Tips on using a 28 mm?

LarryP · Aug 11, 2015

I've tended to shoot normal to short teles like a 135 and been comfortable with them. I'm trying to get comfortable with a 28/3.5 super tak and it feels a bit odd. I'm thinking best use probably would be places like farmers markets, street and some of the outdoor festivals we have here.I'd appreciate any tips on getting best use of this focal length. As an aside,I have a 45 for my 645 that I'm very comfortable with but my 35 mm and medium format stuff don't overlap much.

Fixcinater · Aug 11, 2015

A couple simplistic suggestions:

Telephotos are affected by where you point the lens. Wide angles are affected by where you position it. Even small movements, especially vertical can change the end result far more drastically than what you are probably used to.

Use the greater apparent depth of focus to your advantage instead of trying to put the foreground and background out of focus like a tele would do.

Enjoy that Super Tak, the 28 is a great example. Is yours the 49mm filter thread version or the larger? Both seem great.

darkosaric · Aug 11, 2015

Best tip I guess is that you need to get close. As Robert Capa once said, "If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough" - this is especially true for wide angle.

Hatchetman · Aug 11, 2015

You have to get right up in people's faces. Also keep the camera level or the "converging lines"/distortion thing will overwhelm.

Ko.Fe. · Aug 11, 2015

With 28mm you have to be in. Not at some distance, but right next to it. Events are best opportunity to learn about 28mm. People don't care if you are trying to frame them in while staying at two steps distance. Try it with family and friends. I went to the zoo one week ago and with 28mm I was able to take pictures of family members and what they were looking at. The trick is to be close to the person(s) and frame in the rest. With this and 28mm you'll get special effect of "presence" instead of looking from the side.

I didn't liked 28mm on SLR for street, focusing is cumbersome, P&S is easier, and RF is faster.

Vilk · Aug 11, 2015

look at the work of the "old guard"--depardon, nachtwey, pellegrin, winogrand... all did insane things with moderate wide angles

interesting how they seem never to have heard of "get close" or "keep level" rather, what seems to set them apart is an elevated sense of composition, framing, arranging in a meaningful way the loose bits and pieces inevitably creeping in from all directions with a wide angle. tele excludes, in all three dimensions, and tends to produce pictures of "the thing itself"--with wide angle, "the thing itself" becomes something else, not an object anymore but its relationships, spatial, semiotic, emotional, the subject becomes less tangible--mood, tension, moment...

there will be exceptions, of course, many many exceptions; this is just one possible approach, take it from here yourself

ps. personally, i have always used the 28 as a new-topographics-in-a-box kind of gizmo, it's perfect for this

darkosaric · Aug 11, 2015

I use 50 mm for most of the time - but I got mamiya with 28mm sekor as a gift.
It was also difficult at start to get very close. Here are some example where I was like 1-2 meters from a subject, and it does not look like it, on 50mm would be totally different:

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LarryP · Aug 11, 2015

Thanks guys, I'll put your tips to use. I think I'll take just the 28 out and get more used to it. Fixinator it's what I think of as version 2a 49mm filter ring but pre SMC. Really like the rendering it has,just need to learn how to best take advantage of it. Just let an 8 element 50mm 1.4 go simply because I really didn't make use of the difference of it from my 50mm /1.7 m. Edit Vilk it's the way the composition changed that throws me a bit. Darkosaric love your examples hopefully I'll get to where I can use mine that well.

John Bragg · Aug 11, 2015

28mm is a great lens for shooting events where you are in amongst and part of the action. Also good for interiors and low light. Can be hand held down to 1/15 of a sec or so with care, so it opens up new possibilities in low light compared to a 50mm.

mklw1954 · Aug 11, 2015

Your 45mm in 645 has the same field of view as your 28mm in 35mm (the factor is 0.62; 45mm x 0.62 = 27.9mm equivalent in 35mm).

28mm lenses are good for closer work, as others have said, and they focus very close as well.

flavio81 · Aug 11, 2015

With wideangles, generally the typical use is to get very close to the subject and/or adopt unconventional viewpoints (low on the ground; pointing down from the ceiling, etc). The problem is that it can get cliche'd.

I find 28mm a general-purpose focal length. The plus, over 50mm, is that it makes spaces bigger than they are, without looking exaggerated (like they would be with a 24 or 20).

Explore that sense of increased space. Enter interesting rooms, etc.

RalphLambrecht · Aug 11, 2015

LarryP said:
I've tended to shoot normal to short teles like a 135 and been comfortable with them. I'm trying to get comfortable with a 28/3.5 super tak and it feels a bit odd. I'm thinking best use probably would be places like farmers markets, street and some of the outdoor festivals we have here.I'd appreciate any tips on getting best use of this focal length. As an aside,I have a 45 for my 645 that I'm very comfortable with but my 35 mm and medium format stuff don't overlap much.

start getting comfortable with a 35mm lens first.then, move on to the 28mm.This makes the transition easier.Remember ,it is often easier to appologize than to ask for permission

LarryP · Aug 11, 2015

Ralph actually 35 was what I had been leaning toward but was blessed with the 28 with hood and m42 to k adapter coming to me free after selling off the unneeded body,if I can't bond with it it's traded for a 35. Flavio thanks, all that extra space is what bothers me. Actually the room idea has struck a chord. The old navy base near me has some places that might work great for this, especially if I can get in the Admiral's house it date back to around 1900 and is stunning.

Sirius Glass · Aug 11, 2015

When using a 28mm lens, I have learned that the photographs are much better if I remove the lens cap before taking the photograph rather than after I have taken the photograph. YMMV

Xmas · Aug 11, 2015

Look at Gary Winogrands pictures ~ girls up close.
Prefocus to four feet.

removed-user-1 · Aug 11, 2015

The 28mm is wonderful for events and street photos. When I played photojournalist for my college paper, I made the news editor very happy because, instead of standing back with a zoom like most of the staff, I'd just wade right into a crowd and get real close shots that showed people in context with what was happening. Definitely a must-have lens for me.

Alan Gales · Aug 11, 2015

My 25mm was one of my favorite lenses on my Contax. I used it to get in close.

It was my first wide angle so it was a bit odd to me at first too. I just put it on my camera and made myself use it and it wasn't long before I fell in love with it. Have fun!

MattKing · Aug 11, 2015

If you were to inventory my camera equipment, you will find a lot more wide angle lenses than you will find longer lenses.

For 35mm film, my de facto standard lens is a 35 mm lens. For 6x4.5, my de facto standard lens is a 55mm lens, for 6x6 ...

You get the idea.

Find a scene that interests you with a 50mm lens, and carefully note where the edges of the frame are in the scene, and where and how large the central point of interesf is.

Next, put the 28mm lens on the camera and position yourself first where you see approximately the same stuff at the edges of the frame. Then, move around until the central point of interest is in approximately the same location in the frame, and of the same size.

What you will find interesting is how the other elements in your view will change in relation to the central point of interest and the boundaries of the frame.

Obviously, the comparison will be easier if you actually take photos and print them.

Sirius Glass · Aug 11, 2015

When traveling light in Europe with 35mm cameras I only that the 50mm and 28mm lenses. Most of the photographs are taken with the 28mm lens during the trip.

darkosaric · Aug 12, 2015

Xmas said:
Look at Gary Winogrands pictures ~ girls up close.
Prefocus to four feet.

+1

http://artblart.com/tag/garry-winogrand-woman-laughing/

cuthbert · Aug 12, 2015

I would suggest to try to shoot object at more or less the same distance from the camera in order to avoid strange perspectives. I remember a good shoot of a cyclist taken with a 20mm but the subject was perfectly parallel to the camera.

Of course to get some fun you can also use a 28mm to take these pics:

I took these pics looong time ago with my first wide angle, a Pentax M28 f2.8, and I wanted to experiment with perspective.

mdarnton · Aug 12, 2015

Don't forget that a picture needs a center of interest. Don't include everything just because you can, and have nothing in particular standing out.

250swb · Aug 12, 2015

Garry Winogrand used a 28mm lens extensively and his photographs show how to use one in the genre of reportage. His photographs are about the relationships and interactions between subjects within the frame, and in some cases about interactions with the photographer. So he may use a crowded frame with lots of action and detail, or alternatively use the 28mm to keep it simple and isolate one or two subjects within the frame by surrounding them with space. Henry Wessel is also another photographer who works in this way using a 28mm lens. So I'd suggest looking at the work of other photographers and see how they deal with the 28mm, analyse what they are doing to make a powerful image, don't be afraid to copy them until you create a style for yourself. You will soon see a wide angle lens is most powerful when it is used dynamically, not just as a lens that happens to get everything into the shot, the mistake made by many amateur landscape photographers.

Steve

02Pilot · Aug 12, 2015

I found I really like the 28 FOV when I got my XA4. It does take some getting used to though, as you've found. I particularly like the perspective-distorting effects of using a wide lens the "wrong" way, but more generally it's a very flexible focal length once you get used to it.

I hope you don't mind if I post a few examples (these are all from the XA4). Wides increase the perception of distance, so you can use them to add depth to a scene for more dramatic effect.

You will be warned about keeping the camera level to avoid converging verticals, but sometimes that's a look you might want. Again, it can add to, rather than detract from, a photo.

As rightly pointed out above, the temptation to use wides to capture everything in a landscape shot is usually best avoided. With some point of interest, however, the sensation of vast space around that point can be emphasized effectively.

Finally, in some cases you can use the wide view to gather up points around the periphery and lead the viewer's eye into the photo. Obviously, this only works in a rather limited number of circumstances, but the effect can be dramatic.

Hope that helps.

LarryP · Aug 12, 2015

Thanks

Thank you all very much, your suggestions have really helped me figure out where to start with this. Matt the idea of shooting a 50 alongside the 28 sounds perfect for me it will definitely help see side by side the differences and aid composition. I've already set aside the weekend and picked several places to go. Looking forward to learning something new. If nothing else it will make me look at things differently.

Tips on using a 28 mm?

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