# Widest lens for video (Canon) that has barely any distortion?



## ShootingStars (Oct 27, 2013)

I have the 17-40 F4L and since I move the camera while doing video there is sometimes bad distortion on faces... what is the widest I can go <$1000 that has barely any distortion?


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## Knut Skywalker (Oct 27, 2013)

Maybe try the Rokinon/Samyang/whatever 14mm 2.8, from what i hear it is a great lens, even rivaling the Canon 14mm L at a fraction of the cost. Since you're doing video, the manual focus and iris could come in handy. The distortion is kept very low for such a wide angle lens from what I've been reading and it's just about 300€ (don't know the US price) around here. You should consider it.


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## DKN (Oct 27, 2013)

You can try using a lens distortion correction profile. As far as I know there is this one which works for stills with the lens reccomended by Knut Skywalker. Maybe you can find something to correct video distortion in a similar way

http://joopsnijder.blogspot.it/2012/03/lightroom-lens-profile-for-samyang-14.html


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## Policar (Oct 27, 2013)

Knut Skywalker said:


> Maybe try the Rokinon/Samyang/whatever 14mm 2.8, from what i hear it is a great lens, even rivaling the Canon 14mm L at a fraction of the cost. Since you're doing video, the manual focus and iris could come in handy. The distortion is kept very low for such a wide angle lens from what I've been reading and it's just about 300€ (don't know the US price) around here. You should consider it.



Are you kidding? The Samyang has the worst distortion of any non-fisheye. It is very sharp but awful for video:

http://www.photozone.de/canon_eos_ff/532-samyang14f28eosff?start=1

OP, if you're shooting with the 5D then the 14mm f2.8 L II is a good option. Low distortion. With APS-C/super35, try the 11-16mm f2.8 Tokina.

Faces still distort a ton around the edges because these are UWA lenses... you won't find an UWA without distortion because that's just perspective. But lines are kept straight rather than wavy with these lenses.


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## Axilrod (Oct 27, 2013)

Knut Skywalker said:


> Maybe try the Rokinon/Samyang/whatever 14mm 2.8, from what i hear it is a great lens, even rivaling the Canon 14mm L at a fraction of the cost. Since you're doing video, the manual focus and iris could come in handy. The distortion is kept very low for such a wide angle lens from what I've been reading and it's just about 300€ (don't know the US price) around here. You should consider it.



While the Samyang 14mm is a solid lens, especially for the money, it has terrible distortion, I mean super ridiculously bad.


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## Pi (Oct 27, 2013)

ShootingStars said:


> I have the 17-40 F4L and since I move the camera while doing video there is sometimes bad distortion on faces... what is the widest I can go <$1000 that has barely any distortion?



FF or crop? The 10-22 on crop has very low distortion. 

You might be talking about something different - people "looking fat" near the borders. This is much more noticeable than the "actual" distortion, which is the deviation from the rectangular projection (I am no sure that this is the accepted term) expected from a supposedly distortion free lens.


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## paul13walnut5 (Oct 27, 2013)

Equiv to 45mm will give you a nuetral perspective, so a nifty fifty for a 5d etc or 28mm for aps-c.

The problem isn't firld distortion but perspective.


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## ShootingStars (Oct 27, 2013)

Pi said:


> ShootingStars said:
> 
> 
> > I have the 17-40 F4L and since I move the camera while doing video there is sometimes bad distortion on faces... what is the widest I can go <$1000 that has barely any distortion?
> ...



It's on FF, so most crop options are not viable. 5D3. For example, I had some footage where the face was literally on the side and her face was stretched apart until the camera moved into the frame more.


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## paul13walnut5 (Oct 27, 2013)

Use a more tele lens. Do a longer pan.

These here are your solutions.


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## Pi (Oct 27, 2013)

ShootingStars said:


> It's on FF, so most crop options are not viable. 5D3. For example, I had some footage where the face was literally on the side and her face was stretched apart until the camera moved into the frame more.



OK, this must be then the perspective "distortion" which is not really a distortion (in the usual sense). The natural barrel distortion at the wide end of many lenses would actually reduce this effect, so you may benefit from lenses with _more_ distortion.

See this page for examples: http://www.dxo.com/intl/photography/dxo-optics-pro/features/optical-corrections/volume-anamorphosis. They probably do not have correction tools for video files though. 

Fisheye lenses tend to suffer from this lens despite their massive conventional distortion. Not great idea for video though...


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Oct 27, 2013)

Knut Skywalker said:


> Maybe try the Rokinon/Samyang/whatever 14mm 2.8, from what i hear it is a great lens, even rivaling the Canon 14mm L at a fraction of the cost. Since you're doing video, the manual focus and iris could come in handy. The distortion is kept very low for such a wide angle lens from what I've been reading and it's just about 300€ (don't know the US price) around here. You should consider it.


 
The Samyang 14mm is cheap, but it has more distortion than any other wide lens, don't even consider it unless you love a distorted image. It doesn't even come close to the Canon 14mm.

The Zeiss 15mm is supurb, but $$$$. 

Samyang 14mm Note that distortion free left side. (Those flowers and bricks are vertical)


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## ajfotofilmagem (Oct 27, 2013)

Difficult to separate the geometric distortion of the lens, and the perspective distortion. If you want less distortion near the corners of the image, ultra-wide angle lenses should be discarded. In this case, the new Canon 24mm F2.8 seems a good option for video in 5D Mark III.


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## dr croubie (Oct 27, 2013)

Get a Sigma 8-16mm. At 15-16mm it covers full frame, at 16mm there's less than 1% pincushion, 15mm is almost dead-even.


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## Ruined (Oct 27, 2013)

If you really want the widest lens for video that has barely any distortion, assuming you have a full frame camera then this is your lens:
http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/consumer/products/cameras/ef_lens_lineup/ef_28mm_f_2_8_is_usm

24mm is where distortion starts to become significantly noticeable, you can get away with 28mm though because the really noticeable distortion is not apparent. The above lens is also great for video as it has IS, and it is one of Canon's sharper primes.


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## AdamJ (Oct 28, 2013)

dr croubie said:


> Get a Sigma 8-16mm. At 15-16mm it covers full frame, at 16mm there's less than 1% pincushion, 15mm is almost dead-even.



Sigma's FF version, the 12-24mm, has practically no radial distortion at about 18mm. OK, that's a little longer than the 8-16mm's sweet spot but the 12-24mm would obviously be more useful for a FF user than being restricted to the long end of the APS-C version.


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## Renaissance (Nov 15, 2013)

Hello! I am recently started shooting indie movies / fashion vids in LA.
I use the Tokina 16-28, it's great! Sharp, but heavy (and no filter element), however it has a built-in hood.
There are some impressive real use videos and reviews out there if you search.
Get it, you'll enjoy it!!


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