On Wed, 17 Mar 1999 00:49:45 -0500, "Perfectionist" wrote:

>How often do people use flash for ultra wide angle photography?
>I would like to buy a flash to cover up to 17mm, since I have a 17-35mm
>lens, but I am wondering if I really need it.
>But, almost all the flashes have zoom heads only up to 35mm.
>And for the top-of-the-line models from Canon and Nikon, the zoom heads go
>to 24mm, and they have wide panels to expand to 18mm. (Canon goes to 17mm)
>How does these wide panel thing perform?

I regularly use flash (at least for fill..., but often as
the main light) with fisheye lenses. I turn the SB-24
head straight up, and pop a medium-size white styrofoam
cup over it, and the light covers the super-wide angle
of view... For 17mm, take a 4-5" strip of typing paper
about 3" wide, put a 1/4" crease at each end, and tape it
in a "curl" around the head - like a cylinder intersected
by the flash head (which fires into it). Be careful that
none of the light from the illuminated material can directly
strike the glass of the lens...