Would I gain that much by buying a 21mm?

[wrs1145]

I've got a 25mm for my LTM Canon, but am thinking about a 21mm. Would I gain that much if I added a 21 mm for mainly street shooting

Thanks,
Bill










































would I

 

[Retro-Grouch]

I've got a 25mm for my LTM Canon, but am thinking about a 21mm. Would I gain that much if I added a 21 mm for mainly street shooting

Thanks,
Bill










































would I

You are the one to answer that. Are you working in such tight quarters that the 21 would give you more freedom? On the other hand, do you want to deal with the additional perspectival distortion that is inevitable when you start getting into extreme wide angle work? Personally, I don't like battling with any lens wider than a 28, but YMMV.

 

[Alpsman]

If you can afford it financially and your wife and child don't have to go hungry because of it, or you can't heat the house in the winter when it's cold, then do it.
You might be annoyed for the rest of your life because you didn't do it and maybe ask yourself every time how the picture would have turned out with the 21mm lens.
Besides, you never know how long your own life will last.
You have about 10° more angle of view, which can sometimes be the little extra you need to achieve exactly the image composition you want.
. . .
He who dies with the most toys wins ;-)

 

[Snowbuzz]

21mm Street Photography

Nice YouTube video made by Quintavius Oliver on how he uses 21mm on the street.

Of course, there are many iconic photographs made using the 21mm lens by war photographer, Tim Page. One below:



21mm is my main lens.

 

[p.giannakis]

Personally, i think anything bellow 28mm is a difficult lens to use. For me it crams in too many details and you have to move very close to your main subject to make it stand out. I have a 24mm and when using it I find myself cropping the images to a 28mm view. I would imagine the 21mm is more difficult lens.

Obviously others find it very useful and works wonders in their hands so....

 

[santino]

It is a personal preference and it also changes over time. I personally have learned that a different focal length doesn’t improve my pictures… (but I‘m a 50 guy 🙂 )

 

[Archiver]

Of course it is up to our personal preferences, and you might not really know until you have a 21mm and have shot with it enough to figure that out. All I can say is that I like 25mm as a walkaround focal length, but I often prefer 21mm because it allows me to capture more context. But don't listen to me, I'm just a gearhead/enabler.

A few 21mm images:

M9 + ZM21/2.8 - Ueno by Archiver, on Flickr

M9 - Borders Camberwell by Archiver, on Flickr

M9 - Monique Lhuillier by Archiver, on Flickr

 

[Out to Lunch]

am thinking about a 21mm.

If you don't want to sink too much money into one: the small and lightweight Color-Skopar 4/21, and the heavy and bulky TTArtisan 1.5/21 are good and affordable.

 

[Freakscene]

You gain a lens. You lose 4mm!

 

[joe bosak]

He who dies with the most toys wins ;-)

Now that's a code I can live by...
but really, what the others said. You won't know if you don't try, if you can't decide but you can afford it, why not.
Personally I find my lenses wider than 28 seldom get used, but it obviosuly depends on how you shoot and your subject matter.

 

[Malcolm M]

If you can afford it financially and your wife and child don't have to go hungry because of it, or you can't heat the house in the winter when it's cold, then do it.

Of what relevance is any of that to buying another lens?

 

[Alpsman]

Of what relevance is any of that to buying another lens?

Everyone has different values in life.

 

[DownUnder]

My two 28/2.8 Nikons live on my cameras. Please don't ask why I own two, it's a long story and not interesting, in fact rather boring, so I will spare you all the retelling and let us just move on. Also one 24 and a 20, Nikons. As well I have a Zeiss Biogon 21/2.8 acquired ages ago for my Contax G1, a beaut lens, taken out once a year to be dusted off.

So the conclusion of the above has to be, I'm not really a 20/21 type of photographer. 28 is my way of seeing the world. Less two cataracts I had removed in 2021 and 2022. So as good vision, 28 or whatever, as I will ever get in this life...

In a nutshell, I use 28s extensively, in fact 95% of the time. My 24 is for 'tight' situations, like church or mosque or temple interiors. The 20 now and then, more to say I've used it than for any other reason. Yes, it does distort, but minimally if handled with care. Otherwise for all my wide angle images, the 24 suffices and the 28s do just about everything I want.

That's me. I own two 50/1.4s I've hardly ever used, and a 60/2.8 macro I love, but seldom take out of its soft case. Ditto a 180/2.8, used two-three times in ten years. Also a 300/4.5, used once when I bought it. My 85/1.8, that's another story, it's my second fave lens, even if I don't use it as much as I should. It's there if I need it or want it.

It's all really a matter of choice. My choices will differ from yours, as they should. As a few others here have said, if you want one and you can afford it, then life is short, toys are fun to play with, so why not?

One comment that may interest you. In my stock photo days, everything I sold to publishers was taken either with a 28/2.8 or a 60/2.8 Nikon. In my film days, a 55/2.5 Micro Nikkor and a 1970 28/3.5. My buyers didn't care about which lens or camera or film or SD card I used to make the images. They wanted the visuals, and I provided them.

As I've found in the course of my life, in almost all things photographic, it's best to KISS.

All this said, if you decide to go for a 21, buy it and enjoy. That's what it's about.

 

[Dogman]

Maybe. Could be.

I usually stick with a 24/25 as my wide lens. I seldom use them but own 20, 21, 18 and 15mm. They all get used on occasions and I like them for the occasional really wide view. I agree that the wider the lens the more difficult it is to use effectively but when you need or want one, you gotta have it. And if you're a true lens junkie like me, well....

 

[Alpsman]

My father was 9 years old when WW2 ended. He always said: What do we really need? Enough to eat so that we don't go hungry. Enough firewood so that we don't freeze and a roof over our heads so that we don't get wet when it rains. Everything else is a luxury. When he died he had over 100 shirts in all kinds of patterns and colors.
My friend's wife had over 80 pairs of shoes when she died of cancer at just 45.
And I might think about it when I buy another lens that I might never use?
=> He who dies with the most toys wins.

 

[JohnGellings]

How do you feel when using the 25mm? Do you often wish you had a wider lens? That's the only answer really.

 

[Godfrey]

I like the 20-21 focal length, but I don't use it all that often, just like the 10mm that I have in my lens kit. To me, ultrawide shooting requires that I concentrate and dedicate myself to it for several sessions before my brain starts to see in those perspectives. That said, I wouldn't be without it. This point of view is a small but essential part of my photographic ideas.

Whether it's the right thing for you, well ... you'll know better when you have one and play with it. 😀

G

 

[Yokosuka Mike]

21mm wide can be good. However, extra-wide can be even better in the right situations.

Fujinon XF 8mm f3.5 lens (Full Frame Equivalent of 12mm)





Just something to think about.
​

 

[mdarnton]

My favorite w/a lens flips around a bit, 28, 21, 24. It's nice to have them all if you can afford it.

 

[agentlossing]

I just got a ~22.5mm effective lens (the DA 15mm Ltd.) for my Pentax Monochrome. It's been quite a while since I've shot very wide. However, the principles I figured out with wide lenses in the past hold true: the more level and dead-on you can get your camera, the better the images look. If you want to shoot not dead-level, then only set one axis off, not both. I.e., level horizontally but not level vertically, or vice versa. Otherwise you get a lot of overwhelming ultrawide distortion. Unless that's what you're going for.