The GetDPI Photography Forum

Great to see you here. Join our insightful photographic forum today and start tapping into a huge wealth of photographic knowledge. Completing our simple registration process will allow you to gain access to exclusive content, add your own topics and posts, share your work and connect with other members through your own private inbox! And don’t forget to say hi!

Wide angle for industrial interiors?

I've been given access to the old Domino Sugar factory in Brooklyn for a day. 8 hours to do whatever I can!

The main lens for my broader industrial project has been a 28mm shift lens. I'd like to rent something wider, like in the 19 to 21mm range.

Everyone raves about the Zeiss 21. Is the moustache distortion likely to give me trouble? And how are the corners when stopped down to f8 and smaller?

Any other recommendations? Sharpness and resolution are of prime importance. I don't care about blur quality, speed, or auto-anything.

Thanks for your thoughts!
 

GrahamWelland

Subscriber & Workshop Member
Why not rent the 14-24mm?

It's probably the most impressive super wide for the Nikon platform and will give you the a lot more flexibility and versatility than a single fixed prime.
 

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
+1 to the 14-24. For industrial interiors, getting the right framing is paramount, and you don't always have the option to take a couple of steps back, since there might be a wall there. If you want to go wider, there's the Sigma 12-24, but the Nikkor is a much better lens.
 
That lens looks pretty good, but is it optically in the same league as the better primes in the 19-21mm range?

I have the 24-70 f2.8. It's very good, but not state of the art. My 28 is in another league optically, at least compared to the zoom's wide end. The 24-70 also seems to be much better up close than at infinity (although I don't hear people talk about this).
 

GrahamWelland

Subscriber & Workshop Member
The 14-24 is renown as being a rare example of a zoom that pretty much blows away the primes. I know, sounds dubious but it truly is an outstanding lens.

The challenge for a lot of people is the size & weight and the front element that makes using filters virtually impossible.

Optically it has few peers IMHO. The 17-35 and 24-70 don't really compare with it, especially when you look into the corners.
 

thrice

Active member
The Tokina 16-28 is a little sharper than the Nikkor 14-24 if you don't need quite as much width and would like to pay 1/3.
 
I'm renting, not buying, so the Nikkor and Zeiss lenses will probably be the only choices. I'm actually having a hard time finding a Zeiss 21 for Nikon in the city (lensrentals.com has one, but with shipping it's $$$).

Corner sharpness is important for this project. I haven't been blown away by the corners from the Nikon 14-24 in images I've seen. But I haven't used it myself. Size, filters etc. are unimportant.
 

johnnygoesdigital

New member
Are you using this as a backdrop for a shoot or specifically as an interior?

That's a great location to have access to. Personally, I wouldn't use a zoom, I had both the Zeiss 21mm and 18mm, and preferred the 18mm - I think f5.6 to f8 is the sweet spot for Zeiss, anything beyond that might show the effects of diffraction - I also liked the Nikon 24mm1.4G, but the Zeiss had a touch more micro contrast, but a fantastic lens nonetheless.

If you don't mind stitching, perhaps Sigma's new "Art" 35mm 1.4 HSM would suffice. It's the best wide angle i've ever used.
 
The photos will be about the space itself. Still leaning toward the Zeiss 21, but can't find one. Will probably have to rent the 14-24.
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
I switched my extreme wide to the Leica 19mm R lens with the Leitax converter, Just love the look of this lens and distortion is pretty good on it.
 
I ended up renting the 14-24.

Will be interesting ... never used anything remotely that wide. I'm not sure how much I'll use it.

I'm bummed no one local had the Zeiss 21. That's a lens I can imagine buying.
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Just got a gig today shooting exteriors and interiors of a manufacturing plant be nice to give my Leica 19mm a workout.
 

ShooterSteve

New member
Just got a gig today shooting exteriors and interiors of a manufacturing plant be nice to give my Leica 19mm a workout.
I've been shooting with mine for many years. First on my Canons and now converted to the Nikon like yours. My only concern has been infinity focus. It seems like mine may focus beyond infinity and as a result you can have strange edge issues. If you're tethering you can check and confirm, but sometimes i focus just a bit closer than Inf and do another shot just to be safe. For architecture it hardly matters as you have something specific to focus on.

I guess we should find the parafocal distance and calibrate it to that.

Let me know if you figure that out.

Thanks
 

Jan Brittenson

Senior Subscriber Member
The R 19 (II) is the Leica lens I miss the most. It has a really nice rendering. I'd just be concerned with its accuracy with a mount replacement...
 
The 14-24 actually worked out well. At first I didn't think I'd use it much. The Schneider 28mm was just a better lens for most of what I saw. But the zoom started egging me on, and by the end I was using it about half the time. I mostly used it around 18-19mm, so the Zeiss 21 would have been a bit long. And I had a few chances to use it all the way at 14. Lots of fun ... way wider than I've ever used before.

My initial impressions are that this lens performs better at the extremes than in the middle of its range. Corners seem a bit soft in the 16 to 21mm range. It's much sharper at 24mm than my 24-70 is at the same focal length. It also handles more easily. I didn't reach for that lens once. Not quite as sharp as the Schneider (unshifted).

In the middle of processing now ... will probably have more observations. Including ones on which lenses are easiest remove100 year-old molasses from (not kidding!).
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Paul they look nice . I do see a small amount of distortion but I'm looking for it as well. Most folks would not.

Subject matter is cool as hell. Love that kind of stuff. Nice work
 
Thanks, Guy.

Yeah, there's probably distortion on all the pics with the Schneider. I don't think there's a way to automatically correct with that one (I used profile correction with the nikon lens). So I'm going to have to go back and deal with that manually.

I'm really happy to have the opportunity to photograph there. It will all be gone within the next year or so.
 
Top