Back to Basics: Wide angle photography

Peter Rowlands · Issue 15, Oct/Nov 2003 · pp. 45–48

Products mentioned: Nikonos 15mm, Nikonos 20mm, Nikonos 28mm, Sea and Sea SWL 16, Nikonos V, MotorMarine II

45 Advantages Using a wide angle lens enables you to get large subjects in the frame without having to move further back . For smaller subjects you can move closer so that the camera to subject distance is kept to a minimum. By comparison to land photography our visibility is much reduced and this make using a wide angle lens much more important. Another major benefit is an effective increased depth of field (the amount of subject which is in focus0. This makes focusing much less critical and this is especially beneficial with the non reflex Nikonos V and MotorMarine II style cameras. For example, a Nikonos 15mm lens focused at 1 metre will be in focus from 0.5m to infinity at F8. This almost eliminates the need to focus with a non reflex camera. A steep change in perspective makes foreground The diver in this frame using a standard angle lens won’t be able to get all of the wreck in the…