Written by Sanne
Edited on
1 May 2023
·
13:07
What's a wide-angle lens and why should you choose one?
A wide-angle lens is a lens with a wide image angle. This allows you to effortlessly photograph a tall building, or a vast landscape. Even large subjects easily fit within your image frame. There are wide-angle lenses with a fixed and variable focal length. We'll tell you more about these 2 types of wide-angle lenses and we'll explain what you can use them for.
What's a wide angle lens?
A wide-angle lens is a lens with a wide viewing angle. With this, you can take a broad photo, like a wide landscape. This property is possible, thanks to a wide-angle lens and short focal length. The focal length determines how long the distance is between the sensor and the lens and how wide the angle of view becomes. The focal length is expressed in millimeters and the image angle in degrees.
What types of wide-angle lenses are there?
A wide-angle lens has a short focal length and a large image angle. Generally, a lens up to 24mm is called a wide-angle lens. There are wide-angle lenses that have a fixed focal length. You can only take wide photos with this. A 24mm size is the standard for a wide-angle lens, the focal lengths for this type of lens vary widely. Wide-angle lenses are also available with a variable focal length, like a lens of 18-55mm. You can zoom with these lenses, so you can make both wide and zoomed images.
When do I choose a wide-angle lens?
You choose a wide-angle lens if you want to fit a wide image a single photo. Thanks to the short focal length, the lens has a wide image angle. The only disadvantage of such a large angle is the distortion of the edges. This makes a wide-angle lens unsuitable for portrait photography. You can use a wide-angle lens for landscape and city photography. You choose a wide-angle lens with a fixed focal point if you're only going to make wide-angle photos. A wide-angle lens with zoom is useful if you want to apply multiple types of photography.
