Very wide angle lens/sensor combination needed (120 deg)

[pk01]

Hi everyone,

I am looking for some help to chose a lens/camera which will give me the possibility to take picture with very wide angle . I have calculate that I need a lens/sensor combination that gives me aprox. 120 degrees horizontal view in air.

Any tips ? : do some of you can recommend me a lens/camera .

Thanks for any help
pk

[Paul in PDX]

Widest i know of is the canon 8-15mm f4 fisheye on a full frame body like the 5d. Not sure if that would be 120 degrees though.

Paul

[Dave Humphries]

Hi pk,

This should help, the table is for FF 35mm cameras, any smalle sensor will reduce these angles (not what you want).

Welcome to the CiC forums from ...

[Steaphany]

The formula for Field or Angle of View is:

Angle of View = 2 * Arc Tangent ( Sensor Dimension / ( 2 * Focal Length ))

[rpcrowe]

Hi PK,

Welcome to Cambridge in Colour...

Perhaps you could provide a bit more information regarding your use for a, "120 degrees horizontal view in air".

My first thought was that maybe a pano might be the way to go but, I'd need a bit more information before I recommended that method.

Shooting a pano in the vertical position will give you a wider top to bottom coverage. As an example, a 35mm focal length shot in the portrait position will provide approximately the same top to bottom coverage as a 24mm lens shot in the horizontal or landscape position - but will exhibit less perspective distortion. The amount of side to side coverage is predicated on how many images you are able or desire to merge,

BTW: Dave, I really like that table of angles of view that you linked to. It will help me in future calculations. Thanks.

[tclune]

A very useful set of calculators for photography can be found here: http://www.tawbaware.com/maxlyons/calc.htm Scroll down to the "Angular Field of View" calculator and you can figure out for yourself what you need. The widest DX rectilinear UWA lens with which I am familiar is the Sigma 8-16, which isn't wide enough on a Nikon 1.5 crop factor (and is a tad worse on the Canon 1.6 factor). It appears that the best you can do is the 112.6 degrees horizontally of this lens at 8mm. FWIW

ETA: I don't have any experience with FX cameras, but if there is a 10mm lens available for one of those, it would get you where you want to go in a rectilinear UWA lens.

[Ken MT]

Try a Sigma 12-24mm F4.5-5.6 II DG HSM on a full frame eg 5D Mk ll. Quoted on Sigma website at 122-84.1 degrees

[shreds]

Just be aware that some lenses (such as DX range Nikon lenses) are specifically designed for such sensors and if you put them on a FF, the camera will cut down the field of view available to use in the final shot (although the whole frame with a greyed out border is visible in the viewfinder)

Is 120 deg absolutely critical or can it be best match? I think it is quite important that the subject and conditions are also accounted for, as some lenses at this size have a somewhat limited max aperture?

[FrankMi]

Hi everyone,

I am looking for some help to chose a lens/camera which will give me the possibility to take picture with very wide angle . I have calculate that I need a lens/sensor combination that gives me aprox. 120 degrees horizontal view in air.

Any tips ? : do some of you can recommend me a lens/camera .

Thanks for any help
pk

Hi PK, is this for continuous use at 120°? If not then could you, as Richard suggests stitch together a panoramic image? The Sony TX7 Cybershot can do images that wide in-camera. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhHMWLjL77U

Or would a rental lens address your needs? When you say 'in air' do you mean that the images would be shot from an aircraft or while skydiving??

[Colin Southern]

Widest i know of is the canon 8-15mm f4 fisheye on a full frame body like the 5d. Not sure if that would be 120 degrees though.

Paul

The EF8-15mm F4 can do 180 degrees on a FF camera (that's a complete hemisphere)