Is the 47mm the widest lens, period?

[Dan Fromm]

Logic error. Draw a picture. A rectangle with a 100 mm diagonal will fit in a 100 mm circle in any orientation. Horizontal, vertical, in between, it will fit.

[koh303]

You are very much mistaken.
A circle of a 100 mm diameter can cover both horizontally and vertically inserted 6x9 film area. It does not follow logically that the same circle can cover a 9x9 mm film area. Draw such a circle and see for yourself.

Yes - that is correct, i stand corrected.

[hoffner]

A real pleasure to see your honesty! Cheers!

[genotypewriter]

Well, if you want absurdities there's the mythical 23/5 Tropel that covers 120 degrees wide open. If that, illumination wide open goes to 0 at 60 degrees off-axis. There's also the semi-mythical 44/5.6 Super Aviogon that covers 120 degrees wide open and that's a bit more than two stops down at 60 degrees off-axis.

They don't sound all that absurd, Dan. Lenses that do 122 wide open aren't uncommon in smaller formats. Some even as bright as f/4.5 and none of that 0 relative illumination stuff either. I gave a link in an earlier post in this thread to a lens that does 131 degrees but I've only used it at f/16. It definitely does 125.5 degrees wide open at f/4 without a severe fall-off.

[angusparker]

Couldn't resist throwing these cameras into the mix since they are on the verge of LF. If you want wide these negatives are wide. You have to be careful to keep your fingers out of the picture!

The Noblex 150UX swing lens camera provides a 146° panoramic view using a 50mm f4.5 lens to create a 50x120mm (or 6x12cm) image.
The Noblex 175UX swing lens camera provides a 138° panoramic view using a 75mm f6.5 lens to create a 50x175mm (or 6x17cm) image.

[NancyP]

I shoot d..d........d......digital (there, I said it, the "swear word") 135 format as well, and I have a very nice all manual Samyang 14mm f/2.8 that I particularly like for night sky landscape. Cheap - $300.00 new. Samyang has a circular fisheye for 135 for the same price (it is is sold primarily for APS-C format)
On the other end of the price range is the Hasselblad fisheye 30mm lens, 180 degrees coverage, ~ $5,000.00 used at BH, and some digital equivalent for digital Hasselblads.
And then there is the "priceless" category of 135 format ultra-wide-angle lens, the famous and ridiculous Nikkor 6mm f/2.8 fisheye that has 220 degrees coverage, ie, it sees behind itself.
And the Hypergon: http://www.cameraquest.com/hyper.htm
http://www.marcocavina.com/articoli_...gon/00_pag.htm
http://www.phsc.ca/hypergon.html
The smallest Hypergon covered 5 x 7

[genotypewriter]

The Noblex 150UX swing lens camera provides a 146° panoramic view using a 50mm f4.5 lens to create a 50x120mm (or 6x12cm) image.
The Noblex 175UX swing lens camera provides a 138° panoramic view using a 75mm f6.5 lens to create a 50x175mm (or 6x17cm) image.

I think it's fair to say that the OP is asking about wide lenses, not wide image acquisition techniques. If you're getting in to the realm of stitching then 360x180 degrees has been done ages ago and some people do it on a regular basis. There are lots of tools available for that sort of thing too.

[BetterSense]

I wasn't interested in fisheye lenses either, but that didn't stop anyone from discussing them over and over.

[hoffner]

I wasn't interested in fisheye lenses either, but that didn't stop anyone from discussing them over and over.

Maybe because you did not stop them either.

[genotypewriter]

I would really like a 35mm or less lens that covers 6x7 or 6x9 medium format but I have never come across one.

Schneider's Super-Digitar XL 28/5.6 ("apo") is rated as having a 90mm image circle, capable of fitting a full-width 6x7 (56x70) frame. It will have more coverage but you'll need to get your hands on one to see how much.

In addition to the Rodenstock Apo-Sironar-Digital 35/4.5 mentioned in post #12, the Schneider's 35/5.6 Apo-Digitar XL should also be able to cover 6x7 because it is rated as having a 90mm image circle.