Take your best shot

By Adrian Toon, director of a2n.

Why should we look at wide angle lenses on cameras and smartphones? Should we upgrade our systems if we don’t already have a wide angle lens? And what is it exactly?

Quite simply a wide angle lens allows the user to capture more of the image in front of you, more of the ‘sides’ of the taken image if you like. This can be very useful if the space in front of the product you wish to take is limited, as normally you would stand further away to get more into the subject into the image.

The wider angle of capture referred too is normally related to corner to corner view across the final image. For a standard 50mm focal length lens on a 35 mm format DSLR camera, seen as a ‘standard’ prime lens, the diagonal measured view from the camera in the image is in the region of 46º. For a wide angle lens used on a smart phone the angle of capture can increase up to 84º, this would be equivalent to a 24 mm focal length lens on a 35 mm DSLR. Obviously this has a big impact at what you can capture in any given image.

Would you change your kit to include a ‘wide angle’ lens? I would suggest it is important, as it makes taking images of projects and events easier to capture.

Given the HDR capabilities of modern cameras and wide angle lenses, the kit should also be capable of taking images of installations looking from the room out through an installed product.