Five Affordable Wide-angle Lenses for Mirrorless Camera Systems

If you’ve recently bought a mirrorless camera—whether it’s a full-frame mirrorless camera or an APS-C mirrorless model from one of the major brands—you might have bought it as a kit. In other words, the camera is sold with a lens, which is generally a standard zoom, like a 18-55mm lens. (You can also buy a mirrorless camera in a “body only” configuration, which means it didn’t come with a lens at all.)However, all mirrorless cameras are interchangeable-lens cameras, just like DSLRs (or digital single-lens reflex cameras), which means you don’t have to only use that 18-55mm kit lens, like you do when you buy a point-and-shoot.

You have the option of swapping the kit lens out for another lens to use on your mirrorless camera.

And if you own an 18-55mm lens, a great “next” lens to buy for your mirrorless system is a wide-angle lens, which is generally defined as a lens that has a greater or wider field of view than what can be seen by the human eye. That translates into any lens that has a 35mm focal length or shorter (when used on the equivalent of a 35mm film camera…more on this in a moment).

There are two types of lenses you can buy: You can buy either a zoom lens, or you can get a prime, or non-zoom lens, which doesn’t allow you to change the focal length. Common wide-angle zoom lenses are 14-24mm and 17-35mm. Common prime lenses are 16mm, 20mm, 24mm and 28mm. You can also find zoom lenses that will include a wide-angle focal length within a longer zoom range: For example, a 24-120mm lens runs from a wide-angle focal length (24mm) to a telephoto focal length (120mm).

In this article, I’ll focus on prime lenses, since they’re often more affordable than zooms.

Why wide angle?

But why would you want to buy a wide-angle lens?

For starters, they’re great for allowing you to squeeze more of your subject into a frame. In other words, you’re able to get a broader or wider vista of a landscape or a city scene. In fact, many landscape, wildlife and underwater photographers will often use wide-angle prime lenses to capture more of a landscape or scene than you’d see with a narrower lens. Other types of pro photographers use them, too. For example, a photojournalist or documentary photographer might use a lens, like an 28mm f/1.4 prime, to capture more of the setting while also emphasizing the subject in the foreground. Still-life photographers, like myself, love them because they not only emphasize the subject in the foreground, but some, particularly ultra wide angles, might add some distortion, which can give your image a surreal quality. (It’s important to note, though, that you’ll want to be careful when using a wide-angle when shooting a formal portrait, since it can distort your subject’s appearance.)

Wide-angles can also be very handy when shooting events or interiors, since in some settings, if you’re using a standard lens, you might not have any more room to back up, in order to compose a group portrait. But with a wide angle, or ultra wide-angle lens, you can fit all your relatives, award winners or whomever your photographing into one photo!

Below, I’ve listed five affordable lenses introduced in the last few years by different brands that will allow you to start taking wide-angle lenses.

Full Frame, APS-C and Crop Factors

Before I get into the lenses, you might wonder what I meant when I wrote “when used on the equivalent of a 35mm film camera.” This actually refers to something called crop factor, which changes the effective focal length on cameras that have sensors smaller than full-frame sensors.

Many new cameras introduced by Sony, Nikon, Canon and others happen to be full-frame mirrorless cameras. Within each of them, you’ll find an image sensor that’s the same size as a single frame of 35mm film, which was used in traditional 35mm film DSLRs.

So, if you attach a Sony prime lenses—like the Sony FE 24mm F2.8 G lens—to one of Sony’s newest full-frame mirrorless cameras, like the Sony a7 IV, which has a large full-frame sensor, there’s no crop factor you need to worry about. The 24mm lens stays a 24mm lens.

But the lens will operate a bit differently when you used it on a camera with a smaller sensor, like an APS-C-sized sensor.

For example, if you use the Sony FE 24mm F2.8 G lens on a camera like the Sony ZV-E10 or the Sony a6600, the image will appear cropped, or will look as if you have a longer focal length lens attached to the camera body.

In fact, on a Sony camera with an APS-C sized sensor, the crop factor is 1.5x. And when you multiply the focal length of that lens—24mm—by the crop factor—1.5—it equals 36. So, when you use a 24mm lens on a camera with an APS-C-sized sensor (with a 1.5x crop factor), it looks equivalent to a lens with a 36mm focal length.

This photo was shot on the Fujifilm X-T30 using the Fujifilm XF 16mm F2.8 R WR prime lens. Because it’s an APS-C mirrorless system, the effective focal length of this shot is 24mm. Photo © Terry Sullivan.

The topic is more complex than this, but I wanted to give you a sense of what takes place when using the same lens on camera bodies with different-sized sensors. Now, on with the list!

5 affordable Wide-angle Lenses

Most major camera brands have, for the past few years, focused on producing lenses for their full-frame mirrorless camera systems (which have large full-frame sensors, which have no crop factor).

The one main exception is Fujifilm, which has focused primarily on producing mirrorless cameras with APS-C-sized sensors, which has a crop factor of 1.5x. You’ll also need to use the same 1.5x crop factor if you use the Sony lens on a Sony camera body with an APS-C-sized sensor, like the a6600 or the ZV-E10. Otherwise, the lens has no crop factor.

Canon RF 16mm F2.8 STM prime lens

This is a small and lightweight wide-angle lens that’s definitely less expensive than some of Canon’s very pricey wide-angle zooms, which can cost more than $1,500. But this prime is comparatively inexpensive. Nevertheless, it still has Canon’s powerful technology, like its stepping motor, which makes the lens focus smoothly and silently. It’s constructed with 9 elements in 7 groups, with one aspherical element and has Canon’s Super Spectra Coating. It also has a minimum focus distance of 5.1 inches. Price: $299

For more, go to Canon’s website

Sony FE 24mm F2.8 G prime lens

This 24mm wide-angle prime is great for a wide array of subjects, from street to landscape and documentary subjects. It’s lightweight, just 5.7 ounces and measures 1.8 inches long and has a 2.7-inch diameter. It has a optical design of 8 Elements in 7 Groups, with an extra-low dispersion element and aspherical elements to reduce a variety of aberrations, color fringing, and distortion. When used on full-frame Sony E-mount mirrorless cameras it has a focal length of 24mm, but it can also be used on Sony APS-C models, in which case it has a 36mm equivalent focal length. Its minimum focus distance is 9.4 inches.

For more, go to Sony’s Alpha Universe website

Price: $548

Nikon Nikkor Z 28mm F2.8 SE (Special Edition) prime lens

When Nikon first introduced its full-frame Z-series system, many of the lenses were quite expensive. However, recently they’ve been introducing more affordable models, including this 28mm f/2.8 “SE” or special edition lens. It’s ultra-compact and lightweight, and was released at the same time the Nikon Z fc mirrorless model, an APS-C mirrorless cameras, was introduced. However, the prime is also compatible with Nikon’s full-frame models.

Price: $299.95

For more on this lens, go to NikonUSA’s website

Sigma 24mm F3.5 DG DN prime lens

One of the things that has always set Sigma apart from many in the camera industry is that it not only makes lenses for its own full-frame mirrorless camera bodies, but also for others. In this case, you can buy the 24mm lens with either a Sony E-mount, or with Leica’s L-Mount, which will not only fit on select Leica camera bodies, but also on Sigma’s and Panasonic full-frame mirrorless cameras. It has an optical design of 10 elements in 8 groups, with 1 SLD glass and 3 aspherical lenses, and it has a dust- and splash-proof structure.

Price: $549

For more, go to Sigma’s website

Fujifilm XF 16mm F2.8 R WR prime lens

One of the benefit of an APS-C system, like Fujifilm’s X-series cameras have, is that they’re smaller and lighter than full-frame models. This 16mm lens is part of its WR compact line of lenses and has a nice, wide f/2.8 maximum aperture. It only weighs 5.5 ounces and is just 1.79 inches long. It’s also weather and dust resistant. In terms of construction, it has 10 elements in eight groups, with two aspherical elements. Of course, since it’s a lens in an APS-C lens system, it has a 35mm-equivalent focal length of 24mm.

Price: $399.

For more, go to Fujifilm’s website

Terry Sullivan is a journalist, photographer and artist, who covers consumer electronics, technology services and their intersection with the visual arts. He has written extensively on various trends in the worlds of technology, photography, multimedia, and the visual arts, covering everything from traditional oil painting to the latest trends in virtual reality. For more than 10 years, his articles and blog posts have appeared in a variety of publications and websites, including The New York Times, Popular Photography, Consumer Reports, PCMag, Photo District News, and ARTNews.
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