Wide angle without to much distortion
 

Hi,

I am looking for a wide angle lens for my T3I which is great in low light. The kind of shot I am looking to create is around at around 1:39 of this video with the groom in the doorway. The 5D helps because of its full frame which is most likely what they used here. Also one that create a shot like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUFVoMSRL_g at 0:55. Thanks

Re: Wide angle without to much distortion
 

Tokina 11-16 f2.8 it's the best crop sensor wide angle lens made without a doubt.

Re: Wide angle without to much distortion
 

Second that!

Re: Wide angle without to much distortion
 

2.8 worries me to be honest, the last wedding I filmed I used a f1.4 50mm and was pretty much shooting at f1.4 throughout the whole duration with the ISO set to 400 to avoid noise with the t3i. At 800 it's just too noisy for me. Anything close you can recommend with a f1.4?

Re: Wide angle without to much distortion
 

Sure if you have a serious budget!
Canon 24mm 1.4 $1600
Zeiss 25 f2.0 $1700

There's a Sigma 20mm f1.8 thats cheaper but I know nothing of its quality.

I would recommend shooting at higher ISOs and use Neat Video to clean. Several guys Ive shot with convinced me to go that route and I just recently shot an event at 1600. You'd have a hard time seeing the difference from ISO 200! It's that good. Your clients will be very happy and your wallet will be too! Plus shooting wide open creates a lot of issues if you're run and gun at an event. Much better to shoot around f4 - f6-ish which will still give you great bokeh but a reasonable DOF. Makes life way easier and with Neat "watching your back" you can use whatever lens you want without fear.

Re: Wide angle without to much distortion
 

Wow! That is great advice Neat Video seems amazing I'll have a look if it works with FCPX hope it does. Tokina looks like the right lens to go with its around £460ish but from what I have read it seems the best of the bunch. I have also used a 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC - Sigma, although it was wide the 4.5 really did not help.

Re: Wide angle without to much distortion
 

I'm not seeing that first shot mentioned anywhere. There aren't any wide angles at all around 1m39 let alone grooms in doorways. Am I blind?

Since from memory Tariq shoots at 720/50 at all times, light troubles are going to be pretty regular thing. And fast, high quality wides are very expensive (as we can see). Maybe an on camera light is necessary? Not a look that many like though I guess (myself included) and not much help at wide angles.

(somewhat beside the point, but I'll never understand how no one can apparently stand noise anymore, from even something as meager as ISO800 on a current canon dslr, yet they can still presumably watch, y'know, most film and television without too much pain. Otherwise they'll reach some recursive hell by being unable to look at 99% of all media and one day closing their eyes and seeing all the noise from their own retinas, end up going mad and being locked away somewhere with a note to be kept away from spoons.)

Re: Wide angle without to much distortion
 

If 20mm is wide enough I recommend the Sigma 20/1.8. I'm using my Sigma more then 50% of the time. I always got one camera with it on.

Re: Wide angle without to much distortion
 

I'll side with Jerry and Robert - the Tokina 11 - 16 f/2.8 is sharp, fast and comes at a good price. Strange that Canon don't make anything like it for the 60D's small chip. And while I was in the Tokina shop I bought the lovely 50 - 135mm f/2.8 as well. Again - Canon have nothing like this on their books. Would be nice to have OIS on board for movies, but for stills work I claw back the shutter speeds by upping the ISO these days.

tom.

Re: Wide angle without to much distortion
 

Actually, Canon do have a wide angle for crop sensors that's pretty damn good on their books. I'll admit it's 1/2 stop slower (on the wide end) but at least it'll go wider, has a more useful zoom range and has less barrel distortion etc.

Sure, if you really need F2.8 then the Tokina is a VERY fine lens - but note the discussion above about DOF and Neat Video.

For some applications the Canon 10-22mm F3.5 EF-S is a better lens which is why I chose it over the Tokina for my own needs - summary of my decision process on this link.

CanonWideAngle

There are also lots of in-depth reviews on both lenses on well respected camera/lens review sites.

Bottom line, obviously try and buy what works best for your own particular needs.... but I'm just saying that the Canon alternative both exists and is really rather good!

Re: Wide angle without to much distortion
 

Andy, I've used that lens and like it for photos but for video the lack of constant aperture and the slower speed is why I didn't list it here. As long as the OP knows it cannot zoom while shooting video, it's another good choice.

Re: Wide angle without to much distortion
 

That looks almost like a fish-eye to me, just look how much everything distorts. On a T3i I suspect you need a 8mm for that same effect. I use a 14mm f2.8 samyang lens which is quite cheap, I have a canon 10-22 lens as well but prefer working with the Samyang because f3.5 is not good enough at dark receptions. I always shoot at 1600 iso when it gets very dark with a f2.8 lens, never above that and to me it looks fine, if too grainy I will use neatvideo which works wonders but is soooo slow.

Re: Wide angle without to much distortion
 

I also use Tokina 11-16mm F2.8 on T3i on Merlin. It is a great wide angle lens but it did distort the image a bit around the edge. I kinda like the distortion. It's not crazy like fish eye lens but just enough to show the "wide-ness" of the scene =)

Re: Wide angle without to much distortion
 

Taky, you and have the same exact gear. I shoot on a Merlin with the Tokina 11-16mm also. I think it's a great lens. Extreme wide angles by their very nature distort. I'm not sure there such a thing as a distortion-less wide angle. The Tokina exhibits almost no barrel distortion. I have shots of my bathroom tile to prove it. So it's extremely rectilinear. But people can look squashed on the edges.

Re: Wide angle without to much distortion
 

If you have Photoshop CS5 or newer, it has a Lens Distortion filter that can compensate for most wide lenses, many presets included, or adjust manually. I don't do still photography, but recently found that the filter can be applied to video! Renders pretty slow, but results are nice. Just applied it to an HD video converted from an IMAX source and made a big difference, and also used on some church exteriors from a wedding shot on HDV with a fisheye. You can only go so far in reducing extreme fisheye, but I found that by doing a second pass I can "finish the job", though there are side effects (stretching of peripheral objects).

Jeff Pulera