Wide lens - ML

New_Zealand

New_Zealand

Veteran
I was wonder if 16mm is the widest lens you can go on a 5d mkiii video without distortion? I have the 24mm but going to shoot some footage in the forest and would like to get the wide cinema look feel to the shot. From what i understand with ML you can do your setting in camera to get that feel?

I still haven't hook up ML on my camera.
 
You can go to at least 14mm since there are non-fisheye lenses out there at that focal length. I have a feeling that is not what you are actually asking, though.
 
16mm is very wide and I only use it for real estate shots or for effect shots. It really has a lot of distortion. It works with locked shots but pans are pretty bubbled.
 
I think you might need to define "wide cinema look" a little. 16mm on a full frame is wide, cinema or not. I don't think that look is exactly "big screen" imho. More like sweeping landscape photography. I am happy to never go wider than 24mm on the 5D as the images start to wrap around too much. Remember Ansel Adams liked to use 50mm-100mm for his landscapes. To me "cinema look" would be more about scouting for good locations so you did not have to use 16mm to get the shot :)
 
Cinematic does not equal wide angle. You probably won't need wider than 35mm on the 5D3.

Roger Deakins has shot entire movies on Arri Alexa (1.5x crop) between 25mm and 50mm, so that means between 37mm and 74mm on the 5D3. He said the majority of Prisoners was shot at 32mm and 35mm, so that would be 47.5mm and 52mm.

With a FF size sensor and a 35mm, 50mm, and 85mm lens set, you could shoot an entire feature film.
 
Distortion is a very weird thing.

Take a Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 (which works on FF cameras as a 16mm f/2.8 prime with hardly any distortion), and you'll have no distortion on architecture subjects; but if there's a face on a side of the frame, it will look extremely distorted; and if you pan or move the camera in any other way, it will look odd.

Now take the Samyang 14mm f/2.8 (a prime that is rectilinear but has a lot more distortion than the Tokina), and you'll have lots of distortion on architecture subjects, but if there's a face on the side of the frame it will look a lot more natural; and still, any camera movement will look odd because it's still very very wide.

Check this thread.
 
Just wanted to add 2 comments:

- The OP clearly stated he would be shooting in a forest. Given that re-framing may take up to miles' walking or driving, many want to have a super wide lens such that they can include as much as possible in a single frame whenever they so desire. This is similar to taking a shot of a building or interiors in a limited space. Additionally, a panning/tilting shot with a less wide or normal or telephoto lens does not convey the same type of awe as an all-inclusive wide shot does. For example, to visually reproduce the grandeur and vastness of a forest (as well as other natural landscapes in great expanse), the easiest way to start is with a very wide establishing shot. For that purpose, 24mm or even 16mm may not be wide enough.

- Ansel Adam worked primarily with large-format cameras. On large-format cameras, a 50mm lens is already super wide.
 
Not that wide. 50mm on 60x45mm film is like 30mm on FF.
edit: sorry, that's medium format - but was he really using a 50mm lens on large-format? I'd think >90mm would be more likely (I own some large-format vintage cameras, and they come with lenses like a 125mm f/9.6 and such - these beauties)
 
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