Omax Photographics Ad: How to Sell an Ultra Wide Angle Lens

Posting on April 1st is sometimes risky if you want to be taken seriously as everyone thinks that every other post is a joke, but this ad by Omax Photographics is no gag; it might look like some sort of parody for one of their lenses, but it is in fact a real advertisement.

Omax Photographics is a brand of camera equipment manufacturer based in New Delhi, India. In 2009, they releases a series of images intended to promote their wide angle lenses. They are either brilliant or on the verge of parody.

For those who don't get the joke, the ads play on the functionality of wide-angle versus telephoto lenses. Telephoto lenses allows photographers to capture subjects from afar, while wide-angle lenses allow them to take in more of the scene in front of them. This is why wide-angle lenses are typically used for landscapes or photojournalism situations in extremely cramped or tight spaces.

Ultra wide-angle lens (or UWA lenses) allow photographers to capture subjects that are at the extreme edges of the scene before them, albeit with some barrel distortion. These Omax lenses therefore claim to to give you a view of the scenery to your extreme left and right.

There was some controversy when this ad came out because the copy looked remarkably similar to an ad for Leica wide angle lenses. Take a look at Leica's version below and you decide which is the copycat.

In any case, both Omax and Leica (and their respective ad agencies Publicis Gurgaon (India) and Demner Merlicek & Bergmann (Austria) ) did a great job showing the world just what an ultra wide-angle lens can do.