A wide angle lens can be very helpful for the a Realtor showing a home, trying to get wide close ups of a product or recording in a small location. There are wide angle lenses for your phone, for cameras with interchangeable lenses, and there are cameras with a fixed wide angle lens. There is a time and a place for every lens and you may want to examine getting a wide angle lens.
Wide Angle Lens Cell Phone Options
If you’re using a phone to record your videos and you’re in a situation where you need a wide angle lens, you may want to consider the Xenvo iPhone Camera Lens Kit Pro – Macro Lens & Wide Angle Lens with LED Light. This wide angle lens will clip onto your phone with a reinforced clip spring that has great gripping power. There are also soft rubber pads so you won’t scratch your phone, and the lens clip fits easily over your case. The lens does not produce dark corners (vignetting) in the image area that can happen with some wide angle lenses. This will allow you to get the whole image in frame, crystal clear. This lens kit is going to cost less than $40.
Camera Options for Wide Angle Lens
If you’re using a cinema camera, camcorder, or a DSLR with the ability to switch out a lens, currently our personal wide angle lens favorite to use is the Sigma full frame art lens 14-24 f2.8- f22. The MSRP is $1,300 and we want to give a local shout out to Photo Forum in Phoenix who actually had this lens in stock.
First, let’s look at some of the negatives and then end on a positive note. So, some of the “cons”. It’s very heavy- 2 1/2 pounds by itself before adding it to your body. When we added it to our Feiyuteck A2000 3 axis gimbal it was extremely front heavy (so much so that we had to add counterweights.) This did not exceed the payload, just caused extra set up time. There are no threaded ND filters due to the bulb front lens, it is still expensive if you’re not a professional, and it’s not for every situation. What’s an ND Filter? It’s a neutral-density filter that reduces or modifies the intensity of all wavelengths (or colors) of light equally, giving no changes in hue or color rendition. You’ll use this typically outside to be able to have exposure of your subject and the bright sky.
It’s a beautiful wide angle lens when you need a great wide shot and has a minimum focus distance of 10.2 inches. Other positives about this lens is it’s a weather sealed lens, it has a great aperture range, it’s full frame, super sharp and not a lot of distortion, people actually look normal, and if you are a professional, or are striving to be, this is a reasonably affordable lens when you look at the closest competitor, the Canon full frame 11-24mm f4 that starts at $3,000. So for the price and quality, the Sigma full frame art lens 14-24 f2.8- f22 is a great option!
Still One More Option
If you don’t have a cinema camera, camcorder, or a DSLR with the ability to switch out a lens, and you don’t want to use your phone for your video production, you may want to consider the GoPro HERO7. As always the GoPro has an extremely wide angle lens and the newest GoPro is suppose to be ultra stabilized without using a gimbal, is waterproof up to 33ft, can send footage directly to your phone and it can even start recording with voice command. Being less than $500, this is a great camera to have handy, although keep in mind there are no audio imports, so it may not be the best to use for any on screen work.
Really not sure what to invest in to get started? See our post on “Three Getting Started Products” and as always please visit our equipment recommendation page to purchase the items through Amazon Prime.
