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With the advent of digital SLR with APS-C
sensor, 10 and 12mm have become common focal
lengths for wide-angles. 10mm lenses (e.g.
Canon 10-22, Sigma 10-20) offers a pretty
wider angle than 12mm (e.g. Tokina 12-24,
Sigma 12-24, Nikkor 12-24).
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The Sigma 12-24mm is the only 12mm that
works on fullframe (24x36mm) cameras - it
offers an amazing and unparalleled angle of
view. A 14mm lens - the widest rectilinear
wide-angle in Nikon and Canon lineup - has a
pretty narrower angle of view than Sigma
12-24, and 16mm (e.g. Canon 16-35 f/2.8)
does not come even close to the amazing
angle of view of a 12mm.
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The Canon 17-40mm is the widest wide-angle
for fullframe cameras in the same price
range of the Sigma 12-24. The Sigma lens has
an huge advantage!
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17-55, 17-85 and similar zooms, created for
APS-C cameras, offers a pretty wider angle
of view than standard zooms for FF cameras,
as the Canon 24-105 L IS. Even though I
prefer the latter, it is necessary to
combine it with a good wide-angle lens if
you want a good wide-angle coverage.
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24 and 28mm are common focal lengths for
mid-range zooms. Whenever possible, I'd
recommend a lens that starts at 24mm, unless
you already have a lens that covers the
widest focal lengths.
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In wildlife photography, the 300 f/4 is
often compared with the 100-400 and 400 5.6.
Unless you photograph very collaborative
subjects, you would often use the 300 f/4
with 1.4x, to compensate for the much
shorter focal length.
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The difference between a 280mm (70-200 +
1.4x), a 300mm (as the 70-300 VR or a 300
f/4 without TCs) and 420mm (300 f/4 +1.4x).
If you have Nikon, in my opinion the 300 f4
AFS + 1.4x TC is the best choice for
wildlife in its price range - the 70-200 VR
is too short, and the only other lens that
offers a comparable focal length (the
80-400mm VR) has very slow AF and average
image quality.
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The f/4 supertele comparision - 420mm f/4
(300 2.8 + 1.4x TC) in comparison with 500
f/4 and 600 f/4.
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One of the most common doubts of wildlife
photographer that are trying to choose a big
lens: 500 or 600? The 600 offers a
considerably higher magnification, that is
great for small or shy subjects.
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The 600 f/4 supertele with teleconverters -
840mm (600+1.4x) and 1200mm (600+2.0x). Of
course, this comparison holds true for
every lens with 1.4x and 2.0x
teleconverters.
How to create
your own comparisons
If you want to create your own
comparisons, you can use this simple
calculator. How to use it:
1) First,
choose a photo that you want to use as
sample, and resize it to a given format -
personally, I always use 1200x800px.
2) Put the measures of the resized image in
the Height and Width box in the first row of
the table. By default, these values are set
on 480 and 720 pixels.
3) Enter the
two focal lengths that you want to compare
in the Focal (mm) fields. The shortest FL
should be in the upper field.
3b) If
you want to compare two lenses on cameras
with different sensor sizes, select the
appropriate value in the "Sensor Size" box.
4) Click on "Calculate". The script
calculates the height and width for the
second focal length.
Open the sample image in Photoshop and click
on Image>Canvas Size; enter the new values
of height and width (in pixels). The photo
will be cropped to simulate the FOV of the
longer lens. Now, you just need some basic
PS skills to create the comparison using
layers and transparencies.
Do you have
comments or questions?
If you have comments or questions about
this article, feel free to ask in the
Juza
Nature Photography Discussion Forum!
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