Best DSLR for wide angle

[gaydec]

I was wondering what camera would be best for someone wanting to take pictures with wide angle lenses. I've looked on dpreview, but I was wondering if any of you had any experience with the wide angle stuff. Most of the pictures will be taken of furniture or say a bathroom (one whole wall).


Thanks in advance for the info.

[gregr]

what you want to look for is the widest lens out there. if you're hoping for point and shoot then i fear you will be disappointed, unless the room is big enough to allow you to shoot from way back. most point and shoots do not go very wide and you probably won't be able to fit the whole wall in the shot.
so you're looking at an slr body- does it have to be digital? if so, the best bet is to get one that has a full-frame sensor-- like the Canon 1Ds or Kodak DCS 14N. if you're going to shoot film (that black stuff that looks like a ribbon and you put it in the back of the camera ) the body isn't so important- but the lens is.
i highly recommend the EOS 24mm tilt-shift lens.
another option to consider is using a point and shoot and stitching photos together to make panaramas. takes some extra effort on the software side but will save you big bucks if you don't want to spring for the dslr.
greg

[TS]

If you can't afford the $8K or so for a full-frame 1Ds, you may want to consider the Nikon D100 vs. the Canon models (10D/Digi Rebel).... Nikon's smaller sensor has a 1.4X multiplication factor versus Canon's 1.6.

[gregr]

hi Travis-
i thought about recommending one of those dslr's but decided against it because of the multiplier-- once you add 1.4 or 1.6x to a 20mm lens (or anything that's not fisheye) you're still probably not wide enough to fit a whole bathroom wall in your shot
this is why i haven't sold my film camera....
greg

[TS]

Good point Greg, was just trying to recommend a sub-$8,000 DSLR that would at least be better, not necessarily optimal.

For that much, might as well get a 10D/D. Rebel and drop a few hundred on an EOS film body and get the best of both worlds. That's what I'll probably end up doing some day.

T

[capture]

i just purchased a nikon DX 12-24mm f/4 that is amazing. it would work real well with a nikon d100. the DX series lens means that it only works with digital SLR's. but it runs around $1000.