Which Lens for Work

RandomlySet

RandomlySet

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Mat
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I have been thinking of buying a Wide Angle lens for personal use as I seem to be getting "into" photographing around my local town, taking pictures of buildings etc.

After an idea yesterday, I spoke to my director about taking new photos of all our branches. These photos will be of the building (for Google Maps use), which will probably be done using the standard lens. However, he then mentioned taking photos of inside the buildings. So this would be photos of the warehouses and also store fronts. I did mention about buying a wide angle lens, and he said the MD should allow that.

So, what I want to know is, what lens do you think would best suit for shots in warehouses (with narrow aisles), shop fronts (aisles are only about 4 ft tall) and sales offices/staff group photos? It doesn't have to be a wide angle, but I assumed that that would be best.

For reference, both my personal camera, and the camera we have at work is a Canon EOS 1100D.

I don't have a budget set yet, but I know if it was too "expensive", the MD would probably say "oh well, you can get one here for £xxx". So I would probably say around the £150 mark, maybe up to £200. If it's more, then that would be fine, providing I can give good reasoning behind the expense, and why we should pay more for a good one, rather than get a cheap as chips one that is pants (if that makes sense).

Thanks in advance
 
If this needs to be a new lens so you can claim for via work you are going to struggle with that budget.

However if you are to get a secondhand lens the Sigma 10-20mm F4-5.6 is a good choice at that budget. I owned one for around 6 months, be aware that wide open it is a little soft but from F8 it's performance is good. Be careful when buying used though as some of them suffer with softness down one side of the lens.

If taking architectural images you are likely to be setting your F-stop to around 13 and using ISO 100, you will therefore have to use a tripod.
 
Tripod isn't an issue. We have one at work, and I have two at home (one being very heavy and solid).

TBH, we'd probably be buying a new one - as you say, so we can claim. In all honesty, I haven't a clue on what price to expect, but if it exceeds £200, that will probably be fine. We have the money, it's just that I'd have to justify it to my Director and also the MD.
 
If you are buying new for around £200 the new Canon 10-18mm is around that price point, but I have no experience of the lens. I'd assume it is a good lens as it has the Canon name on it but I would do some research before buying.
 
Tokina do a nice range of Ultra Wide Angle lenses, i currently have the 12-24mm f4 and am very impressed with it, unfortunately i have a Nikon, otherwise you could have had a play with it
 
DaveKing said:
If you are buying new for around £200 the new Canon 10-18mm is around that price point, but I have no experience of the lens. I'd assume it is a good lens as it has the Canon name on it but I would do some research before buying.
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When you say researching, what would I be looking for?
 
the samyang 14mm might also be an option (its about £285) - that said i'm not convinced that a UWA is a good idea for interior shots, they tend to make flat lines curved, you might be better off taking a couple of standard shots and stiching them together (may be ask your MD to pay for the stitching software)
 
yeah i thought that as well ;) - theres nowt wrong with using a lower fstop and a higher iso - especially as these are for googlemaps not high end estate agency... also i'd presume that he'd be doing some of the shots with flash
 
big soft moose said:
the samyang 14mm might also be an option (its about £285) - that said i'm not convinced that a UWA is a good idea for interior shots, they tend to make flat lines curved, you might be better off taking a couple of standard shots and stiching them together (may be ask your MD to pay for the stitching software)
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I work at an office fit out design company, and 99% of the professional togs use around 16mm FF equivalent as it makes rooms look larger.
 
that'll be proffesional togs that have the gear to achieve it with those settings (it also depends on the size of the room he's photographing , he said 'branches' so i assumed a relatively small retail chain (as the big ones would probably have the budget for pro's and wouldnt be that arsed about googlemap)
 
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Thanks guys.

In regards to stitching several images, I had considered this. I guess I could do this in PS.

Out of curiosity, could you use a Wide Angle for videos?
 
big soft moose said:
the samyang 14mm might also be an option (its about £285) - that said i'm not convinced that a UWA is a good idea for interior shots, they tend to make flat lines curved, you might be better off taking a couple of standard shots and stiching them together (may be ask your MD to pay for the stitching software)
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My Tokina 12-24mm f4 shoots with perfect straight lines, even at 12mm, so i'm not sure that lenses you might be referring to

Mat, if you want to meet up, i can let you have a play with my Nikon D7100 with the 12-24mm attached to see if it is the sort of thing you might be after, it might at least give you an idea if it is wide enough for what you need, the D7100 is a crop body so should give reasonably similar results to that size lens on your Canon
 
RandomlySet said:
Out of curiosity, could you use a Wide Angle for videos?
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in theory you can use virtually any lens that goes on the camera for video, as ever it depends on what you want to acheive
 
That'd be great. A little hectic at work at the moment. Weekends are best for me - where abouts in Chesterfield are you based?
 
big soft moose said:
in theory you can use virtually any lens that goes on the camera for video, as ever it depends on what you want to acheive
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I gathered. Not sure if I'd ever use it for video, as the standard lens has been ok for what we have done. Just wondered what affect it'd give, and if it could be used in a useful way at all.
 
rpsmith79 said:
My Tokina 12-24mm f4 shoots with perfect straight lines, even at 12mm, so i'm not sure that lenses you might be referring to
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I definitely saw barrell distortion with my sigma 10-20 at the wide end, and i'd be suprised if a cheaply built lens like the 10-18 didnt also suffer, its also a known issue with the samyang 14mm which was the other lens mentioned. You'd expect less distortion with more expensive lenses but these would be out of the OPs price range.

Course he could use distortion correction in photoshop , but its one more thing to have to faff about with.

Also if he's shooting branches with people working in them the UWA can be less than flattering to those close to the camera
 
I'd add, the branch shots would probably be people "posing".

Let me just get some examples of our current images. I'm not sure if our Ex Graphic Designer took the pics, or the Operations Director. Either way, they are poor and I believe taken with a Point & Shoot by hand.
 
RandomlySet said:
I gathered. Not sure if I'd ever use it for video, as the standard lens has been ok for what we have done. Just wondered what affect it'd give, and if it could be used in a useful way at all.
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well its basic effct woukld be a wider angle of view - if you think about go pro or other action cam video - those are mostly quite WA - wheher it would be actually useful would depend on what you are doing.

I wouldnt recomend the samyang 14mm for video as its a manaul focus lens , so although you can you might struggle to keep up with changing focus distances etc
 
Here is our company website (Select Branches from the menu) http://www.sdlmotorfactors.co.uk

Ignore the Burton & Mansfield branches, as these images are photos, but the signage photoshopped on as they are new branches.

Chesterfield is a VERY narrow shop front, which you can probably tell. Clay Cross has a LARGE sales office as you can also see. Some of the others I can't comment on as I haven't been to all the branches to experience them.

Thank you.
 
DaveKing said:
What's wrong with that statement? To get maximum depth of field for interior shots he is most likely to be setting to F13-F16. Certainly most of the files we receive at our office from the professional togs are around that.
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Are you talking FF or APS-C and at what focal length? I don't need to know but it matters to the shooter and the end result.

We seem to be talking wide angle and even with APS-C and even at 20mm f13 is going to give you a DoF of under 3 feet to infinity. Madness IMVHO, and doubly so if we're talking relatively small images. f13 is IMVHO overkill to the point of possibly harming image quality, if you pixel peep and look for the damage you're doing.

Why not use a wider aperture which will almost certainly provide better image quality because you'll be using the lens nearer its sweet spot and venturing less into the realms of diffraction, and at a faster shutter speed too.

IMVHO it's a good idea to think about the output size and viewing circumstance and what is required of the image and personally I'd only use an adequate aperture for DoF reasons as there's no point exceeding the what the scene requires or what the output will reveal.

On the subject of distortion, many wide angle lenses are better corrected than for example a mid range zoom and any distortion could possibly be dealt with post capture by a lens profile. It's a while since I had Canon kit but I'm certain that CS5 (my software of choice) did a rather good job once the appropriate lens profile was selected and I'm pretty sure that other packages will sort it too. Personally with a wide angle I'd be more concerned with perspective distortion and getting straight lines lined up so they looked right than actual distortion.
 
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woof woof said:
Are you talking FF or APS-C and at what focal length? I don't need to know but it matters to the shooter and the end result.

We seem to be talking wide angle and even with APS-C and even at 20mm f13 is going to give you a DoF of under 3 feet to infinity. Madness IMVHO, and doubly so if we're talking relatively small images. f13 is IMVHO overkill to the point of possibly harming image quality, if you pixel peep and look for the damage you're doing.

Why not use a wider aperture which will almost certainly provide better image quality because you'll be using the lens nearer its sweet spot and venturing less into the realms of diffraction, and at a faster shutter speed too.

IMVHO it's a good idea to think about the output size and viewing circumstance and what is required of the image and personally I'd only use an adequate aperture for DoF reasons as there's no point exceeding the what the scene requires or what the output will reveal.

On the subject of distortion, many wide angle lenses are better corrected than for example a mid range zoom and any distortion could possibly be dealt with post capture by a lens profile. It's a while since I had Canon kit but I'm certain that CS5 (my software of choice) did a rather good job once the appropriate lens profile was selected and I'm pretty sure that other packages will sort it too. Personally with a wide angle I'd be more concerned with perspective distortion and getting straight lines lined up so they looked right than actual distortion.
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I agree with what you are saying here, but one thing you are forgetting is vignetting is greatly reduced at smaller apertures, and for marketing shots that are likely to be either web based or printed on 80gsm paper nailing the exposure and reducing vignetting is more important than pixel level detail
 
DaveKing said:
What's wrong with that statement? To get maximum depth of field for interior shots he is most likely to be setting to F13-F16. Certainly most of the files we receive at our office from the professional togs are around that.
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Not on a cropped body such as the 1100d. You'll have the whole frame sharp by f/8, there's no need to go to such narrow apertures on an 1100d.

You can easily up the ISO and hand hold with an ultra wide.
 
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DaveKing said:
I agree with what you are saying here, but one thing you are forgetting is vignetting is greatly reduced at smaller apertures, and for marketing shots that are likely to be either web based or printed on 80gsm paper nailing the exposure and reducing vignetting is more important than pixel level detail
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Vignetting may very well vary lens to lens but it's rarely an issue IMVHO especially these days when it can be corrected in 2.3 seconds by moving a slider in your processing package of choice.

Just my VHO of course and we can all make our own minds up but personally I rarely use apertures such as f13 and specifically thinking about wider lenses... probably never.
 
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