Environments in which to use new EF 16-35/2.8L II "U" lens?

[Swimmer]

stcatfish and others,

The boss is showing off his (our?) new lens today. I know I will be using it to document some of our projects in the field. And, I will make sure I have access to it for personal projects. I'm sure I will learn through experimentation, but having never used a super-wide lens, what are appropriate situations in which to use this lens?

Remember, the boss is showing off, not me...

[Steve Foss]

Swimmer, you'll be seeing the wide wide world through that lens at the equivalent of about 26mm, because of the 1.6 crop factor on your sensor.

To get a true 16mm for that body, you'd need the 10-22mm specifically designed for Canon sensors that size.

But that's not really your question.

Seeing the world through a wide angle lens, as opposed to a supertelephoto, is a wonderful change of perspective. Most people use those wide angles for landscapes and other images where they want to crunch a lot of subjects into a relatively small frame. Nothing wrong with that. Lots of great images are shot that way.

However, you'll be able to get right up close to subjects, too, because that lens will focus to within inches, and there are some wonderful perspectives to be seen doing that. You can get right down and a little above a group of wildflowers, shoot the flowers in the foreground and still get a nice panoramic background full of sky and clouds.

That's just one example. It's also fast enough to use it without flash indoors on sports or performances, or parties, or most any other type of indoor shooting where the lighting is decent.

I picked up the set of three kenko extension tubes for my 17-40L last fall, and I experimented and found I could get my lens, at 40mm and with all three tubes on, to focus down to an inch away, producing approximately the equivalent of a 1:1 true macro lens. So that's one more fun thing to try.

Have a lot of fun with it. That's what it's for. And don't forget to share your work.

[Swimmer]

Steve, it's nice to hear of some of the possibilies with this lens. On a side note: I stacked the small/medium Kenko tubes together with the Tamron 28-75 and took some wildflower, Mountain Ash berry ect. shots last Fall and found that at some focal lengths I would actually contact the subject. I assume this is normal? I found using the Kenko tubes to be a ton of fun. I realize I'm darn lucky to be piggybacking on these lens's, and I will post when I feel my proficiency and time constraints (to much going on right now...ha, ha that's why I'm working so hard right now and not on the internet!?).

[Steve Foss]

Yep, it's normal for the tubes to make your stick your lens even closer to the subject. It can turn a standard lens into a macro, although it's only really good for flowers and things that aren't put off by a REALLY close lens. Bees and such will be long gone, usually, by the time you get within an inch or two of the flower.

[Swimmer]

Yup, I remember a shot of some sort of horny Spider, I think it was by Jonny, where I thought he was pretty "brave".

[jonny_redhorse]

Lol!.I remember that spider shot!....I hated it so much ,I sent it to the trash bin!.... ....I'm not really fond of spiders anyway!...I did get "really" close to that spider and remember it attacking the camera lens ......needless to say, I don't take photos of spiders any more ...I'll stick to other bugs!...

[MN Shutterbug]

Johnny, your post made me chuckle. I don't blame you a bit. Spiders send chills up my spine. Too danged many legs.