Going wide

By Adrian Toon, director of a2n.

When we look at cameras, we generally look to see what the zoom capability is on the provided lens, often using it to judge a camera, be it on a phone or a stand-alone camera.

There are a number of cameras out there with some excellent credentials, but with debatable quality issues at these extreme zoom capabilities.

As a typical keen photographer, I was also lured into these extremes, but in reality the greater feature in any camera is its wide-angle capability.

For taking pictures of groups people, landscapes, manufacturing processes and buildings, a wide-angle lens is very useful.

So, what is a wide-angle lens? In simple terms, it captures more image in front of the camera, the opposite of a ‘zoom-in’ function. Instead of zooming in, it zooms out.

When using a camera in a confined space, in a room or factory, or even in a garden trying to capture a completed house full of windows, a standard lens just does not cope and leaves the picture cropped, leaving out much of the image you wanted.

Just be cautious of trying the keep the camera upright to reduce the distortion of the images and, like all good photographers, practice, review, adjust and repeat, to hone you photographic skills to capture what you need for that all important press release.