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EOS T3iLenses

schwartzjesse11
Apprentice

I have an EOS T3i. Have started to take pictures of landscapes but would like to be able to zoom in on distant objects without losing the surroundings. Any suggestions as to the lens. I do consider myself a beginner. 

2 ACCEPTED SOLUTIONS

It appears I pegged the situation right on.  You need to look at a zoom lens with a narrow zoom field.  I would suggest you look at the Canon EF-S 10-22mm f3.5-4.5 USM.  This len will do exactly what you described in your last post.  You will see the entire mountain range in your viewfinder at 10mm, with perhaps a field of white flowers on one of the slopes.  When you zoom to 22mm, the ends of the mountain range may be cut off on both sides, but the meadow of white flower will be more distinct as flowers growing on the slope.  

 

With a lens such as a Canon 18-135mm f3.5-5.6 IS STM lens, you will see 95% of the mountain range at 18mm, and see the blaze of white flowers on the slope.  Zoomed to 135mm you will see only the blaze of white flowers, and decern the pattern of the growth on the slope, and reduce the actual mountian range to less than 50%.  

 

The question for you is to decide what angle of view, at a specific distance you want in your photo.  The shorter the lens, the wider the angle, if you make the angle to wide you get distortion from the sides of the lens.  I you think of a line of buildings, the buildings on the right and left side of the photo will be curved, or tilted inward.  Or, it will give the effect of a "fisheye".  Ultra wide angle lenses have a very short lens barrel, and very large diameter outter element.  This is to accomplish the very wide angle of view.  Care has to be taken when using a ultra wide angle lens not to have a hood that will cast shadows on the edges of the photos, this is called vignetting, and is noticable as darker edges on the image.  You can accomplish this by just holding your hands at the maximum perifual vision, and move them closer the front of your face, without bending the elbow.   Think as your hands move inward, they shade the edges of your vision, and block the light from the very edges of your photo sensor in the camera.  

 

I hope this helps your understanding  of how some lenses work.  Good luck.

View solution in original post

 

 

schwartzjesse11 this is easy to do. It requires Photo Shop and an option called Photo merge. Take three photos and merge them, than do a crop to make the mountains look as large in the frame as you want. You will most likely end up with a non-standard print size so a custom frame and/or print will be needed.

 

This photo is three seperate shots and although not mountains, it is a sample of what is possibile.

 

sunset.jpg

EB
EOS 1DX and 1D Mk IV and less lenses then before!

View solution in original post

8 REPLIES 8

hsbn
Whiz
There is no such thing as "zoom in on distant object without losing the surroundings". If you get a tele lens, you can zoom in but then you'll lose the surroundings. Do you have any sample photo in mind that you want to achieve the same viewpoint? Or a photo you took that you think you want to improve on?
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Bill-Emmett
Enthusiast

It would help if you told us exactly what lens, or lenses you have in your bag.  It sounds like you have a zoom with a very large zoom range, like a 24-300mm or 18-270mm range.  If this is the case you may want to look at a zoom with a more narrow range.  Canon makes a EF-S 10-22mm f3.5-4.5 USM lens that will fit your camera.  With this lens you will only loose a small amout of surrounding views of the subject.  Of course Canon makes more zooms in the lower ranges, such as 16-35, 17-40, 15-85, 17-55.  Each one of these lenses will show a different angle of view, as you zoom in or out.  Your camera is not limited to the EF-S lineup of lenses, so don't be afraid to look at an lens with just a EF prefix.  You may even want to look at the lens with a "L" in the nominclature ( like EF XXXX f2.8L II USM)  EF, means electroinic focus, the numbers following is the min-max mm of the zoom, fXX is the min. aperature, the L means Luxery model (This is only a Canon term for special glass and sharpest photo) IS, mean the lens has Canons image stability, and finally the last set of letter is the type of focus motor that is built in the lens. (USM, means ultra sonic motor, STM, means, stepping motor.)  Hopefully this will help you to understand a little more of the mystery of photography. 


@Bill-Emmett wrote:

It would help if you told us exactly what lens, or lenses you have in your bag.  It sounds like you have a zoom with a very large zoom range, like a 24-300mm or 18-270mm range.


 

It's irrelevant, there's no way to zoom in on something and retain the surroundings that I can think of.  Either the OP isn't describing what he is thinking well enough, or s/he wants something that doesn't exist outside of Photoshop manipulation (which could create some interesting photos btw).

I'm in no way claiming to be an expert but from the OP's comments, sounds like he needs a fisheye lens and to move closer to what he's trying to shoot.

.

 

I have a 55-250mm lens. I believe the answered my question is offered below but allow me to offer an example of what I am trying to do.. Lets suppose I am looking to take a picture of a mountain range which is 100 to 200 or more  yards away. If I want to make the mountains look closer then I go to the zoom end of the lens but I agree I lose the ends of the range. If I want to capture the entire range I go to the other end of the lens but it looks further away. My naieve question i s whether there is a diffrent lens where I can capture more of the range as I try to get the mountains to look closer. I know that I can always get a wide angle lens which helps get a greater expanse but I believe this does not help to get the mountain range to look closer.

 

 

   

It appears I pegged the situation right on.  You need to look at a zoom lens with a narrow zoom field.  I would suggest you look at the Canon EF-S 10-22mm f3.5-4.5 USM.  This len will do exactly what you described in your last post.  You will see the entire mountain range in your viewfinder at 10mm, with perhaps a field of white flowers on one of the slopes.  When you zoom to 22mm, the ends of the mountain range may be cut off on both sides, but the meadow of white flower will be more distinct as flowers growing on the slope.  

 

With a lens such as a Canon 18-135mm f3.5-5.6 IS STM lens, you will see 95% of the mountain range at 18mm, and see the blaze of white flowers on the slope.  Zoomed to 135mm you will see only the blaze of white flowers, and decern the pattern of the growth on the slope, and reduce the actual mountian range to less than 50%.  

 

The question for you is to decide what angle of view, at a specific distance you want in your photo.  The shorter the lens, the wider the angle, if you make the angle to wide you get distortion from the sides of the lens.  I you think of a line of buildings, the buildings on the right and left side of the photo will be curved, or tilted inward.  Or, it will give the effect of a "fisheye".  Ultra wide angle lenses have a very short lens barrel, and very large diameter outter element.  This is to accomplish the very wide angle of view.  Care has to be taken when using a ultra wide angle lens not to have a hood that will cast shadows on the edges of the photos, this is called vignetting, and is noticable as darker edges on the image.  You can accomplish this by just holding your hands at the maximum perifual vision, and move them closer the front of your face, without bending the elbow.   Think as your hands move inward, they shade the edges of your vision, and block the light from the very edges of your photo sensor in the camera.  

 

I hope this helps your understanding  of how some lenses work.  Good luck.

Also, he could try stitching. This would give him everything he is looking for. He never said he wanted to keep a standard picture ratio. 🙂

 

 

schwartzjesse11 this is easy to do. It requires Photo Shop and an option called Photo merge. Take three photos and merge them, than do a crop to make the mountains look as large in the frame as you want. You will most likely end up with a non-standard print size so a custom frame and/or print will be needed.

 

This photo is three seperate shots and although not mountains, it is a sample of what is possibile.

 

sunset.jpg

EB
EOS 1DX and 1D Mk IV and less lenses then before!
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