Are there any compact digital cameras with an ultra-wide lens under 24mm equivalent?
Asked 9/26/2012
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I’m looking for a small, lightweight digital point-and-shoot or fixed-lens camera with an ultra-wide field of view. By ultra-wide, I mean wider than 24mm full-frame equivalent, and ideally something close to 12mm equivalent. Are there any compact cameras that offer this, or do I need to look at another type of camera system?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
13y ago
2 Answers
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Ultra-wide rectilinear lenses are hard and expensive to build (especially hard for the tiny sensors usually used in compacts) and quite hard to use well even by professionals, so compact cameras either provide safer (tighter) angles or fisheye lenses.
Action cameras usually use ultra-wide fisheye lenses. For example, GoPro HD Hero sports 170 degree angle of view; Veho Muvi HD10 160 degrees.
As for film point -and-shoots, there's Lomography Fisheye.
Originally by user4390. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user4390
13y ago
0
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True point-and-shoot cameras rarely go wider than about 24mm equivalent, and a few fixed-lens models reach roughly 21mm. A 12mm-equivalent rectilinear lens is essentially not available in typical compact cameras.
The main reason is optical design: on the very small sensors used in most compacts, getting a 12mm-equivalent field of view would require an extremely short actual focal length, which is difficult and expensive to make well. That’s why manufacturers usually stop around 24mm, or use fisheye-style lenses instead.
If you only need an ultra-wide look and can accept fisheye distortion, action cameras such as GoPro-type models can give extremely wide angles.
If you want a true ultra-wide lens with better image quality in a still-small package, an interchangeable-lens mirrorless system is the more realistic option. A compact Micro Four Thirds body with an ultra-wide zoom was specifically recommended in the discussion as a lighter, more capable alternative than most fixed-lens cameras.
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