best lens to photograph maps with?

I have a 10D and + its 28 - 135 mm IS lens it is capable of resolving amazing detail - for example bill boards at close to 2 miles distance at full zoom. However if I put a map on a wall at several feet away the camera won't play ball. Do I need a special lens?

regards Michael

The lens has a minimum focus distance if that is what you mean. You can get extention tubes to let you focus closer. If the problem is that at 28MM you have to go back too far, then you need a wider angle lens.

The other issue I would have with that particular lens is that there is a lot of barrel distortion at the wide angle end. Generally a prime lens will have less barrel distortion.

Are you having a Field of View problems, focus problem, or both? "won't play ball" is not much to go on.

Michael said:

I have a 10D and + its 28 - 135 mm IS lens it is capable of
resolving amazing detail - for example bill boards at close to 2
miles distance at full zoom. However if I put a map on a wall at
several feet away the camera won't play ball. Do I need a special
lens?

regards Michael

Click to expand...

Michael said:

Do I need a special lens?

Click to expand...

Almost certainly, if you are serious about map photography.

Very few lenses, even high-quality ones, have a plane of focus that is parallel to the film plane. The fact is that most people are photographing three-dimensional subjects, not two-dimensional ones so, in most cases, this really isn't a draw back

You need a tilt-shift (archtectural) lens or a macro lens. Most likely, a 50mm macro would be your best bet: this will give you a sharp image of a 2-D subject with very little distortion at a reasonable working distance. The Canon 50mm macro is not terribly expensive, and some people like the Sigma 50mm macro just fine also.

Virtually any zoom lens that claims "macro" capability is leading you on, and won't do what you need.

Thanks for responses. I'll try and better explain what I want from the lens. With the lens I have I'm moving 4 - 6 + feet back from the map and zooming it the camera simply refuses to resolve the text/writing on the map - which is pretty small, around 2 - 3mm high. As to why I'm doing this ?(moving back from the map) well I'm bouncing a flash off a ceiling.

This may seem madly obscure, but to get a notion as to what I'm up to, what I'm after visit: http://www.virtualactual.com/zoomable/water-colours/houses1.html this is a zoomable painting I'd like to create the same effect with a map. This painting was shot with a bounced flash and stitched and post edited in photoshop, I'm in essence pretty happy with the result - a file around about 10 million pixels in resolution.

thanks Michael

vineviz said:

Michael said:

Do I need a special lens?

Click to expand...

Almost certainly, if you are serious about map photography.

Very few lenses, even high-quality ones, have a plane of focus that
is parallel to the film plane. The fact is that most people are
photographing three-dimensional subjects, not two-dimensional ones
so, in most cases, this really isn't a draw back

You need a tilt-shift (archtectural) lens or a macro lens. Most
likely, a 50mm macro would be your best bet: this will give you a
sharp image of a 2-D subject with very little distortion at a
reasonable working distance. The Canon 50mm macro is not terribly
expensive, and some people like the Sigma 50mm macro just fine also.

Virtually any zoom lens that claims "macro" capability is leading
you on, and won't do what you need.

Click to expand...

I recently photographed some blueprints with the 2.8/100 Macro USM and the results absolutely blew me away.

Regards
Stefan

Stefan Schott said:

I recently photographed some blueprints with the 2.8/100 Macro USM
and the results absolutely blew me away.

Regards
Stefan

Click to expand...

Macros are highly corrected for flat field work, so would be the ideal choice for maps.

Thanks for the replies, it's just money - for a Macro I guess about £200 ++ for a 100 mm Macro. I'll try and beg or borrow a Macro from somewhere I only want to use it indoors.

Michael

Mr Majestyk said:

Stefan Schott said:

I recently photographed some blueprints with the 2.8/100 Macro USM
and the results absolutely blew me away.

Regards
Stefan

Click to expand...

Macros are highly corrected for flat field work, so would be the
ideal choice for maps.

Click to expand...

What F-number are you using. You probably want to be at at least F8 to F11 to get the sharpest effect from the lens and to give you some DoF gain. If you are going wide open and are a little off on focus or a little tilted on the plane of what you are shooting you can go out of the Depth of Field. Of course you next problem may be getting enough light, but you could play with the ISO and see if this is part of your problem.

I doubt you are going to gain a lot of sharpness from a prime compared to the 28-135IS at F8. You will gain in the lack of barrel distortion.

You might need to stitch 2 photos to get the resolution you want.

One more question, it is locking focus, ie., you are not within the focus distance of the lens? If not this can be solved with extension tubes.

Michael said:

This may seem madly obscure, but to get a notion as to what I'm up
to, what I'm after visit:
http://www.virtualactual.com/zoomable/water-colours/houses1.html
this is a zoomable painting I'd like to create the same effect with
a map. This painting was shot with a bounced flash and stitched and
post edited in photoshop, I'm in essence pretty happy with the
result - a file around about 10 million pixels in resolution.

thanks Michael

vineviz said:

Michael said:

Do I need a special lens?

Click to expand...

Almost certainly, if you are serious about map photography.

Very few lenses, even high-quality ones, have a plane of focus that
is parallel to the film plane. The fact is that most people are
photographing three-dimensional subjects, not two-dimensional ones
so, in most cases, this really isn't a draw back

You need a tilt-shift (archtectural) lens or a macro lens. Most
likely, a 50mm macro would be your best bet: this will give you a
sharp image of a 2-D subject with very little distortion at a
reasonable working distance. The Canon 50mm macro is not terribly
expensive, and some people like the Sigma 50mm macro just fine also.

Virtually any zoom lens that claims "macro" capability is leading
you on, and won't do what you need.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Michael said:

I'll try and beg or borrow a Macro from
somewhere I only want to use it indoors.

Click to expand...

FWIW, the 100 Macro USM is also an excellent portrait lens. And Samir keeps raving about it for astro-photography....

Ciao
Stefan