I'm in the midst of filming my first feature film, and I've already spent nearly 5k plus on filming, and am wondering if I need to add the added expense of a wide angle lens adapter for my Canon GL1. If so, what do you guys think of this wide angle lens/telephoto combo by Opteka:
Your advice and assistance is greatly appreciated, thanks in advance!
It all depends on the look you want. I personally love wide-angle shots and consider my wide-angle lens to be my single most-used piece of equipment, apart from my actual camera (I actually opted for something even wider and got a .3x semi-fisheye lens, but the on you linked to there seems like a perfectly solid lens). If you want to see some examples of wide angle lenses put to good use, take a look at Terry Gilliam's films (specifically Brazil).
You should be aware, though, that a wide-angle conversion lens can really distort your image and stretch your location and actors in seemingly unnatural ways. I actually like to do a lot of playing with this distortion and it can make for some very compelling shots, but it's a bit of a shock if you don't expect it.
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Andrew Gingerich
Exploding Goldfish Films
Check out my vodcast on iTunes: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=96931870
and my blog at http://www.exgfilms.com
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Andrew Gingerich
Exploding Goldfish Films
Check out my blog at http://www.exgfilms.com
and my reel at http://portfolio.exgfilms.com
The best wide angle lenses of course, seek to minimise that distortion. Some lower priced lenses may also suffer from chromatic abbrasion around the edges of the image- you really get what you pay for with w/a adaptors. Google search for a wide angle lense for your camera and it should come up with a couple of discussion regarding which will give you the best results.
Agingeri mentioned brazil, also take a look at most of sergio leone's films to see some classic wide-angle set ups.
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