Lense choice for photographing large cloud formations

<p>Hello!<br>

I plan to photograph beautiful cloud formations in FL sky that usually form in June-September months.<br>

They usually occupy a large portion of the sky (wide and high). I want to capture their shape, details, and colors.<br>

What type of lens would you recommend?<br>

I have a Canon EOS camera.</p>

<p>Thanks in advance!<br>

Adi</p>

<p>I once saw a National Weather Service cloud 'monitoring' station located just south of Cocoa Beach on the east coast of Florida. It had a Nikon with a very large film magazine and a 6mm 2.8 fisheye</p>

<p>( http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/nikon/nikkoresources/fisheyes/6mmf28.htm )</p>

<p>pointed straight up. I think it took an image an hour during daylight hours, and someone swapped the film mags every couple of weeks.</p>

<p>So on the basis of that, a circular fisheye would give you the whole sky... A full frame fisheye would probably serve you better though.</p>

Which eos camera? Assuming it's an aps-c sized sensor, I'd get a canon 10-22mm or a similar focal length 3rd party

lens. This will provide the widest angle possible on these cameras. I personally would not get a fisheye lens as it

creates quite a bit of undesirable distortion. If you are using a film or full frame digital then I would suggest the 17-

40mm f/4L. This lens is much more affordable than the 16-35mm f/2.8L and the slower aperture is not an issue when

outdoors. The 17-40 also uses a 77mm filter, which is cheaper and more available than the 82mm thread of the 16-

35.

<p>Thank you for the great and quick replies!<br /> I should've mentioned earlier that I do not want to use fish-eyes due to the distortion they create. My fault. As for the camera it's an old and good Canon EOS D30.<br /> Nathan, I hear two suggestions in your reply: a 10-22mm and a 17-40mm f/4L. Do you suggest to try both?</p>

Those big Florida thunderhead clouds mean lot of softly defined detail and for that a winless focal length lens will be best. For your 30D a 20mm,

28mm, 50mm, and 85 or 100mm will work best. If you can afford an update /upgrade of camera the EOS 60D is pretty

sweet.

<p>Is your camera a D30 or a 30D? They are in fact two different cameras. The D30 is a 3MP released in 2000, and the 30D is an 8MP released in 2006. The 10-22mm on an APS-C camera will be very similar to the 17-40mm on a film/full frame digital camera. The reason is that the sensor is smaller on the APS-C cameras (which you have) so it doesn't collect as much of the image projection, giving the effect of a more magnified image. With Canon APS-C cameras you multiply the focal length by 1.6 to get the focal length that the lens would look like on a film camera. For example, a 100mm lens looks like 100mm on film, but on APS-C digital, the small sensor makes it look like what a 160mm lens would appear on a film camera. (100mm x 1.6 = 160mm) So, with a film or full frame the 17-40mm would have nearly the same effective focal range as the 10-22mm on your APS-C. Now here's the problem, if your camera is in fact a D30, then it will not accept the 10-22mm lens as its an EF-S mount lens and will only mount on Canon's APS-C cameras later than the 20D. If you have the 30D then your good. The 3rd party lenses may mount on the D30. To answer your question, each suggestion depended on which kind of camera you have, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try both. The 10-22mm is a superwide lens while the 17-40mm will only be a wide lens on your camera (although its a superwide on a film camera). You may find the 10-22 to be too wide or the 17-40 not to be wide enough, mount them both and see what works best. If you do go to a store to try them out, be sure to step outside to see what they look like through the viewfinder as its hard to determine what a lens will look like outdoors when testing indoors.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>I should've mentioned earlier that I do not want to use fish-eyes due to the distortion they create</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Note that recilinear wideangles also create distortion, just a different type of distortion. Objects near the edge of the rectilinear frame are stretched but not curved while at the edge of the fisheye frame they are curved but not stretched.</p>

<p>Rather than usung the widest lens you can find, I'd use the longest lens you have that covers the arear you want. That depends on the clouds of course.</p>

Thank you all so much!

 

I couldn't have dreamed about a more complete answer.

Nathan was kind enough to boil it down to 1-2 candidates of which I'm very grateful!

 

I'm really impressed by the people on this board!

 

Thank you!

Yes I boiled it down to two choices, but those would be MY choices, that doesn't mean those would necessarily be the

best ones for YOU. I would start with those lenses then go from there. Ask yourself what those lenses have and what

they lack. What do you need? Do they fulfill those needs? What could other lenses do better? I am glad to be of

some help, but I wouldn't take my word as gospel; do some more research and use this as a starting point for finding

the perfect lens for you. It may turn out that one of the two mentioned is the winner, but it may not.

<p>save some money.....use the lens you have and try doing a 3 to 6 shot vertical panorama.....</p>