Good Wide Angle lens for Spotmatics?

danlam · 11-22-2016, 05:12 PM

Originally posted by goatsNdonkey

Usually shutter speeds of 1/250th or 1/500th of a second would freeze effects of camera movement, especially with a short lens such as the one you are using. Some people would be successful handholding a 28mm at 1/30th second, 1/60th of faster should be fine if you aren't sure.

While wide-angle lenses seem to have more focal length than longer lenses, they will still have limited depth of field at their widest aperture, just like any lens. If you are taking a picture of a face, a pet, a flower blossom, shooting wide open lets you throw distracting things in the foreground or background out of focus so that the main subject stands out. But that's not normally the approach we want when taking a photography of a broad and sweeping landscape--unless there is something in the middle of that scene that deserves all of the attention.

If the aim is to have a clear view of the entire scene, then you need to use a smaller aperture setting, not necessarily the smallest (what is that on your lens 16? or 22?), but probably somewhere around 8 or even 11. When you stopped down from wide open, after focusing, you might not have gone to a small enough aperture to get the whole scene in focus. Find that aperture BEFORE setting the shutter speed. It might be that selecting the shutter speed before the aperture was a big part of what kept these pictures from being as sharp as they could have been,

As for focusing, since there's nothing very close to you in the scene, setting the focus on infinity (the symbol that looks like an 8 on its side) would probably be fine. If you want to combine things that are close and far, you need to learn about the hyperfocal setting, but that probably wouldn't be a factor in these pictures.

Cool thank you very much for your reply!

I think the smallest aperture on the 28mm soligor is 22.

How do I ensure that I get enough light into the picture so that it does not come out too dark? do I set a longer shutter speed?

So the aperture I set can have an effect on how focused/ sharp the image will be?

Let says I put the focus on infinity and take two pictures, one at a low aperture and one at a higher aperture - both will have different sharpness/ focus? Regardless of shutter speeds?

Dartmoor Dave · 11-23-2016, 02:55 AM - **1 Like**

Originally posted by danlam

Let says I put the focus on infinity and take two pictures, one at a low aperture and one at a higher aperture - both will have different sharpness/ focus? Regardless of shutter speeds?

If you focus on infinity and take one shot stopped down to say f/11 and another one wide open at f/2.8, the main difference you see will be in the corners of the frame. At f/2.8 the centre might appear sharp, but the corners will be more or less blurry depending on the quality of your lens. At f/11 you should get good sharpness right across the frame, unless your lens is really hopelessly awful. You'll also get more depth of field at f/11: more things from the front to the back of the scene will appear to be in focus.

As for exposure, you need to learn the principle of reciprocity, which governs the relationship between aperture and shutter speed. Let's say you're using f/11 and your camera's meter indicates a shutter speed of 1/60.

f/11 = 1/60
f/8 = 1/125
f/5.6 = 1/250
f/4 = 1/500
f/2.8 = 1/1000

Those are all exactly the same amount of exposure -- they each let the same amount of light hit the film. For a landscape you'd want to use f/11 and 1/60 and maybe a tripod to get the best sharpness and depth of field. For an action shoot you'd need at least f/4 at 1/500 to freeze motion, and you'd have to accept a loss of some corner sharpness.

**TwoUptons** · 11-23-2016, 06:12 AM

I'll second the suggestion of the 28mm f3.5 Takumar. It's a nice little lens. I also have a 35mm f2 I'm fond of, but for different reasons.

I'd also add that I've seen some "camera shake" coming from film scans - the film is fine but the scan is shaky. Check for that, too.

-Eric

**goatsNdonkey** · 11-23-2016, 08:40 AM

Dartmoor Dave's excellent post should be very helpful. Also, note that as you stop down the lens, after selecting your focus, you can SEE the depth of field becoming greater in the view finder. True, the image in the viewfinder gets darker as the aperture gets smaller, but you can look for high-contrast lines in the image or sparkly things (that were not in-focus when the lens was wide open) begin to appear distinctly. That helps you know how far to stop down to get the things you want sharp to be sharp.

If there were a very important object somewhere in the foreground, what was beyond it might not need to be sharp for the picture to be effective. But in a broad scene, such as the one in your sample picture, one expects sharpness for most or all of it.

dsmithhfx · 11-23-2016, 01:54 PM

Originally posted by goatsNdonkey

That helps you know how far to stop down to get the things you want sharp to be sharp

There's also the DOF scale on most manual SLR lenses, that IME is reasonably accurate.

**goatsNdonkey** · 11-23-2016, 02:13 PM

Originally posted by dsmithhfx

There's also the DOF scale on most manual SLR lenses, that IME is reasonably accurate.

Excellent point, though the scale is easier to use once a person clearly understands the concept.

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11-22-2016, 05:12 PM	#16
danlam Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2016 Posts: 40 Original Poster	Originally posted by goatsNdonkey Usually shutter speeds of 1/250th or 1/500th of a second would freeze effects of camera movement, especially with a short lens such as the one you are using. Some people would be successful handholding a 28mm at 1/30th second, 1/60th of faster should be fine if you aren't sure. While wide-angle lenses seem to have more focal length than longer lenses, they will still have limited depth of field at their widest aperture, just like any lens. If you are taking a picture of a face, a pet, a flower blossom, shooting wide open lets you throw distracting things in the foreground or background out of focus so that the main subject stands out. But that's not normally the approach we want when taking a photography of a broad and sweeping landscape--unless there is something in the middle of that scene that deserves all of the attention. If the aim is to have a clear view of the entire scene, then you need to use a smaller aperture setting, not necessarily the smallest (what is that on your lens 16? or 22?), but probably somewhere around 8 or even 11. When you stopped down from wide open, after focusing, you might not have gone to a small enough aperture to get the whole scene in focus. Find that aperture BEFORE setting the shutter speed. It might be that selecting the shutter speed before the aperture was a big part of what kept these pictures from being as sharp as they could have been, As for focusing, since there's nothing very close to you in the scene, setting the focus on infinity (the symbol that looks like an 8 on its side) would probably be fine. If you want to combine things that are close and far, you need to learn about the hyperfocal setting, but that probably wouldn't be a factor in these pictures. Cool thank you very much for your reply! I think the smallest aperture on the 28mm soligor is 22. How do I ensure that I get enough light into the picture so that it does not come out too dark? do I set a longer shutter speed? So the aperture I set can have an effect on how focused/ sharp the image will be? Let says I put the focus on infinity and take two pictures, one at a low aperture and one at a higher aperture - both will have different sharpness/ focus? Regardless of shutter speeds?

11-23-2016, 02:55 AM - 1 Like	#17
Dartmoor Dave Pentaxian Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: Dartmoor, UK Photos: Gallery Posts: 3,882	Originally posted by danlam Let says I put the focus on infinity and take two pictures, one at a low aperture and one at a higher aperture - both will have different sharpness/ focus? Regardless of shutter speeds? If you focus on infinity and take one shot stopped down to say f/11 and another one wide open at f/2.8, the main difference you see will be in the corners of the frame. At f/2.8 the centre might appear sharp, but the corners will be more or less blurry depending on the quality of your lens. At f/11 you should get good sharpness right across the frame, unless your lens is really hopelessly awful. You'll also get more depth of field at f/11: more things from the front to the back of the scene will appear to be in focus. As for exposure, you need to learn the principle of reciprocity, which governs the relationship between aperture and shutter speed. Let's say you're using f/11 and your camera's meter indicates a shutter speed of 1/60. f/11 = 1/60 f/8 = 1/125 f/5.6 = 1/250 f/4 = 1/500 f/2.8 = 1/1000 Those are all exactly the same amount of exposure -- they each let the same amount of light hit the film. For a landscape you'd want to use f/11 and 1/60 and maybe a tripod to get the best sharpness and depth of field. For an action shoot you'd need at least f/4 at 1/500 to freeze motion, and you'd have to accept a loss of some corner sharpness.

11-23-2016, 06:12 AM	#18
TwoUptons Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Nov 2015 Photos: Albums Posts: 4,213	I'll second the suggestion of the 28mm f3.5 Takumar. It's a nice little lens. I also have a 35mm f2 I'm fond of, but for different reasons. I'd also add that I've seen some "camera shake" coming from film scans - the film is fine but the scan is shaky. Check for that, too. -Eric

11-23-2016, 08:40 AM	#19
goatsNdonkey Site Supporter Join Date: Jan 2016 Location: Fulton County, Illinois Posts: 3,727	Dartmoor Dave's excellent post should be very helpful. Also, note that as you stop down the lens, after selecting your focus, you can SEE the depth of field becoming greater in the view finder. True, the image in the viewfinder gets darker as the aperture gets smaller, but you can look for high-contrast lines in the image or sparkly things (that were not in-focus when the lens was wide open) begin to appear distinctly. That helps you know how far to stop down to get the things you want sharp to be sharp. If there were a very important object somewhere in the foreground, what was beyond it might not need to be sharp for the picture to be effective. But in a broad scene, such as the one in your sample picture, one expects sharpness for most or all of it.

11-23-2016, 01:54 PM	#20
dsmithhfx Pentaxian Join Date: Sep 2015 Location: Toronto Posts: 5,144	Originally posted by goatsNdonkey That helps you know how far to stop down to get the things you want sharp to be sharp There's also the DOF scale on most manual SLR lenses, that IME is reasonably accurate.

11-23-2016, 02:13 PM	#21
goatsNdonkey Site Supporter Join Date: Jan 2016 Location: Fulton County, Illinois Posts: 3,727	Originally posted by dsmithhfx There's also the DOF scale on most manual SLR lenses, that IME is reasonably accurate. Excellent point, though the scale is easier to use once a person clearly understands the concept.