ULTRA-wide angle point & shoot - Which one's the widest?

bloomphotog

I am trying to determine which point & shoot has the widest 35mm-equiv. focal length. Price is irrelevant, image quality not so important, just looking to get near 14-15mm. I will be using it for quickie shots while on my bike. The D700 & 14-24mm is just too big/heavy/expensive.

So far the Pano LX3 is my pick at 24mm.

Thanks!

ziggy53

According to DPReview, the P&S with the widest lens (which might still be available) is the Kodak EasyShare V705, with a dual lens system.

It has both a fixed 23mm (equivalent) wide angle lens (f2.8) and a SCHNEIDER-KREUZNACH C-VARIOGON 39–117mm zoom.

http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier.jhtml?pq-path=9594&pq-locale=en_US&_requestid=515

It gets fairly good customer reviews but is not really recommended by me.

I suggest that you go with one of the many 24mm - * zoom P&S cameras of your choice and add a suitable wide angle converter lens to the front for instantaneous, single image super-wide images (of dubious ultimate quality.)

For better quality images of inanimate subjects, I suggest a tripod with a panoramic head (or just a pan head if distant subject matter) and then multiple overlapping images, stitched together for both wider angle of view and more detail. (I realize this may not be that suitable for "quickie shots while on my bike. ", but it is still a viable alternative otherwise.) You can even just hold the camera carefully and rotate the camera in space around the approximate nodal point of the lens and take multiple images for later stitching (no tripod needed.)

Andy

I'm using now the Canon SD 960 IS, 28mm wide, super pocketable.

I have an S90 on pre-order, looking forward to see it as well:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Canon/canon_s90.asp

it's 28mm.

ziggy53

I'll add that the widest combination of lens and converter that are somewhat made for each other, that I can find, is the Panasonic DMC-LX3 (24-60mm, f2.0) and the DMW-LW46, 0.75x wide angle converter lens. This yields around an 18mm (35mm equivalent) angle of view.

P.S. Our own Morpheus appears to have this combination of camera and converter:

http://norpheus.smugmug.com/gallery/6038502_HDEti#378145710_MND38

bloomphotog

ziggy53 wrote:

I'll add that the widest combination of lens and converter that are somewhat made for each other, that I can find, is the Panasonic DMC-LX3 (24-60mm, f2.0) and the DMW-LW46, 0.75x wide angle converter lens. This yields around an 18mm (35mm equivalent) angle of view.

P.S. Our own Morpheus appears to have this combination of camera and converter:

http://norpheus.smugmug.com/gallery/6038502_HDEti#378145710_MND38

Wow, Ziggy! Thanks for all the info!

The LX3 w/WA adaptor looks like the winning combo. Plus, the IQ is actually quite good. I LOVE those cathedral shots from Morpheus!


Andy, I'm curious about your S90 purchase. Do tell.

vitaminC

With something like the GoPro you could just mount it on your bars and have it automatically take photos every 5 sec. Video, too...

philip

bloomphotog wrote:

So far the Pano LX3 is my pick at 24mm.

I've had one for about a week. Photos of the camera and some photos and videos by the camera at
http://civex.smugmug.com/Photography/Panasonic-LX/

It's a good camera; some barrel distortion at its widest, but you can correct it if you want to. Lots of nice features.