A wide angle lens can help you catch more of the action.
A wide angle lens is a special type of lens that you can attach onto the end of your video camera to widen the viewing angle for your shots. Whether you are shooting a wide open, panoramic vista, or a skateboarding video up close and personal, having a wide angle lens in your arsenal allows you maximum flexibility in how you bring your subject to life.
Types
Not all wide angle lenses are alike. Some will only give you a slightly wider view, while others will give you almost 180 degrees of view. Generally speaking, the wider the diameter of the lens, the more viewing angle it will give you. The size of the lens "bulge" is the other main factor in determining how wide a view a lens will produce. A simple way to test a lens is to put it up to your eye and see how it affects your vision.
Fit
Many consumer and professional grade cameras have small lenses, and many larger wide angle lenses are too big to fit on these units. Think of a wide angle lens like a funnel; you have to fit the small end of the funnel to the lens size of your camera. You have two options: Find a lens that matches your camera, or find an adapter to go between your camera and your wide angle lens.
Distortion Around Edges
Using a circular lens to capture a rectangular picture is always going to cause some distortion in the frame. Without a wide angle lens, this distortion is barely noticeable, but the wider the angle of the lens, the more distortion you are going to see around the corners and edges of your video frame. You may notice black areas in the corners of the frame where the circular shape of the lens cuts into the frame. This is natural and, while annoying, can be fixed.
Pattern of Distortion
The distortion caused by a wide angle lens is circular in nature, meaning the distortion is more and more noticeable as you more your eyes away from the center of the frame. Distortion is also more noticeable the closer an object is to the lens. You can use a wide angle lens to capture a scenic landscape and distortion will only be minimally visible, but if you have the lens 6 inches from somebody's face you will notice their nose is much larger and their ears are much smaller than normal when compared to the rest of the person's face.
Distortion Reduction
The best way to hide distortion is to crop it out of the frame. All but the most basic video editing applications allow you to crop the video frame, hiding the black corners so the most distorted parts of the video are least visible.
Shooting for the Edit
Adapt your shooting style to the final product you wish to produce. If you are shooting a video meant for DVD or wide online release, frame your shots in such a way that no important information is cut out when you need to crop out the black corners of your video. Do testing before your first shooting day and import it onto your computer, as your video screen will often automatically crop out 5 to 10 percent of the edges of the video. Factor this in when you are shooting; you may want to move father back from your subject so you have margins on the edges of your frame where you will have to crop later in editing.
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