How wide is too wide?

[rhys]

I was thinking about wider lenses.

When I shot 35mm I came to the conclusion that 24mm was pretty wide and beginning to be so wide that distortion was becoming apparent. With a 1.6 crop that means that the equivalent of 24mm is now 15mm. This raises the question of whether the standard kit lenses of 18ish - 50ish are really about the limit before distortion becomes a problem at the wide end. What do you think?

[Ronald S. Jr.]

I noticed plenty of distortion with the kit lens @18mm. In fact, I noticed some even at 35mm on my 35L when I was up close. I think anything less than 35mm or so, when you're close, you're gonna get some distortion. However, you can take a 12mm lens and get no distortion if you're doing a landscape. Not so much it'd bug you, anyway.

[Tee Why]

Some lenses like sigma 10-20 and 12-24 have relatively little distortion at the wide end, if memory serves me right, but I think with cropped sensors, you can get a bit wider than 18mm before things really get distorted.

[Ronald S. Jr.]

Yeah, because with a cropped sensor, you're still seeing the part of the image that isn't "fishy" (the center).

[tellingthm]

i briefly used a sigma 14/2.8 EX (great lens) on my 20d. there was distortion around the edges, but the center was far from extreme. i agree that 24mm on fullframe is the start of superwide, and also where things start to get distorted. distortion's never been a problem for me with my 17-40 on 20d, but when i put that lens on my film body, i notice the distortion through the viewfinder.

[Ronald S. Jr.]

Yeah, because with a cropped sensor, you're still seeing the part of the image that isn't "fishy" (the center).