In yesterdays post I featured photos taken with my Nikon D300 DX format camera of local wildlife. My DX camera had clear advantages in that situation.
My second photo stop yesterday was in the historic district of Salisbury, NC. For this situation I was using my Nikon D700 with a 20mm f/2.8 prime lens. I’ve not done a great deal of shooting at this width so I knew it would be interesting. The Field of View (FOV) for this combination (FX<->20mm) is the equivalent of a 13-14mm lens on a DX camera. It’s wide!
The historical area of Salisbury consist of tree lined narrow streets with large Victoria era homes. There are a number that have historical significance from the American Civil War. It’s a perfect place to enjoy the advantages of a wide FOV FX camera (i.e. getting the wide angle shot without having to back across the street and deal with cars and traffic in the foreground.)
While I understand the general wide lens rule about having something close-up in your picture to give depth, interest and a visual path to prevent the viewers eye from getting lost in the “wide-scape”, it was interesting how much change was needed from my normal photo composition.
It was definitely a fun exercise that I look forward to repeating often.
I found the Nikon 20mm f/2.8 lens to be a very clear lens with near instant autofocus. It reminds me of the Nikon 50mm f/1.8, except much wider. A lens worth having in your kit for sure!
Photos (Top to Bottom):
CW Cannon – – cropped for composition
Brick Wall – – slightly cropped for composition
Flower & House – – PS perspective correction
OK, let’s try this again. I posted a comment but MySql freaked and it didn’t get saved. What I said was that I really liked that picture with the cannon, actually like all of them.
I can certainly see the advantages of having both formats, to be sure. I have an 11-18mm Tamron, so I can get just a touch wider than 20mm, which is just fine by me, besides, I couldn’t afford the new Nikon 14-24mm!
Keep those write-ups coming. I like them! Looks like I’ll change my walking location to the historic part of Summerville today. You’ve made me want to photograph it! :-)
@Paul: Thanks about the photos!
I’ve have a Sigma 10-20 DX lens for a while but hardly ever shoot with it. It’s a slow lens (f/4-5.6) and if I remember correctly the AF is slow as well. Yeah, that Nikon 14-24mm is certainly out of my range now too.
I’m still getting use to “changing gears” when it comes to lens between the D300 and D700. Mentally my baseline is still perhaps the DX D300. So when I put a 20mm lens on the FX D700 it’s like “WOW, look how wide that is”…don’t know if that makes sense or not? ;-)
I’m sure that I’d have the same thoughts. After being in DX format for several years, it would probably amaze me too. We’ll have to get together and you can let me take that baby for a spin! :-)
Paul, Any time..