Wide Angle Lens Focal Length Comparison

If you are thinking of buying a wide angle lens, or think that your 24mm-70mm is wide enough, then this will be a brilliant leaning curve for you when you see images taken at the main focal lengths between 14mm and 24mm, plus I have added a curve-ball of a 11mm fisheye lens, plus the same fisheye lens when corrected. This will be useful if you are thinking of interior photography for a business, taking interiors of places you visit or getting an idea how wide a lens is for other use.

All images were taken using the Nikon Z6ii mounted on a tripod with the Tamron 16-30mm, 7Artisan 14mm and the TTArtisan 11mm fisheye lenses shot at F/8. The kids are on school holiday, so excuse the mess, I kicked them out for 10 minutes and did a quick tidy up (ignore the stuff I threw behind the sofa, when I took the first shot at 24mm I did not see it! lol). I did not move at all, and all images were taken from the same spot outside the door.

I shot a three bracket raw image for each of them, and then used Luminar Neo to merge them together as a batch process. For the fixed-fisheye image I put the outputted 11mm jpeg into Photoscape X Pro and used a macro I made for fisheye to convert it and keep the verticals as they should be. All the focal length measurements are for full frame cameras.

24mm – Standard wide angle focal length.
This is the standard wide-end focal length of your typical mid-length 24-70mm etc lens. In this standard size room, it makes the room look nice and cosy.

20mm – Ultra-wide focal length.
That extra 4mm difference makes a difference, and lets the room breath a little more, keeping it cosy, but just enough more on view to give the room a more spacious view.

16mm – Ultra-wide focal length.
Probably the minimum widest focal length you need for taking professional interior images, wide enough to make a small room look spacious, and a standard size room look more realistic to what is actually in it.

14mm – Standard and usually widest ultra-wide focal length.
A lot of professional interior photographers use 14mm, and as you can see, it really shows off the room nicely. Even a tight cupboard space will look large with 14mm.

11mm – Rectalinear Fisheye.
A fisheye lens is not for interior images, especially if you want professional looking images (or is it?) although it can be super fun when used artistically.

11mm – Fixed perspective fisheye shot.
I fixed the perspective of the image above in a single click, and I think you’ll agree, it is mind blowing! In real-terms, it gives a much wider perspective than even the mighty 14mm lens.

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As you can see, with a fisheye lens (as you all know by now, one of my favourite lenses to use as they can be this useful!) you literally get a view that even your eyes do not see! For exaggerating scale, they are amazing when you correct them, however, please note, the room has perfectly square angles in real life on the corners, and as you can see in the corrected version, it looks like the room is a slightly different shape to what it is.

And now for a couple of sliding comparisons.

Hopefully this focal length comparison will be useful to you. Sometimes, you do not think it is going to be much difference, until to see it in front of you. I included the side-by-side section as I think it really helps deciding on how wide you need your lens to be.

Let me know what your preferred wide angle focal length is!

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My name is Mark G Adams. I am a professional photographer from South Wales, shooting weddings, events and portraits as well as running meets and workshops. For fun I like to shoot landscapes, wildlife and occasionally do street photography. Enjoy my website as I share my knowledge learned over decades of working and having fun in photography.
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