On our Youtube channel we were asked “Where does ultra wide begin and wide angle end in terms of description?”, so we thought we’d create a post detailing the differences between the lens types. The definition of a particular lens type is relative to the size of the sensor in the camera in question (in this example it is either APS-C or Full Frame):

Ultra Wide Angle Lens

• For APS-C, any lens shorter than 15 mm is considered ultra Wide Angle.
• For 35 mm film or full-frame sensor any lens shorter than 24 mm is considered ultra wide angle.

Ultra wide angle lenses are good for wide landscapes and skyscapes

Wide Angle Lens

• For APS-C, any lens longer than 15 mm and shorter than 22mm is considered Wide Angle
• For 35 mm film or full-frame sensor any lens shorter than 35mm and longer than 24mm is considered wide angle.

Wide angle lenses are good for photographing interiors of buildings, architecture and for landscape photography.

There are lenses the straddle the ultra wide and wide angle range, for Nikon the 16-35mm is a great lens that nicely covers both and the Canon 17-40mm L Series lens is a hugely popular example which we reviewed here:

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