which wide-angle lens?

[nickycnc]

Hi
I've got a Canon 400d digital SLR and am looking to get a new lens (wide-angle) for christmas. Trouble is I don't now which one is best within my price range (upto £300 new or second hand). Although I have some basic knowledge I'm not too great on what all the figures mean which doesn't help. I have seen the Canon EF 28-135mm f3.5/5.6 Image Stabiliser USM I think this is the lens I'm heading towards...any advice please .

[superscot]

have a wee look ! 17-40mm
http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Canon-EF-17-40mm-f-4.0-L-USM-Lens-Review.aspx

also 10-22mm
http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews123608.html

[BettyBoo]

It's a really good lens but the kit lens will have a wider angle than that one. The smaller the number the wider the angle I've got a 70-300 mm zoom and would like the 28-135mm to use as an everyday lens instead of the one that came with the camera, which I think is 17-55mm

[silly milly]

hubby says check out the tamron or sigma lenses.

he has a 24-300 on the same camera as yours and he finds the sigma great.

quality just as good as canon own brand, but far cheaper.

[Helen]

do you want a wide angle lens or a zoom lens - the one you have posted about is not a wide angle lens

[nickycnc]

do you want a wide angle lens or a zoom lens - the one you have posted about is not a wide angle lens

I'm after a wide angled...I think I may have picked that one from Jessops web page where you narrow down what you want....So what do you recommend?

[Nicola]

A true wide angle lens is going to be either a fixed focal length or a zoom which starts anywhere from around 12mm up to 35mm (less than 12mm is going to give fisheye effects). Wide angle lenses can give distorted effects and change image perspective and are often used by architectural photographers, you'll start to notice this at anything below 24mm, that's wide enough to start giving curved effects to photos and changes in perspective. What kind of photos do you want to take with the lens? If it's normal portraiture/landscape type stuff then something like the 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 is a good lens or my own pick would be the 24-105mm f/4 L lens but it's expensive, neither of these are true wide angle lenses though although at the 24mm you're getting into the 'distortion' realm. I have an 18mm lens which I sometimes use for taking portrait shots when I want to get the distorted effect, like the photo below but I don't use it for everyday photography...

[silly milly]

love that picture!!!!!!!!!!

[nickycnc]

Thanks for that Nicola....I think I'm beginning to get a better idea. Also love that kind of picture but also want to do landscape also, so one that will allow both types if poss

[Harveypops]

How on earth did you time that pic Nicola?? It's brilliant!  :005

[Philtrum]

not sure if you've sorted what lens you want yet, if not perhaps I can offer a little advice

if your taking landscapes, then the kit lens can do a great job, as you will have the aperture to about F11 to F16 (to capture the distance and foreground in focus), then you are not worried about having a fast expensive lens, my advice would be (assuming you ahve the canon 17-55 or 18-55) lens is to use that and if you dont have a good tripod and a remote release, invest in those, as they will improve your landscape images a lot more than a lens, I had a cheap tripod and used a collegues quality tripod and the difference in the pictures was astounding

Phil

[nickycnc]

Thanks for all your help. I think I've decided on the Tamron 10mm-24mm f/3.5-4.5 Di ll lense. I think its a relatively new one. Has anyone got any experience of this one?

[silly milly]

no - but hubby had a tamron years ago on his pentax and loved it!