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Now I'm using Canon 50mm prime lens with my Canon 700d.I need to capture a group of 100 people indoor and in low light.There is not enough space that I can move backward to cover everyone within the frame, So I'm thinking to buy Neewer Wide-Angle and Macro mount. I chose canon 50mm prime lens for it's wide aperture f/1.8.(Great for low light). I don't have budget to go for a real wide angle lens for now. So some of my peers told me that adding a additional lens can add Chromatic aberration to the picture, I haven't tried that yet. Does anyone have idea on that, Should I go for it? If I can go for it please suggest me the best mount. If so please advise.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Go for a real wide angle lens. With that wide-angle mount stuff you will have a huge amount of chromatic aberration. But if you have the time and money, try it for yourself, but way before the event day. \$\endgroup\$
    – Horitsu
    Jan 20, 2018 at 10:25
  • \$\begingroup\$ Sorry @Horitsu I forgot to mention that I don't have budget to go for a real wide angle lens.On comparing the price of this mount and real lens, mount fits within my budget. \$\endgroup\$
    – A.Bretto
    Jan 20, 2018 at 11:03
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    \$\begingroup\$ Can you borrow or rent a lens for this shoot? \$\endgroup\$
    – osullic
    Jan 20, 2018 at 12:11
  • \$\begingroup\$ Can you shoot the group in sections and digitally stitch the pictures together? \$\endgroup\$
    – osullic
    Jan 20, 2018 at 12:12
  • \$\begingroup\$ @A.Bretto in your other question you wrote, that you have a 18-55mm, by all the options you have it yould be the best idea to just use this lens, even it has not a f1.8 \$\endgroup\$
    – Horitsu
    Jan 20, 2018 at 16:31

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Chromatic aberration isn't your only worry with these add-on wide angle converter screw-on "filters". Image quality will suffer quite a bit, especially away from the center of the image.

Additionally, to help clear up some of the loss of clarity, you will probably need to stop down your lens to at least ƒ/4, perhaps even ƒ/5.6 or ƒ/8. Of course, that works counter to your desire for a wide aperture because you're shooting in low light.

However, you'd probably not want to shoot at ƒ/1.8 anyways, if you're trying to capture the entire group of people. People will be stacked up several deep. With a wide aperture, if you focus on the eyes of the people in front, the people in the back will not be in sharp focus.

If this is an important shot (such as for a wedding, or corporate event, etc.), and you can't afford to miss it but just don't have the budget for anything else, I suggest you take several shots laterally and stitch them together panoramically.

To do this, I suggest mounting the camera on a tripod, and rotate the camera a small amount, taking at least 5 pictures to cover the total group. There will be lots of overlap between the shots, which is important, because it gives you lots of room to pick and choose which parts of the original images go into the composite shot.

Doing this with your 50mm, I suggest stopping it down to its sharpest aperture, around ƒ/4 or ƒ/5.6. Just ask everybody to stand as still as possible, and quickly take the necessary shots.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ How about macro, does that affect the picture the same way.? \$\endgroup\$
    – A.Bretto
    Jan 22, 2018 at 2:27
  • \$\begingroup\$ @A.Bretto If by "macro" you're talking about a screw-on "macro" or close-up "filter", it is basically a magnifying glass meant to allow you to focus on subjects closer than the minimum focus distance that your lens would normally allow, and to magnify those subjects so they fill more of your frame (this is what is meant by the term macro — 1:1 magnification or greater). These close-up "filters" also have the side effect of reducing your lens's max focus distance below infinity... \$\endgroup\$
    – scottbb ♦
    Jan 22, 2018 at 3:06
  • \$\begingroup\$ ... For instance, if your lens is focused to infinity, then you put a 2 diopter close-up attachment on, your max focus distance is reduced to (1/diopter) (in meters), so in this case, 0.5m. This is obviously useless in the case of taking a group picture. See the Wikipedia article Close-up filter for more complete information. \$\endgroup\$
    – scottbb ♦
    Jan 22, 2018 at 3:09
  • \$\begingroup\$ But, back to your original question, and in your comment question, it all comes down to the quality of what you put in front of your lens. Yes, a close-up or "macro" "filter" will also have reduced clarity issues as you move away from the center of the field of view, and will probably introduce chromatic aberration. Better (i.e., more expensive) achromatic doublet close-up filters have 2 elements that are meant to reduce or control the amount of chromatic aberration. Canon makes some, but they are several times costlier than so-called high-quality close-up filters from brands like Hoya, etc. \$\endgroup\$
    – scottbb ♦
    Jan 22, 2018 at 3:14
  • \$\begingroup\$ Thank you @scottbb, It's huge explanation containing all the information I need.Thanks again. \$\endgroup\$
    – A.Bretto
    Jan 22, 2018 at 6:07

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