Needing Advice For Auto Shoot

ShiraPhotography

I am doing a shoot with a bunch of antique and restored cars and I'm looking for the best lens to use. The client wants a fisheye effect but I know that if I use a fisheye lens, the cars will be too distorted. I need some advice on the best ultra-wide angle compatible with a Nikon D3200. I have been looking around but I'd like to hear from some of you who have actually shot with the lens before I buy it.

CRP6001

Don't let a client tell you what equipment to use!!!
I have a fisheye, but feel it is best used sparingly.
Over do it and the "effect" quickly becomes a boring
gimmick. A fisheye is useful for photography in confined
spaces, such as car interiors.
The 18-55 lens that comes with the D3200 would be
a good start for auto photography.

ziggy53

What are the conditions of the shoot?

Will this be at a car show with tons of people packed around the cars?

Will this be in a warehouse, with the cars close together?

Will you be able to move the cars, in order to properly select foreground and background elements?

What DOF requirements?

One cannot make any single suggestion based on your description of the situation.

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If the client simply told you to shoot "a bunch of antique and restored cars", and you have no further information, then you'll need to plan for everything. In that case a single lens will not do.

I suggest that to be really prepared, bring a fisheye (especially if the client requires some fisheye images as a requirement of the shoot). I suggest a "circular fisheye" in that case, because you can also create a more moderate fisheye effect from a rectilinear lens in post-processing (if it's just to exaggerate some component of a car).

A super-wide zoom lens will indeed help to keep more rectilinear lines in the image, but do be prepared to do some post-processing correction if you need absolutely straight lines as all super-wide zooms that I'm aware of have some barrel distortion at their widest focal lengths.

A standard/normal zoom can help to keep more normal proportions to the vehicles, but they generally allow a variety of focal lengths from fairly wide to moderate telephoto, so they can make quick work of different vantages and perspectives.

If you have the luxury of being able to move the cars to choose better compositions and better backgrounds, a longer focal length, telephoto and even super-telephoto focal lengths, can help to compress perspective.

Finally, a true macro lens can showcase details that otherwise get lost in a more comprehensive shot.

So there you have it. To be truly prepared, bring a circular fisheye lens (but I agree with it should be used mostly for really cramped space, like an interior shot, and otherwise sparingly), plus a super-wide zoom, plus a standard/normal zoom, plus a telephoto, plus a true macro. Now you're prepared for most eventualities.

Be sure to also bring lighting with you. Ambient/available light is generally not that pleasing, unless you are extremely fortunate (... but you shouldn't count on that).

In the end, automobile photography is a type of product photography and to do it properly requires some study of each vehicle, to understand where that vehicle's "character" is best portrayed.

The following are from an outdoor car show, with other cars and people and background elements which had to be dealt with in post. All were shot with a standard zoom (different focal lengths). I had additional equipment with me, but did not use in this case. The conditions were an overcast sky and fill flash: