FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM: A top-notch lens that magnifies the ambit of landscape & architectural photography
By: Sony Artisan Jagjit Singh
The voyage to landscape photography
“For me, a photograph is an artwork created with a help of a camera and lens, printed on a piece of paper or canvas, or any other print media”.
Some photographers are destined to renounce orchestrated still-life photography and posed models in favour of capturing the breath-taking beauty of nature in their impromptu images. Confining myself with the same notion, I embarked on my voyage with landscape and travel photography, which finally led to a full-time profession in commercial architecture and landscape photography.
Taking landscape photography to a next level
With the latest and most advanced photography equipment photographers have been able to discover creative approaches such as photographing in low-light settings and using neutral-density filters on super wide-angle lenses without a significant colour cast.
Interestingly, I have an undying urge to experiment with the latest techniques and gear and that is where the splendid FE 16-35mm F2.8 G-Master lens comes into play to enable me to create work that is gripping and captures objects with dramatic and painterly backgrounds.
The G-Master's performance at a wide-angle F2.8 16–35 mm zoom opens a world of possibilities for capturing subjects in a creative way. The lens dependably produces great resolution from corner to corner, with stunning background bokeh when required, regardless of a zoom setting or focus distance. Its compact size and lightweight make it super handy for me. With a camera backpack on the back and a lot of walking and hiking involved in my photography, the size and weight of the gear become key concerns.
I have used only FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM with Alpha 7R IV in a variety of challenging situations, including mild rain, dusty settings, and so on, and it has not let me down. A 107-degree angle of view is good enough for me for most of my landscape work.
Outstanding corner-to-corner sharpness for architectural photography
Commercial architectural photography is mostly centred on ingeniously capturing the design and elegance of a given structure. It necessitates the photographer's detailed comprehension of the architectural contrives to capture it.
So, when it comes to taking architectural photography to a notch my confidant would always be the FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM lens which lets me fully exploit the high potential of the latest cameras such as the Alpha 7R IV.
The lens is crisp throughout, corner to corner that brings out the details in the photographs when they are printed/displayed on a billboard, and this really makes me delighted and assured.
The uncompromised optical design of this lens offers extraordinarily high resolution and contrast. ED (Extra-low Dispersion) glass elements effectively decrease chromatic aberration, whereas aspherical elements minimize distortion. It does 80% of my job. Be it interior/exterior or detailed shots.
The lens is designed to bring more details into photographs, therefore the range between 16 and 35mm is ideal for my type of work. The lens gives the interiors a realistic depiction that is not out of proportion to their actual size. For architecture photography, 16mm is often wide but not exceedingly wide (which is tricky to manage).
Interesting bit
It is an all-in-one lens and, I have shot entire shoots with just this single lens, multiple times. Yes! With only one lens. Anyone who is new to this genre of photography should start with this lens. Seriously. For a photographer like myself, it covers everything.
ABOUT JAGJIT SINGH
Photography for Jagjit is a labour of love for which he gave it all up! He embarked on his odyssey to photography as a hobbyist travel photographer but was unaware of the fact that he was fated to become a professional Landscape and Commercial Architectural photographer. Currently based in Chandigarh, in the Himalayan foothills, where he is exploring his unwavering passion for photography and honing his skills.
