At 13:47 4/23/02, Mark Lloyd wrote:
It's interesting in playing around with the 21/3.5 the
lens is 'not' IMHO a very good lens for far away
landscapes. It is way too wide and would be a
nightmare to bracket. After shooting a few rolls with
it I have found it is pretty good for close up
landscapes though. I have some pictures of a park
nearby that the lens worked wonderfully on. I was able
to capture a whole scene rather than just a small part
of one. I'm trying to get the images scanned, but,
this being my first attempt ever it isn't working too
well with flatbed scanners.
Mark,
A super-wide, which I class in the OM system as 21mm and shorter, is not an
easy lens to work with. You're very right that "distant" landscapes do not
generally work that well with them. Reason? Their perspective expands
depth making more distant objects relatively smaller than the human eye
would normally perceive them. If the subject material is well distant, not
that large and without very close and interesting foreground, a super-wide
usually does not work very well. OTOH, if the opposite elements are
present, it can be very powerful, provided there is then something of
interest spanning the entire angle of view, or very nearly all of it (also
a challenge at times).
I'm not surprised to see a fair number of long lenses used. IIRC, most of
the longer than normal 50mm lenses are moderate telephotos (85mm - 135mm in
the primes; out to 150mm in the zooms).
Comparative shots with rectilinear lenses of different lengths:
Done from approximately the same location:
18mm: http://johnlind.tripod.com/oly/gallery/om52.html
50mm: http://johnlind.tripod.com/zi/gallery/contax18.html
Same two fence posts. Moved closer with the 135mm to keep them at the
frame edges. Note size of background bluffs; used the 200mm to make them
bigger than the tractor. A cousin remarked about it: "Our neighbors don't
live THAT close!"
135mm: http://johnlind.tripod.com/oly/gallery/om58.html
200mm: http://johnlind.tripod.com/oly/gallery/om55.html
Made from same location. Background skyline changes relative size along
with affecting the entire mood:
18mm: http://johnlind.tripod.com/canalwalk/cw27.html
50mm: http://johnlind.tripod.com/oly/gallery/om44.html
For the ultimate in using a super-wide to cover a "close in" subject, see
this one:
http://johnlind.tripod.com/oly/gallery/om155.html
Yes, it's not a landscape, but it does demonstrate the "close in" you wrote
about to an extreme. The bronze statue is less than 10 feet away, and the
camera was positioned at the entrance to the polygon of granite slabs.
-- John
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