I've been playing with the wide angle lens off and on over the holidays.

I rented it to see how it would do indoors and most of the photos from Christmas Eve were taken with it. In close quarters, sometimes its hard to get everything you want in the frame of a picture. This 14-24mm lens got great reviews - it's apparently hard to get really wide angles without having noticeable distortion on the edges.

But the lens is a beast! I wasn't expecting it to be so big. The lens in the front is my 35mm lens I use most of the time in the house for a size comparison - and the photo is a little misleading because the 35mm is in the front. Anyhow, just trust me - it's huge.

I don't plan on buying this lens, it's about $2000... But I have been eyeing a fixed (non-zoom) lens instead. They sell a few different versions, but not a 14mm. So I was curious if a 20mm gave *that* much more room in the frame. So I figured a few test shots would be the best way of deciding!

While everyone was busy painting / playing during our watercolor session yesterday, I decided to take some rest shots. This first one was with my 35mm. I was sitting across the table from Matt, but scooted a little further down the bench. That was about the closest I could get to the action and still be able to get everyone in the frame.

From the same spot, I took a photo with the zoom set on 20mm. (The smallest fixed lens I've found.)

And a final photo zoomed all the way out to 14mm. This is not how I would usually compose a photo (so much extra space!), but it works to show the full range of focal lengths.

I really like the option of having a wider lens to use indoors. Along with the flash, of course! (I love the flash so much!) But I think that the 20mm is more than adequate for what I would be using it for. I guess I have one more lens to add to the photography wish list. :)