Wide angle views

I finally bought the EF-S 10-22mm lens, although I promised myself to already buy it together with the tripod. I couldn’t wait any longer, as I noticed more and more often that the most incredible landscape shots simply were taken at a (miniature equivalent) 16mm focal length. For the 1.6× cropped sensor of my EOS 40D I thus need a real focal length of 10mm, what this lens provides. I had already noticed myself that the lower 17mm (equ. 27mm) of my standard zoom provide a little too narrow view at e.g. the sky or a room or a yard or a building or the surroundings of an object. Also, wide angle views turn out to look more creative, as the object of interest appears huge while you get closer to it. However, I often hear that beginners are better equipped with a lens at the upper focal length range; a telephoto lens. It’s said that this makes it easier for them to compose images and push disturbing objects out of view. Nevertheless, I simply didn’t feel an urge for higher focal lengths, quite the opposite.

Well, and although I originally wanted to plan far into the future by only buying lenses that could be used on FF sensors one day, this is already my second lens that just fits on crop sensors. So, what about that? I finally came to an opinion that I found best expressed in the 10-22mm lens review by Bob Atkins:

Some people refuse to buy EF-S or other APS-C coverage lenses because “one day” they intend to own a full frame DSLR and I guess that’s a valid viewpoint. It would be more valid if they actually owned a full frame DLSR now, but I suppose they are planning ahead. Personally I think I’ll be shooting with a 1.6x DSLR for at least the next 3-4 years, and even if I buy a full frame DLSR at that point I’ll probably keep a 1.6x body for backup.

’Nuff said.

The first serious use of that lens will be the documentation of our current and our new lodging that’s currently under construction. But I’ll mainly aim that tool at landscapes.