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!

What IS the best UWA solution for FF Sony bodies?

kit laughlin

Subscriber Member
As I move into retirement from photography, a small, interesting, job comes along... which needs as wide a wide angle as I can get.

I see a 16/2.8 fish, and a 20/2.8 rectilinear. Nothing close to the 14–24/2.8 Nikkor that was the mainstay of my interior work for years.

What would be the EFOV of de-fishing the 16?

Or do I mount the 20 on my pano head and stitch three images?

Or is it possible to adapt the Sigma 12-24mm F4.5-5.6 DG HSM II to the Sony mount?

Are there after-market lenses anyone here has used? AF not necessary for this application, either.

Merry Christmas to all, KL
 
Last edited:

kit laughlin

Subscriber Member
Hello Marc; compliments of the season to you.

I note the pincushion distortion at the wide end—have you found that a problem, or is it simple pincushion that's simple to remove? Interiors will be the main use.
 

jfirneno

Member
Kit:
The Sigma 12-24mm comes in alpha mount. It has low distortion but exhibits soft corners. I kind of like using it for the amazing wide view.
 

Jan Brittenson

Senior Subscriber Member
I'm pretty sure DxO Optics Pro 7, and possible Lightroom 3, have lens profiles for the 16-35 and will automatically fix up distortion and any chromatic aberrations. DOP in particular has very sophisticated lens profiles. If it were me I'd try the 16-35 and DOP.
 
You might check out a Leica 15/3.5 or 15/2.8 with an adapter mount. While not quite a 14mm, I'm almost desperate to sell mine and replace it with something closer to a 20mm as my tastes seem to have evolved and I have very little use for a lens that wide.
 

kit laughlin

Subscriber Member
@ jfirneno

Thanks for that heads up; it's a cheap lens, but (as anyone here who has shot interiors will have experienced) there's no such thing as a rectilinear lens that's too wide!

Hello Bill,

Which one do you have? I had the Zeiss-designed ƒ3.5 model years ago (mounted on a 1Ds and 5D, back in the DMR bible thread on FM); it is an excellent lens, for sure. And are you suggesting a Leitax mount?

Compliments of the season to both of you, too.
 

kit laughlin

Subscriber Member
Lonnie, have you ever tried a pano of an interior? Landscapes; I can see that, but not an interior. I do have a pano head though—so if you have had experience of doing this yourself, I am willing to learn.

@ JimU: I have thought of this lens; all the tests report extremely sharp, but also with over 5% barrel distortion that has a moustache signature; the last thing you want for architecture.
 
Which one do you have? I had the Zeiss-designed ƒ3.5 model years ago (mounted on a 1Ds and 5D, back in the DMR bible thread on FM); it is an excellent lens, for sure. And are you suggesting a Leitax mount?

Compliments of the season to both of you, too.
Kit, I have the Zeiss 3.5. I originally bought it to have something wide on the DMR, but as I said it is too wide for me on full frame, but if you are looking for wide, it is wide. If I remember from the DMR Bible, the f2.8 is about one or two stops sharper in the corners, with the f3.5 lens not getting real sharp until about f11.

If you are looking to put a non-Sony lens on a Sony, I think Leitax is about the only option. The owner is very responsive to questions and concerns. I've swapped a few lens mounts and the 15/3.5 was pretty painless.

If you are shooting interiors, you have to consider the feel you are after. Something like a Mamiya 35/3.5 on a Mirex T/S adapter may work better, but a wider lens gives a different feel of space making rooms seem a bit bigger and more open than they really are.
 

kit laughlin

Subscriber Member
Hello Bill,

I remember that lens well; I sold my copy to JJ over at FM. ƒ11 would not be a problem in this application. I will look into Leitax, too. I will get back to you via PM if I get a good response from Leitax.

I agree completely re. your views on shooting interiors with UWA lenses, too; the proportional changes (assuming foreground objects) definitely changes the feel. I just sold a Mirex and a Mamiya 35 lens, too...
 

mhespenheide

New member
Kit,

Sorry about the timing on the Mirex and adapter. If you hadn't sent it already, I'd have been happy to wait on it (grin, with pure amusement and no malicious sarcasm intended).

I've done some minor work with stitched panoramas indoors... but only with the Minolta 24mm/f2.8, as I didn't have the 20mm at the time. With the 24mm, the biggest issue was to get a rail that allows forward and backward adjustment, and then make sure that the lens and camera are pivoting around what is usually called the nodal point of the lens. I was using a setup from Really Right Stuff and it worked quite nicely.

Photoshop CS4 handled the stitch with no problems, but at the close distances of interiors, you'll probably get some distortion in the stitch that you'll want to undo with some combination of the tools nested under "Edit" > "Transform". Notably, if your menus and toolbars are visible (you haven't tabbed them invisible), there are some good options for the "Edit" > "Transform" > "Warp" tool.

Hope that helps. I actually thought the Minolta 24mm was a good tool for the job, after the stitching was done. The apparent fashion in architechtural photography does seem to be for the superwides, though.

As heretical as it sounds, perhaps renting a Canon 5d2 and either a 17mm tilt-shift or 24mm tilt-shift might give the best results, if you could pass on the rental costs to the client.
 
J

jcoffin

Guest
Another possibility if you're considering stitched panoramas could be the Schneider 28mm PC. With it you'd do a panorama using only shift, not rotation, which (as you undoubtedly already realize) eliminates many of the distortions involved in a more typical rotation-based panorama. On the other hand, the price is pretty steep and a panorama from it will still be pretty marginal for achieving as wide an angle of view as you seem to want. It might be adequate if you're looking for wider than 16mm to allow some space for fixing distortion and cropping, but if you really want a final FoV equal to a 14mm, I don't think it'll shift enough to do the job.
 

kit laughlin

Subscriber Member
Thanks for all these suggestions, folk; it really helps me.

I did some playing around with a panorama head I forgot I had here (Jasper Engineering's one) using the GH2 (because is has Live View, making finding the nodal point much easier). And if in portrait mode, 28mm EFOV seems like a nice compromise, giving enough both ceiling and enough depth to see what's on the tables. I tried both the 14/2.5 and the 20/1.7 and the wider lens gives better cropping options.

I did a series of 9 images (portrait, 4:3 format for best overlap) across and down a large kitchen–loungeroom (16 x 7 yards approx.) using the 14/2.5 a ƒ11 and the results are not too horrible.

And I will look at the warp tool, as well; there is one cornice that is curved and if that can be straightened, this approach might just do the job (it is for web only, a client that "styles" houses for sale). She wants 'before' and 'after' images for her site. With nine images, there's plenty of detail in the stitches.
 
J

jcoffin

Guest
I did some playing around with a panorama head I forgot I had here (Jasper Engineering's one) using the GH2 (because is has Live View, making finding the nodal point much easier).
For what it's worth, there was a post on Dyxum just this morning listing mounting points for a fair number of Sony/Minolta lenses. It's probably not perfect, but should at least provide a reasonable starting point for a fair number of lenses. (The link above isn't directly to the correct post -- you'll have to scroll down a bit to find the list. As I post this, it's the bottom of the page, but that could change if/when somebody adds another post).
 
Last edited:
Top