Wide Angle Lenses

For Landscape, Astro-photography and the Northern Lights, "wide" is a necessity in order to capture as much of the scene (or night sky, Northern Lights,…) as possible. While 35mm was once considered the standard "wide" landscape lens, 14mm is now common. Used correctly, 14mm does not produce the 'fisheye' image that was once associated with focal lengths shorter than 20mm. 

Why go wide? 

  • For astro-photography, the focal length of the lens determines how long you can leave the shutter open before the stars start blurring in the final image - see The 500 Rule. For 14mm lenses, you can leave the shutter open for 35 seconds which is essential for the standard 'nighttime' exposure of ISO 3200 @ F2.8 for 30 seconds.

  • Modern full-frame cameras produce images at 6k to 8k resolution. With a wide lens, you can record more usable information for the scene at very high quality.

  • For landscape photography, wide lenses allow you more freedom when composing your scene, including the ability to move closer to a critical element (a tree or rock) while still retaining your overall composition in the frame (The Night Sky!).

Note: For Astro-Photography and Northern Lights, "Fast" F2.8 (or faster) lenses are required.  
Note: When looking at products on Amazon, look for products which ratings of at least 4.5 or 5.

 
 

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