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Author Topic: Best Canon ultra-wides for night work wide open?  (Read 6688 times)

Murray Fredericks

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Best Canon ultra-wides for night work wide open?
« on: February 23, 2008, 06:44:54 am »

Hi,

I'm interested in the experiences of anyone using wide/ultra- wide lenses at f/2.8 - 3.5.

Canon fit.

It is challenging work to be reproduced large and at high quality, so sharpness, edge sharpness and even-'ness' across the frame are my main concerns.

I am thinking in the 14mm to 21mm range.
 Murray
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dchew

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Best Canon ultra-wides for night work wide open?
« Reply #1 on: February 23, 2008, 07:11:44 am »

I'll go with the standard answer:  14mm f/2.8L II.

Beyond that I don't think there is a prime significantly better than the 16-35 f/2.8L II, until you get to the 24mm range.

I don't own the 14mm, so this is based on reading, not experience.

See if you can beg, borrow or rent the zoom.  If that turns out to be good enough for this application you'll have a very versitile lens.

Dave
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Mike W

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Best Canon ultra-wides for night work wide open?
« Reply #2 on: February 23, 2008, 07:25:09 am »

I use the 24mm as a standard for my night photography, mostly at f8.

Edge sharpness sucks compared to a hasselblad 50mm, which is my benchmark for wide-angle lens testing. I'd say the canon 24mm is about as sharp as the Hasselblad 903swc.

It's ok, but it could be a lot better.
I'm hearing wonderfull things about the Nikon 14-24mm though.
Maybe you should test that one with an adapter?

regards,

Mike
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Eldor

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Best Canon ultra-wides for night work wide open?
« Reply #3 on: February 23, 2008, 02:57:07 pm »

I know it's not wide enough for you (you said 14-21mm range) but since there were already two comments about the 24mm, I thought I'd give an opposing viewpoint.

Among the lenses I own currently are the 16-35mm f2.8L and 35mm f1.4L.  I DID have the 24mm f1.4L as well (got it first, before the 35mm) and I must say that I hated it.  Maybe it was simply a bad copy, but I just didn't find the lens sharp enough.  And NOT as sharp at the 16-35mm.  Several friends had told me before my purchase that this was the case, but thinking how could an "L" lens not be sharp, I bought it anyway.  Sold it within six months.  IF you buy one, make sure you are able to return it if it doesn't meet your needs/expectations.

I don't have it, but I've heard good things about the 14mm f2.8L II.

Which body are you using?  Full-frame, I hope?

Cheers!
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Mike W

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Best Canon ultra-wides for night work wide open?
« Reply #4 on: February 23, 2008, 07:36:19 pm »

Eldor,

How does the 16-35mm old up in terms of sharpness in the corners?
Could you post a raw-file or a 100Ù crop?

thanks

Mike
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Christopher

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Best Canon ultra-wides for night work wide open?
« Reply #5 on: February 23, 2008, 08:54:57 pm »

Canon + anything wider than 35 = crap

Sorry but there is no good Wide lens from Canon ...
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Murray Fredericks

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Best Canon ultra-wides for night work wide open?
« Reply #6 on: February 24, 2008, 02:07:15 am »

Which body are you using?  Full-frame, I hope?

Eldor,

while I own a 1ds and also MFDB systems, this is actually for time lapse work to be used in cinema. The challenge here is to find the highest quality file output small enough (eg small jpeg) so that when 4000 frames become a few minutes getting there does not crash the various post production systems with excess data.

Last time I used a 20d with the 17-40mm lens and the 24mm tse. Both lenses qwere not really fast enough. The tse was the sharpest but the 17-40L was average.

I now want faster lenses of good quality - maybe I should look to Nikon?

Murray
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mahleu

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Best Canon ultra-wides for night work wide open?
« Reply #7 on: February 24, 2008, 05:18:28 am »

Quote
How does the 16-35mm old up in terms of sharpness in the corners?
Could you post a raw-file or a 100Ù crop?
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=176973\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

The first 16-35mm was not as sharp as the 17-40mm. I've used the 17-40 quite a bit on both a crop sensor and a 5D and i'm quite impressed with it although it's not really that fast. What do you want to shoot that requires a fast lens and could you not compensate with high iso?
« Last Edit: February 24, 2008, 05:20:32 am by mahleu »
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Mike W

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Best Canon ultra-wides for night work wide open?
« Reply #8 on: February 24, 2008, 07:06:36 am »

Mahleu,

I don't need a fast lens, I just need a wide lens that is tack-sharp at f8 for landscape work.
And for maximum IQ, I try to shoot at 100 iso at all times.
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kjkahn

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Best Canon ultra-wides for night work wide open?
« Reply #9 on: February 24, 2008, 12:34:58 pm »

Quote
Mahleu,

I don't need a fast lens, I just need a wide lens that is tack-sharp at f8 for landscape work.
And for maximum IQ, I try to shoot at 100 iso at all times.
[{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
Although the 17-40L is not the sharpest wide angle lens in existence, it is at its sharpest at the wide end. There is noticeable barrel distortion at the wide end, but at least for landscape work, PTLens will provide adequate correction. This photo was taken at 21mm and f/8 on a 1D11.

[a href=\"http://mysite.verizon.net/kjkahn/csh/sagamore-05a.jpg]http://mysite.verizon.net/kjkahn/csh/sagamore-05a.jpg[/url]
« Last Edit: February 24, 2008, 12:36:14 pm by kjkahn »
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elkhornsun

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Best Canon ultra-wides for night work wide open?
« Reply #10 on: February 27, 2008, 05:51:29 pm »

For what you want in image quality the best choice is the Canon 24mm f1.4 lens. The 14mm lens will not provide the level of IQ you want, especially when shot wide open.
And the 14mm at f2.8 needs 4 times as much light as the 24mm f1.4 lens which has a significant impact on your shutter speeds.
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reillynevada

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Best Canon ultra-wides for night work wide open?
« Reply #11 on: February 28, 2008, 01:14:03 am »

Quote
The first 16-35mm was not as sharp as the 17-40mm. I've used the 17-40 quite a bit on both a crop sensor and a 5D and i'm quite impressed with it although it's not really that fast. What do you want to shoot that requires a fast lens and could you not compensate with high iso?
[{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Here are a few night shots with the "old" 16-35mm f/2.8L wide open.  These were time exposures because of the aurora of about 15 seconds if I recall.  They were taken on a 30D body:

[a href=\"http://community.dcmag.co.uk/photos/spamalots_gallery/category188975/picture659759.aspx]http://community.dcmag.co.uk/photos/spamal...ture659759.aspx[/url]

http://community.dcmag.co.uk/photos/spamal...ture659762.aspx

Sorry, I can't seem to paste the photos directly onto this thread...
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bobring

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Best Canon ultra-wides for night work wide open?
« Reply #12 on: February 28, 2008, 07:00:31 am »

I use the 17-40mm (OK) and the 24-70mm (Better than OK) for walk around type shots.  I bought a used Contax Zeiss 25mm f2.8 lens for more 'critical' work and am quite pleased with it.  The lens doesn't get the best reviews on forums but mine is sharp.  Good to the corners....but then again I'm using if for landscapes and stop down to about f8.  Just another option.


Quote
Hi,

I'm interested in the experiences of anyone using wide/ultra- wide lenses at f/2.8 - 3.5.

Canon fit.

It is challenging work to be reproduced large and at high quality, so sharpness, edge sharpness and even-'ness' across the frame are my main concerns.

I am thinking in the 14mm to 21mm range.
 Murray
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=176853\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
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sposch

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Best Canon ultra-wides for night work wide open?
« Reply #13 on: February 29, 2008, 07:17:19 pm »

Take a serious look at the Nikkor 14-24mm f2.8G ED with a Nikon>Canon adapter. All reviews state this is the sharpest wide zoom available, comparable to (or better than) the best WA primes.
I'll be replacing my unsharp 16-35 with this setup soon. Focus and aperature will be manual but that's not an issue for me.

Steve.
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dchew

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Best Canon ultra-wides for night work wide open?
« Reply #14 on: February 29, 2008, 07:29:45 pm »

Quote
For what you want in image quality the best choice is the Canon 24mm f1.4 lens. The 14mm lens will not provide the level of IQ you want, especially when shot wide open.
And the 14mm at f2.8 needs 4 times as much light as the 24mm f1.4 lens which has a significant impact on your shutter speeds.


I agree, but the original post was limited to a maximum of 21mm...

Dave Chew
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schrodingerscat

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Best Canon ultra-wides for night work wide open?
« Reply #15 on: March 01, 2008, 02:10:35 pm »

Quote
Canon + anything wider than 35 = crap

Sorry but there is no good Wide lens from Canon ...
[{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Here's some work by a buddy of mine using crap Canon WA's.


[a href=\"http://www.x-photography.com/photography/design.html]http://www.x-photography.com/photography/design.html[/url]
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smthopr

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Best Canon ultra-wides for night work wide open?
« Reply #16 on: March 02, 2008, 01:03:41 am »

Quote
Hi,

I'm interested in the experiences of anyone using wide/ultra- wide lenses at f/2.8 - 3.5.

Canon fit.

It is challenging work to be reproduced large and at high quality, so sharpness, edge sharpness and even-'ness' across the frame are my main concerns.

I am thinking in the 14mm to 21mm range.
 Murray
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=176853\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Murry, I'm curious to find out why you need such a fast lens for time lapse.

Could you tell us what subject matter you'll be shooting and how long the action takes place and how long the clip will run?

The reason I ask is that I would think the shutter speed should be quite slow, implying that one wouldn't need such a fast lens.

What I'm thinking is that if you shoot 1 frame every 10 seconds you'll have 6 frames/minute=4 minutes real time for each 1 second of movie. IOW a 30 second movie clip will take 2 hours to shoot. For this example, each frame should be exposed for 5 seconds. If you shoot one frame every 20 seconds, you can expose for 10 sec/frame etc.

-bruce
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