Pricey!

$50 for 4 days plus $25 shipping

I may just order it on amazon with their 30 day return

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Gx-1 evf2 - panny 20mm - oly 45 mm - domke fxb - manfrotto 493

Here are a few of my first shots with the 7-14. I took a drive up to the new Champlain Bridge that connects Crown Point, NY with Chimney Point, VT. It crosses over a narrow part of Lake Champlain and was re-built in 2009-2011 since the old bridge was deemed unsafe. I thought that a large bridge would be a good subject for a UWA lens.

View from underneath the bridge from the Vermont side.


Walking across the bridge.


View from the New York side.


I also took this shot of the covered bridge in Warren, Vermont


I have about 2 more days with the lens before I have to ship it back, so I'll go out and use it some more. Still not sure about whether I'll actually order one....

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Bert
adirondack fotoscapes

Hi Bert,

I can't see anything "wrong" with your photos, but I guess that's what I like about the UWA.
In fact, I quite like the 3 photos of the concrete bridge, especially the first one, looking up underneath it.

I suppose just keep shooting anything you can with the lens while you've got (seeing as how you've already paid for the rental) and see what comes out at the end. You may be pleasantly surprised with some of the shots.

But, at the end of the day, if you still aren't comfortable with the extra width, you haven't really lost anything, and have certainly learnt a lot more than before the rental.
I hope this helps you in some way.

Good Luck

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Michael

Gear: E-420, 25, 18-180, E-P1, m14-42, OM-D, m12-50, O60 Macro, PL25 1.4, PL7-14, HLD-6, SEMA-1, MAL-1, AC-3, plus lots of other cool toys

My neck strap massages my neck!

I agree with just leave it on the camera and use it. If you go around looking for good times to use an UWA lens, you're unlikely to see them because you won't "think in wide angle" naturally, if you're like most people. If you still don't find it works for you then no biggie, it's kind of a specialty lens and many people never go that wide with their shots, much like many people don't need a 300mm telephoto.

Second suggestion - go through the example image thread for the 7-14mm and 9-18mm if you haven't already, and see what other people have done with the UWA FOV. I've not even had mine that long and I've got a pretty decent variety of shots with mine, thanks to just slapping it on the camera and walking around with it. Here's a couple I grabbed from Flickr, not necessarily earth-shattering compositions but they illustrate the variety of subjects.

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500px | flickr

“The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.” -- Dorothea Lange

Thanks, Michael. While I'm happy with these, I guess that I'm finding it a challenge to identify suitable subjects for this lens. For example in #3 - I tried to include a foreground subject close to the lens (the flowers), but that resulted in the real subject (the bridge) appearing small and far away. It's a different perspective for sure, but not one I'm sure I'm willing to pay $900 for.

The covered bridge looks distorted, not because of the lens so much - The openings at both ends of the bridge are actually at an odd angle, which this lens accentuates, making it look odder still.

The 7-14 definitely presents a challenge in composition. Maybe it's just the price that's holding me back... I see it as a specialty lens and I'm not sure whether I'm willing to spend the $$$ for a lens that I'd probably only use now and then. (I keep going back and forth on this....Tomorrow, I may be singing a different tune....That's why I decided to rent before buying. )

Thanks for your thoughts!

I'll keep at it over the next couple of days. Maybe a light will go off to help me decide one way or another.

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Bert
adirondack fotoscapes

Great shots! Thanks for the inspiration!!!

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Bert
adirondack fotoscapes

There's a few other threads I'd recommend checking out, besides the sample image archive. Landshark posted a great images thread from the Guggenheim Bilboa with the 7-14mm that makes great use of the UWA. Also Don (DHart) has some great images with the 9-18 and 7-14 - I blame him all the time for selling me on a 7-14mm, haha. Check out his Singing the Praises thread for the 9-18 and Another Singing the Praises thread for the 7-14mm.

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500px | flickr

“The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.” -- Dorothea Lange

OMG! Thanks so much for those links! I'm hoping to make a similar trip as Don (but only for 2 months or so) next year (I'm also retired), and his images are truly inspiring. They really show what these lenses can do in a variety of situations.

Thanks again!

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Bert
adirondack fotoscapes

I use a spirit level mounted to hot shoe, and a tripod with this lens when I'm looking to reduce distortion.

eg


Using a spirit level here on a mini tripod, I didn't have to go into cs6 to use the PC crop tool. PC crop is another great tool, that's almost needed when you use this lens when you want to maintain your lines. I could go into cs6 and give it a slight correction on the right side, and lose very little of the image to the crop, because of the level. However, if I hand held this and just guessed at the level, I'd lose quite a bit of the field of view to the PC crop.

And for a slight rant... why don't we have tilt and swing on the sensors yet? Seems like something that would be so easy to design, it's not like there's roll film in the back that will twist... just sayin.

The GX1 has a tilt and level indicator option on the display that I really appreciate. Basically just two sets of lines that turns green when you've got the camera pointed level. I miss that a lot when I go back and forth to the G3!

The X100 also has a level indicator too, which was the first camera I'd used with one. It was a nice surprise to find that feature on the GX1 for sure. Hopefully it becomes a standard feature going forward.

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500px | flickr

“The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.” -- Dorothea Lange