Lens choice advice please??

[robbymack]

For what you have to spend the 50 1.8 is really the only option or a cheap speedlight, actually the latter will probably do more for your photos long term than the 50 at this point so my vote goes to a flash.

[lego_boy]

All, thank you so much for your advice so far.

I suppose the reality is I just cant afford a FF, so has to be APS-C unfortunately.

So, looking at the feedback I'm moving towards either:

- Used Canon EF 24mm f/2.8 - Used approx. £180 eBay.
- Used Canon EF 28mm f/1.8 - Used approx. £130 eBay.

A Used Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 - Used approx. £70 eBay. : Agreed, on an APS-C, this isn't particularly wide so likely to give this a miss, despite seeing the multitude of nice images from this lens.


I understand there are many other brands (SIGMA, Older lens needing adapters), my only problem is that I just wouldn't know where to start, what brand to trust. Am I right in thinking...stick to Canon because I know I can trust them?

Also, I do understand my budget is tight for what I want so sorry if this is a little frustrating, but we all want to make the best choice for the money we spend don't we....the biggest bang for our buck!

Thanks once again!

[phoenix7]

Re: Policar
Yes, would be great to have a 17mm TS-E or even the Zeiss 21mm I keep reading about.  For those
prices though it had better grow arms and legs, walk out and pose every dang tree and bush for my
landscape photo, walk back, mount itself on my camera body and reach back and hit the shutter release.

Of course that's fantasy and it's nice to hear about those sorts of lens but they are totally impractical
for lego_boy's or my budget.  Currently I'm about at about his budget going towards a EF 20mm 2.8 early next
year.

I would have to greatly disagree that his or my own budgets make getting a lens impossible.  Challenging
perhaps but not impossible at all.  I've been doing quite a bit of research and I'm still looking at adapting
an M42 mount, for $50US and $10 for an el cheepo adapter it's right in the price range my wallet likes.

As for other options; the 2 lenses I've also been looking are the old-ish Tamron 17-35mm f/2.8-4 and the
Canon EF 20-35mm f/3.5-4.5.  Both seem like decent lens from what I have read.  When they are available
the Tamron is less than $200US (about 130GB) and the Canon less than $275US (about 180GBP).

Don't be intimidated by having to adapt and old style lens.  Canon's EF mount being as verstile as it is and
in our budget range it's actually a very real option.

[RS2021]

All, thank you so much for your advice so far.

I suppose the reality is I just cant afford a FF, so has to be APS-C unfortunately.

So, looking at the feedback I'm moving towards either:

- Used Canon EF 24mm f/2.8 - Used approx. £180 eBay.
- Used Canon EF 28mm f/1.8 - Used approx. £130 eBay.

A Used Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 - Used approx. £70 eBay. : Agreed, on an APS-C, this isn't particularly wide so likely to give this a miss, despite seeing the multitude of nice images from this lens.


I understand there are many other brands (SIGMA, Older lens needing adapters), my only problem is that I just wouldn't know where to start, what brand to trust. Am I right in thinking...stick to Canon because I know I can trust them?

Also, I do understand my budget is tight for what I want so sorry if this is a little frustrating, but we all want to make the best choice for the money we spend don't we....the biggest bang for our buck!

Thanks once again!

Yup, most logical wider angle choices given your crop body and the budget! And what's more, when you do move to FF, they both will still work and are rather decent lenses. EF 28mm f1.8 also has a cult following recently since video came along, so all things considered both are good choices. Good luck!

[elflord]

All, thank you so much for your advice so far.

I suppose the reality is I just cant afford a FF, so has to be APS-C unfortunately.

You can afford a film camera - maybe not what you're looking for but it's a way to get the FF experience on the cheap, and you can get one that works with EF lenses.

So, looking at the feedback I'm moving towards either:

- Used Canon EF 24mm f/2.8 - Used approx. £180 eBay.
- Used Canon EF 28mm f/1.8 - Used approx. £130 eBay.

I tried the 28 f/1.8 and found it pretty awful at large apertures though it was pretty decent at f/4. Looking at photozone's tests, the 24mm f/2.8 gives pretty decent optical quality. So I'd lead towards this -- wider and probably better IQ than the 28mm.

The non-VC Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 has a good rep for image quality and is pretty cheap used and you'll get wider coverage.

The Samyang 14mm is another option for a cheap wide angle.

I understand there are many other brands (SIGMA, Older lens needing adapters), my only problem is that I just wouldn't know where to start, what brand to trust. Am I right in thinking...stick to Canon because I know I can trust them?

Not really. Canon make some really good products and some products that aren't really good. Same with most other brands. Canon lenses tend to sell for a premium, so if you're on a tight budget the alternatives might be a better choice.

[EOBeav]

1. Never, ever use screw-on lens "additions"

MCP, anyone?

[Policar]

Re: Policar
Yes, would be great to have a 17mm TS-E or even the Zeiss 21mm I keep reading about.  For those
prices though it had better grow arms and legs, walk out and pose every dang tree and bush for my
landscape photo, walk back, mount itself on my camera body and reach back and hit the shutter release.

Of course that's fantasy and it's nice to hear about those sorts of lens but they are totally impractical
for lego_boy's or my budget.  Currently I'm about at about his budget going towards a EF 20mm 2.8 early next
year.

I would have to greatly disagree that his or my own budgets make getting a lens impossible.  Challenging
perhaps but not impossible at all.  I've been doing quite a bit of research and I'm still looking at adapting
an M42 mount, for $50US and $10 for an el cheepo adapter it's right in the price range my wallet likes.

As for other options; the 2 lenses I've also been looking are the old-ish Tamron 17-35mm f/2.8-4 and the
Canon EF 20-35mm f/3.5-4.5.  Both seem like decent lens from what I have read.  When they are available
the Tamron is less than $200US (about 130GB) and the Canon less than $275US (about 180GBP).

Don't be intimidated by having to adapt and old style lens.  Canon's EF mount being as verstile as it is and
in our budget range it's actually a very real option.

The 17mm TSE isn't very expensive for what it does. Compared with a Master Technika and a 65mm LF lens ($12,000) and $6 per frame to shoot and $200 to scan for LF or a tech camera and MFDB (which could run $60,000+ for a decent set up) a 17mm TSE and 5D II is an incredible deal.

Granted I'm not a very good photographer and don't want to give the impression that my gear snobbishness correlates with an ability to get much out of it, but I still can't see how an UWA with T/S can be replaced with a cheap, not terribly wide zoom without any lens movements. (Unless you're shooting FF, in which case 17mm is legitimately UWA, but still lacks lens movements and sharpness.) If you're taking pictures of buildings then that's fine… if you're serious about architectural photography I just don't know how you can make this work. Maybe a panoramic head, stitching and perspective correction in post, but I couldn't pull it off. More power to you if you can.

That said, if you're not worried about having the sharpest print and are willing to recompose a bit in post, any very wide lens could work for architecture. Just stop way down to give infinite focus and fix perspective in post and it's as good as T/S.Or if you're in an area where you can back up really far from the subject, even a not-so-wide lens could work. I just wouldn't want to rely on it professionally.

Fwiw, the 14mm Samyang, while dreadfully full of distortion, is a great deal and could pull this off with a lot of post work. The 10mm f2.8 Samyang (when it's released) might be a very viable option so long as you're okay with fixing perspective in post.

I'd take the 28mm f1.8 or 30mm f1.4 but not for architecture. Of the lenses you've listed in your price range none are even close to as good for it as the kit lens (but you'll still need to fix perspective in post). For architecture, I'd get a tripod.

[lego_boy]

Thanks again for all your input!

Just to note; I'm not looking to photography as a profession, merely a hobby. But because of what I do, I end up photographing a lot of buildings and it is incredibly annoying when you can't quite fit it all in.
That's usually been with the old stock 18-55, so still pretty wide. Hence the reason for wanting wider and with always wanting better quality I was looking at primes.
I understand this is where it gets tricky.  Primes at this range are £1000's so even if I could afford it its not worth it on an aps-c.
Also, with being just for a hobby, a range of lengths is probably more suited.
So looking at a suitable zoom range: an efs 10-22mm seems appropriate, unfortunately this is £350+, the tamron 17-35mm as suggested by phoenix, however this isn't much wider...is it considered at better than the  canon 18-55 is?
Sorry to swing this back round, but you guys have far more experience than I have.

[phoenix7]

I don't know if that old lens is all that great.  Just something I came across in your price range.
I've read good things about the 10-22mm aps-c, it's basically 16-35mm full frame.

As I said the 18mm you have now is ~28mm full frame.  So if you get at 28mm lens you are
seeing what that would show on full frame, but then you have to take into account 1.6x crop
so it's ~44mm.  That's why I was trying to mention other options smaller than 28mm.

[verysimplejason]

All, thank you so much for your advice so far.

I suppose the reality is I just cant afford a FF, so has to be APS-C unfortunately.

So, looking at the feedback I'm moving towards either:

- Used Canon EF 24mm f/2.8 - Used approx. £180 eBay.
- Used Canon EF 28mm f/1.8 - Used approx. £130 eBay.

A Used Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 - Used approx. £70 eBay. : Agreed, on an APS-C, this isn't particularly wide so likely to give this a miss, despite seeing the multitude of nice images from this lens.


I understand there are many other brands (SIGMA, Older lens needing adapters), my only problem is that I just wouldn't know where to start, what brand to trust. Am I right in thinking...stick to Canon because I know I can trust them?

Also, I do understand my budget is tight for what I want so sorry if this is a little frustrating, but we all want to make the best choice for the money we spend don't we....the biggest bang for our buck!

Thanks once again!

Yup, most logical wider angle choices given your crop body and the budget! And what's more, when you do move to FF, they both will still work and are rather decent lenses. EF 28mm f1.8 also has a cult following recently since video came along, so all things considered both are good choices. Good luck!

Go for a 28mm F1.8 + 50mm F1.8.  They are nice combo with APS-C.  The 28mm isn't soft if you stop down to at least F2.2.  Here are some sample pictures with the 50mm and the 28mm:

50mm @ F1.8



28mm @ F2.2

[RLPhoto]

Get a cheapo tripod and stop down your kit lens for landscapes and still get that 50mm 1.8.

[m8547]

...

I've always shot with the stock 18-55mm but could never quite get the quality of image I'm happy with, and with not always having a tripod to hand I always seemed to struggle with motion blur. I haven't had chance to test the the new stock lens with the 650D that I've bought, but even with IS...I cant imagine it will make that much of a difference will it? Hence the reason for wanting a new lens.

...

I can't tell if you are referring to using the old 18-55mm non-IS lens and not having tried the new 18-55 IS yet. If so, the non-IS one was optically bad (that might be a bit harsh but it's the best way to describe it), whereas the new IS version is optically very good and an outstanding value. And IS will help quite a bit if you don't have or don't want to use a tripod.

In addition to the 18-55 IS, I have the 50mm f/1.8 for my T3i, and I'm very happy with it. Although it sounds like it's trying to smash itself to pieces when it autofocuses, it works well enough and takes great photos, especially in low-light. The 50mm focal length is a bit limiting, but I can work around that.

So I would recommend trying the 18-55 IS or 18-55 IS II (they are the same) if you have the 18-55 non-IS. If you still aren't happy with photos from the 18-55 IS, you probably need better technique.

If shaking is the problem, there are many things you can try. You can use a tripod more often, or you can try to always find a way to brace the camera. Try bracing the camera or your body on something solid like a wall or a railing. Always hold the camera close to your body with two hands.  You could also make a string monopod http://www.instructables.com/id/String-Tripod/.

If you simply aren't happy with the "look" of the pictures, it could be any number of things, such as the camera settings (mainly aperture, shutter speed, and ISO) or how you process the images, or your composition. You might read a few books such as "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson or "The Digital Photography Book Volume 1" by Scott Kelby.

[scrappydog]

What you will have to try for you budget is winning something like this:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Carl-Zeiss-Jena-1Q-Zebra-Flektogon-20mm-F4-20-4-M42-mount-ultra-wide-angle-lens-/121034957518?pt=Camera_Lenses&hash=item1c2e3ee2ce
Zeiss are always good and getting an adapter shouldn't be more than another
10 to 20pounds.  Though nearly any M42 screw lenses will fit a Canon EF camer lens mount.
If you want to be more sure look through this list:
http://www.panoramaplanet.de/comp/index.htm
and then choose a lens and check ebay for price and availabilty.

I think this bit of advice is the best of the bunch.  Get an old M42 screw mount lens and an M42-to-EOS adapter.  You won't have autofocus or image stabilization, but you can get nice glass within your budget.  I am partial to old Zeiss and Takumar lenses.

If you have a friend with a tripod, borrow theirs.  If not, if you have classified ads (i.e., like craigslist), buy used and get the most stable tripod you can afford.  You will need a tripod for architectural and landscape shots.

[jp121]

i've read the original post over and over.

Motion blur: shoot at faster shutter speed to eliminate the problem. An internet search can provide you with a list of suggested shutter speeds to achieve the right amount of blur or eliminate it altogether.

You have the 18-55mm and a crop sensor body. You want to shoot landscape and architecture. You said that the problem is that you can't fit it in the frame. Additionally you can't afford the 10-22mm.

New lens is not going to help you. The only options are:

1. take a step back or more.
2. photo stitch a panorama and correct in software.
3. shoot 'architectural' photographs. ie not the whole building but parts of the building that stand-out architecturally.

[gigabellone]

As many others already told you, a tripod is mandatory for landscape and architecture photography. Get one as soon as you can.
I take landscape pictures with a Sigma 10-20 f/4-5.6 and i'm very happy with it. It is close to the Canon 10-22 regarding IQ, at 2/3 of the price. Stick with the kit lens until you can afford an ultrawide.