DO I NEED A WIDE ANGLE LENS?

There is a common misconception that wide angle lenses are only suitable for landscape photography, and whilst wide angle lenses (and ultra-wide angle lenses for that matter) are very useful for taking photos of stunning landscapes and seascapes they can be used for many other subjects as well.

I admit that I am a fan of wide angle lenses, and I always have a camera with a wide angle lens attached wherever I go, regardless of what I am out to shoot. Thinking about it my wide angle lens is my most used lens, and if I could only have one lens it would be a wide angle lens.

I don’t just use my wide angle lens for landscape photography but also for portrait photography (both individual and group shots), wedding photography, boudoir photography, interior photography, architectural photography, flower photography and street photography among other things. A wide angle lens is a versatile lens, and it is a lens that all photographers should have in their lens bag.

There are many different wide-angle lenses available (consisting of both prime lenses and zoom lenses) and the best lens for you depends on your specific circumstances. If you shoot a Canon Camera, like I do there is a large range of wide-angle lenses available including the Canon 10-22 (specially for crop sensor Canon cameras), Canon 16-35 F2.8L, Canon 8-15 F4L fisheye, Canon 16-35 F4L IS, Canon 28 F1.8 and the Canon 35mm F2 IS to name just a few.

If you don’t mind third party lenses, i.e. those made by other manufacturers there are alternatives including the Sigma 35mm F1.4 ART, a lens which some photographers state is better than the flagship Canon 35mm F1.4L. Whether the Sigma ART is better than the Canon L series lens is a matter of personal preference, but there’s no doubt that both are exceptionally good lenses.

If you don’t mind manual focus only lenses (i.e. without auto focus) there are even more wide-angle lenses available, such as the Zeiss 35mm F1.4, which is an exceptional lens.

Choosing the best wide-angle landscape lens for your Canon camera is going to be a bit of a headache (I can’t lie about it) but as long as you do your homework, do some research and ask the right question on a photography forum or two you’ll be fine. One thing to remember is that once you spend over a certain amount of money the differences between the lenses becomes negligible and you will be able to take awesome photos regardless of what you use. People get too hung up when buying lenses and end up wasting a lot of time going round and round in circles and it isn’t necessary. Trust me on this, as long as you buy a good quality lens (i.e. one that isn’t cheap) you won’t be disappointed with the results. If you do need a helping hand deciding on a wide-angle lens for your Canon camera “The best wide angle lenses for CanonCameras” may be of some use to you.