Wide angle lens teething problems

[Squawk1066]

Afternoon all,

I recently bought a Sigma 10-17mm wide angle lens. I use it with my Canon 700d, its first outing was Saturday night in London. While I am happy with a lot of the photos- these are mainly close up ones, where the buildings are very near, a few of the others are distorted.

What I am wondering is, is there a technique to get around this issue? Perhaps just stick to close up photographs?

The image below gives a perfect example of the problem I encountered.

[markmullen]

One option is to frame the shot looser and then use perspective correction in post processing to straighten verticals, I use Capture One and it does a fine job of it, as does CS6.

[BRISTOL86]

Yeah the tool in photoshop to fix this does a great job.

[Squawk1066]

Thanks chaps. I was hoping for a photography technique, rather than a editing one though.

[MysteryLemon]

It's a characteristic of the lens and not something you can correct without post processing (be it in camera or on your PC, its still post processing).

Maybe its just me but I actually like distorted wide angle shots. I see no immediate problem with the image you've posted.

[Squawk1066]

Thanks mystery. I see your point, maybe I'm being too critical of my new purchase.

[DibblyDobbler]

Yep - great shot, just leave it as is IMHO

[ecsrobin]

Getting distortion sometimes improves an image. However within PS there is a setting you put your lens details in and it automatically corrects the distortion.

As mentioned though it's a characteristic of shooting wide.

[BRISTOL86]

Squawk1066 said:

Thanks chaps. I was hoping for a photography technique, rather than a editing one though.

Don't use an ultra-wide

Seriously though, it's part and parcel of shooting so wide, post-processing to correct for it is required!

[markmullen]

Squawk1066 said:

Thanks chaps. I was hoping for a photography technique, rather than a editing one though.

It'll be a long search! It's just a hazard of using an ultrawide.

[K12beano]

Squawk1066 said:

The image ... gives a perfect example of the feature I encountered.

Ah - that's better!

[Zad]

I'm afraid it is all down to physics! If you can't cope with it, then you need a Tilt Shift lens.

e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilt%E2%80%93shift_ph...

http://www.canon.co.uk/for_home/product_finder/cam...

A mere £1659 http://www.wexphotographic.com/buy-canon-ts-e-17mm...

[Squawk1066]

Cheers everyone. Praise indeed from Dibbly

I'm heading to Canary Wharf tonight, then into the West End. Any tips would be appreciated.

[K12beano]

Don't go sarf of the river.....

[Squawk1066]

K12beano said:

Don't go sarf of the river.....

OI.

[RobDickinson]

There are two types of distortion.


Lens distortion - rectilinear lenses (mostly zooms) always have some distortion at either end ( barrel and pin cushion).
This you can easily correct in LR or photoshop or whatever, you do loose some width so its always better to overshoot a little.

The other is perspective distortion. every time you move your camera sensor from being straight up vertical you get converging lines happening. Think of looking up at a tall building, it looks like it gets narrower when in fact it doesnt.

You can correct this in photoshop/lr etc with perspective correct but you need to overshoot a lot and it will murder resolution.

The other options are keep the camera straight and shoot wider, or use a tilt shift/camera with movement.

[budfox]

Hold the camera level.

[K12beano]

I was going to write something there - I mean, why change the habits of a lifetime?!

budfox said:

Hold the camera level.

But that is a very good point as you go wider.

And what a great feature - among more and more this Luddite is appreciating - is the ability to:

A) have a camera where you can push a button and get little indicators of your tilt and pitch, and
B) two clicks in Lightroom (or software of your choice) and draw an imaginary line and get horizons straight again; verticals vertical?

(...admitting that sometimes it doesn't "work" to have it all "straight")

[budfox]

You can play with angles and compositions to your heart's content. There are no rules. But...the 'problems' only occur when something that should be horizontal or vertical isn't quite.

[GhostDriver]

Keep horizontal lines and vertical lines in the centre of your composition.
One area of the frame that doesn't distort.

Otherwise fix in post

Also work on your focusing, the buildings are no way sharp enough, Im hoping you used a tripod? what f-stop did you use?

Edited by GhostDriver on Sunday 12th April 20:04