If you had about $650

Michael Meissner wrote:

burritosandbeer wrote:

So, I do find myself at 14mm wishing for more on a number of nature shots, especially on trees and landscapes.

Note for nature shots, you might experiment with shooting panoramas. You don't need to get a new lens, and you can see whether you can get the shots you want without plunking down the cash for the new lens. If it works, great. Go get the lens, and you probably will use it. If it doesn't, maybe having the lens will open things up, maybe not.

I do find there is a bit of difference between 14mm and 12mm. But as I get further into wide territory I find the normal pictures don't resonate with me. As I mentioned, I like using the 9-18mm on my E-1, but even there most of the shots are at 12mm or longer. But we are all different, just because extreme wide angle doesn't do much for me, maybe it will for you.

Interesting you should mention this. I too had the 9-18 at one time, but really never came to like it much. So, one day I took a look at the images I had shot over some months with the 9-18 and found that only a couple of times did I shoot wider than 12mm. The 9-18 went on the block. I now have the Olympus 8mm fisheye, that is also in-camera corrected to rectilinear, and really  love it..... but I prefer the fisheye.

Of course there are times when I need wide angle because I want to shoot something and I can't back up (such as being on a boat in Boston harbor touring the Tall Ships that came into town, and wanting to capture the whole boat, or when I'm recording a large group performers and I'm sitting in the front row).

And of course with video, panoramas, etc. aren't an option. But you will presumably need to spend some time learning the ins and outs of the lens, and when UWA is good, and when it should be avoided.

I believe I've only used the 9-18mm for video once, and that was to capture a really large group. My back was against the wall, and even at 9mm, I still had to pan a little (not as much as with my 12-40mm lens). Unfortunately the Olympus 9-18mm is f/4 at 9mm, and the hall I was in was seriously dark. I probably would have been better with a faster lens and pan over the group.

As far as video I did use the bypass on my g7 to enable unlimited recording.