom.
We'd love to hear from youideas for new episodes,
questions that are burning inyour mind.
If you want deeper informationon anything I've talked about
here, this is how I get fuel andinspiration for future episodes
(23:29):
, so please don't hesitate togive me an email and, of course,
if you would like to leave arating on Apple podcast or
Spotify or wherever you'relistening to, that's the way to
support me and help me best inmy podcast ventures.
So thank you so much forleaving a rating and possibly
even a comment.
You can leave up to a five starreview, and it does indeed help
(23:49):
get my reach out there andsupport the podcast.
So thank you so much and we'lltalk to you next time.
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