Wide angle for Olympus m4/3

[Alan White]

For this m 4/3 users on here, what wide angle do you use for landscape?

I have the Panasonic 14mm bought out of budget reasons.

 

[Nawty]

There a quite a few options:

Oly 7-14 f/2.8 (most expensive)
Panasonic 7-14 F/4 (cheaper than the Oly, great lens but suffers purple blotches on Oly cameras - can be partially cured by a filter I believe)
Oly 9-18, small, cheap and good but not massively wide by modern standards
Oly 8mm f/1.8 fisheye - a pro lens and therefore expensive
Samyang/Rokinon 7.5mm f/3.5 fisheye - cheap and very good but manual focus only (not really a problem for such a lens) and de-fishes well in photoshop/Lightroom

 

[ianp5a]

I have the 9-18mm which is really small. But for landscapes I use a variety of focal lengths up to the maximum. I don't connect landscape with wide angle. Just use the focal length that suits the picture.

If you want ultra wide quite cheaply, the Samyang 7.5mm is fun. But you might not want too many shots with that extreme angle of view. Where choosing a nice foreground object becomes quite important.

 

[Alan White]

Nawty, do you have all of those??

 

[Sejanus Aelianus]

I use the Olympus 9-18 for interiors. Outside, I find the Panasonic 12-32 much more effective.

Your mileage is guaranteed to vary, of course.

 

[Nawty]

Nawty, do you have all of those??

No, I have the 9-18 and the Samyang fisheye.

I don't use them much as I generally find the 12mm on my 12-40 wide enough for most situations, I'm not really the biggest fan of UWA. The fisheye is fun and the 9-18 is so small and light I keep it just in case.

 

[srhmoto]

Bear in mind that fitting any sort of filters to the 7-14 lenses isn't straightforward.

I also find 12-14mm perfectly fine for pretty much everything I shoot.

Simon.

 

[alfbranch]

I have the 12-40 f2.8 Zuiko which is great and I have a 9-18mm f4.0 -5.6 both are very good.

The 12-50mm F3.5-6.3 is better than many think and can be found at a decent price

What camera are you using?

This is at 9mm on the 9-18

Buttermere reflection 2 by Alf Branch, on Flickr

This was handheld with the 12-50

Buttermere-dawn by Alf Branch, on Flickr

A panoramic stitch with the 12-40

Loch-Dochart-reflections-1-edit by Alf Branch, on Flickr

 

[Sejanus Aelianus]

No, I have the 9-18 and the Samyang fisheye.

I've got the Samyang as well. It's not very useful for landscapes but it can sometimes gee-up a cityscape...

 

[Nawty]

I have the 12-40 f2.8 Zuiko which is great and I have a 9-18mm f4.0 -5.6 both are very good.

The 12-50mm F3.5-6.3 is better than many think and can be found at a decent price

What camera are you using?

This is at 9mm on the 9-18

Buttermere reflection 2 by Alf Branch, on Flickr

This was handheld with the 12-50

Buttermere-dawn by Alf Branch, on Flickr

A panoramic stitch with the 12-40

Loch-Dochart-reflections-1-edit by Alf Branch, on Flickr

Lovely as always

How do you find panoramic stitching? Having recently discovered that Lightroom not only does HDR well and stitching well it will also stitch HDR images which sounds like it could give fantastic results - looking forward to trying it out when I go to Alaska.

I've got the Samyang as well. It's not very useful for landscapes but it can sometimes gee-up a cityscape...

I've shot a few landscapes with it and it can work quite well but you need to be a bit creative OR if you have the horizon across the middle of the image it works quite well too - especially if you de-fish. De-fished it is much wider than the 9mm on my 9-18mm.

 

[alfbranch]

Lovely as always

How do you find panoramic stitching? Having recently discovered that Lightroom not only does HDR well and stitching well it will also stitch HDR images which sounds like it could give fantastic results - looking forward to trying it out when I go to Alaska.




I've shot a few landscapes with it and it can work quite well but you need to be a bit creative OR if you have the horizon across the middle of the image it works quite well too - especially if you de-fish. De-fished it is much wider than the 9mm on my 9-18mm.

I haved used both PS & LR for stitching they both work very well. I use LR now as you can stitch Raw files

I often take shots handheld to stitch AEL is useful btw.

 

[Nawty]

I often take shots handheld to stitch AEL is useful btw.

Good tip - I knew there must be a reason for it somewhere

How accurate do you have to be with handholding images to stitch?

 

[Alan White]

I have the 12-40 f2.8 Zuiko which is great and I have a 9-18mm f4.0 -5.6 both are very good.

The 12-50mm F3.5-6.3 is better than many think and can be found at a decent price

What camera are you using? I am using am em10 ii Alf.

/QUOTE]

 

[alfbranch]

Good tip - I knew there must be a reason for it somewhere

How accurate do you have to be with handholding images to stitch?

Accuracy pahh.

I have on occasion shot them so carelessly you woukd think I was Arny spraying bullets with an Uzi. This was when I didn't think it would work but shot anyway and PS did the job I have not been that careless since using LR.

I am not condoning this aproach but with a little care panoramas are easy.

 

[alfbranch]

Those are with a mix of E-M5 E-M1 and E-M5 mkII

The E-M10 mkII is as good picture quality wise the differences lay elsewhere.

 

[alfbranch]

Good tip - I knew there must be a reason for it somewhere

How accurate do you have to be with handholding images to stitch?

Here is another handheld stitch

Banff and the bow river by Alf Branch, on Flickr

Here is one from a moving helicopter

The Rockies 1- by Alf Branch, on Flickr

 

[Nawty]

Here is another handheld stitch

Banff and the bow river by Alf Branch, on Flickr

Here is one from a moving helicopter

The Rockies 1- by Alf Branch, on Flickr

Impressive, especially from a moving helicopter!