Wide Angle Angles

Leica CL + Elmarit 18mm f2.8

Around 6-7 years ago, I went through a phase of being really into wide-angle portraits taken at close range. I enjoyed devising interesting ways of using the distortions to express emotion and exaggerate gestures. But eventually I got bored of this and found these types of photos gimmicky. I abandoned the wide angle and had not used anything wider than 35mm in at least 3 years, until now.

I have been wondering whether to keep or sell the 18mm Elmarit lens that came with my Leica CL. Due to the crop sensor, it is the equivalent of a 27mm, which makes it comparable to the 24mm and 28mm lenses I used in the past. It’s a focal length I have no interest in at the moment. And yet there is something I really like about the Elmarit lens, so in truth I want to find reasons to keep it.

I remembered at some point that of course I don’t have to use it for close-up portraits. And even though I don’t normally photograph landscapes, I do want to get back to photographing wide tableaux scenes, and scenes with one or several persons moving through a landscape. For these types of photographs the 27mm-equivalent focal length is perfect and would not have distortive effects if the subjects are placed correctly within the composition.

Then again, the close-ups are fun and once I start I can’t stop playing with the perspective. I am, however, out of practice, and it will likely be a while before I can get the sort of subtle yet effective close-up I have in my mind’s eye.

The degree of nuance with which this lens captures colours and textures is really something, and just for that alone I don’t think I can part with it.

A wide lens like this is of course also very convenient for snapping casual indoor photos, which I suppose is why people find the iPhone so handy.

When out and about on family visits and meals out and the like, I very rarely brought my DSLR, as it is quite a bulky setup; I took pictures with my phone instead. Then last Sunday I took the CL with the tiny Elmarit lens, and did not use my phone once.

Interestingly, distortion in perspective is not the main problem I am finding with this lens when photographing indoors; that aspect of things is actually all right. I am struggling more with isolating he subject from the rest of the scene in a crowded room. The depth of field at f2.8 {despite it only being the equivalent of an f4 or so?} is actually fairly shallow, but still in various other photos it is distracting to see other people crammed into the frame behind the subject.

After photographing with this lens for a couple of weeks, I am finally starting to see the effects that attracted me to this focal length 7 years ago. When a gesture is captured just so, the wide angle exaggerates it in a way that really communicates the mood of the scene. Here my daughter is watching the waiter deliver bagels to our table, and you can practically feel her anticipation.

All right. I am keeping this lens.