ZEISS makes four ultra-wide Milvus lenses: 2.8/15 mm, 2.8/18 mm, 2.8/21 mm, and 1.4/25 mm. Can there be an appreciable difference with only a three or four millimeter focal length change between lenses? After all, if you have a 100-400 mm zoom lens, you probably couldn’t even notice the difference between 344 and 348 mm focal lengths. But you’ll see that just a couple millimeters makes quite a difference with very wide angle lenses.

I made this series of photographs on a sunny day with very contrasty light to show how the four lenses handle very difficult lighting conditions. Polarizing filters somewhat tempered the extreme contrasts. I used Heliopan High-Transmission polarizers for the 18, 21, and 25 mm lenses, and a ZEISS polarizer for the 15 mm lens. Before I made these JPEGs from the raw images, I reduced highlights by 30 in Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) to make sure the clouds wouldn’t blow out when converted. Otherwise, these raw images were straight from the camera. All were made at f/8 on a full-frame Nikon D850 DSLR.

Note how much more of the trees you can see at both edges of the frame with the wider lenses. Also, notice how City Hall seems to shrink and recede as the lenses get wider.

Here are the diagonal/horizontal/vertical angles of view for these four lenses:

2.8/15  110°/100°/76°

2.8/18  100°/89°/67°

2.8/21  90°/81°/59°

1.4/25  81°/71°/50°

Comparing the chart to the photographs shows that for extreme wide angle lenses, the field of view changes noticeably for every 10° diagonal angle of view. So how do you decide which lens(es) to get?

All four lenses are spectacularly sharp, and all exhibit the famous ZEISS micro-contrast and consistent color. They also all show little distortion with the appropriate Lens Correction selection in ACR. (Note: most recent DSLRs have in-camera lens corrections for JPEGs. Raw image lens corrections are handled in raw conversion software, such as ACR and Lightroom.)

As you can see, the wider the lens, the larger the foreground and the smaller the subject become. (Of course this is true regardless of the brand of the lenses.) Look at how much more of the trees at either edge of the image are visible with wider focal lengths. But even though there are significant differences in the images, unless you do a lot of very wide angle shooting (think architecture and interiors), it is unlikely you’ll need all four of these lenses.

If you primarily shoot landscapes, including Milky Way photos at night, you might find the 15 and 21 mm lenses the best combination. For large scale and intimate landscapes, the 18 and 25 mm lens pair might be most useful. If you’re just venturing into wide-angle shooting, the 25 mm lens will likely be the most versatile. It’s also one of the sharpest and most desirable lenses ever made. It’s one you’ll keep for a lifetime.

As always, it is best to try these out for yourselves. I highly recommend renting them individually or in groups before purchasing any of them.

©2018 Tom Vadnais Photography. All Rights Reserved.

At a workshop in Redwood National and State Parks back in 2003, Jack Dykinga gave me one of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever received for getting better images in the field: Use a focusing cloth. It was simple, had been around just about as long as photography itself, yet was rarely used by anyone but large format shooters. I adopted it back then for use with my DSLR, and have been using it ever since. For me, it has become as essential as my tripod and cable release.

It helps me compose and focus, both physically and mentally. With it, I can easily see anything on my LCD, regardless of the ambient light. It helps keep wind, sprinkles, and even flying bugs out of my eyes while I’m shooting, helping me concentrate on my subject. With it, it’s much easier for me to check the corners and edges of my frame, and to look for merges throughout the image. It even allows me to use the Depth of Field preview function, regardless of how dark the image becomes when I push the button!

It’s become so important to me, that I bring a spare when I travel in case something happens to the first one in the field. And as a final bonus, many of my shooting buddies have encouraged me to use it all the time—even when I’m not shooting. They say it’s a fantastic fashion accessory that looks great over me.

My original focusing cloth, also known as a dark cloth, was a 36″x48″ Toyo-View focusing cloth that I got from B&H. After using it for a few years, I wanted something waterproof, breathable, darker, and more versatile. Besides, B&H no longer carried the Toyo-View cloth. After six months of testing various combinations of fabrics and Velcro placements, I now use my own Tom Vadnais Photography 36″x48″ waterproof focusing cloth. It’s an improved design that’s handmade right here in the USA, and is available only from me. Please e-mail me at tom@tomvadnais.com if you’re interested in ordering one directly (US$84 + US$5 shipping and handling to a US address). It’s black on the inside, to give you a dark area to shoot from, and white on the outside to reflect heat. There are strips of Velcro on both sides of one end that cinch the cloth around your lens, making it fast and easy to attach and remove when changing lenses in the field.

After wrapping one end around your lens, the rest of the cloth simply drapes over your camera, your head and shoulders, and partially down your back. This eliminates most of the stray light around you, allowing you to see much better through your viewfinder. You can’t believe how much easier it is to concentrate on your composition and focusing when surrounded by relative darkness. It also allows you to see everything on your LCD, even in the brightest sunlight.

As you can see from the photograph below, it can also help you blend in with any ghosts you may encounter when out shooting.

Now, do you have to spend US$84 on a commercially available waterproof dark cloth with Velcro. Of course you do—-if it’s one from me! Not really. A US$5 black bath towel from a discount store works just fine. You can drape the towel over your lens, camera, and head, as my friend Sue is doing during a workshop in the Smokies. (Her towel is dark blue, but is still effective. In general, though, you want a black cloth or towel, so you don’t have any visual color contamination while you’re shooting under it.)

Like any other new tool in photography, using a dark cloth takes a little getting used to at first. Think back to when you first used a tripod, remote release, or any filters. But almost right away, you’ll likely find the benefits so outweigh any learning curve that you’ll adopt it full time. I did.