What wide-angle lens for 20D/300D? (1 Viewer)

Hello!

I need some fatherly advice for buying a new wide-angle lens for scenery and casual shots after changing to digital. My 50/1.4 was often a 'bit too long' and after changing to the EOS 20D it's 'always too long' by the 1.6x focal length multiplication.

Thought, I should buy the 20/2.8 USM, but the reviews about it are very poor ('not worth the money' ...). The 24/2.8 is much cheaper and has very good reviews.

Zoom lenses don't have the picture quality I try to achieve and the new S lenses have also bad reviews.

A 28 will too long and the 14/2.8 L is too (L)uxury (better spend my money for long lenses .

Hope for your advice!

Degen

Hi Degen,

May or may not be any help, but if I disregard your no-zoom rule, I would happily recommend the 17-40/f4L

It's certainly sharp enough for the 20D (not so convinced on my 1VHS)

Alister

Hi Alister!

Thank you for your ideas!

But I'm looking for a lens with fast aperture. It should be sharp enough for future bodies as well.

And what about the 'zoom as a dust-pump' effect?!

Degen

Hi, I have a number of prime lenses which I use with my 10D

I have the 50mm f1.8 mk II, the 28mm f.28 f2.8, both of which are a little 'long' on this body because of the crop factor. So I went out and bought the Sigma 17-35mm zoom, and was not impressed either by the clarity or the robustness of the lens. I have ended up with the Canon 16-35 f2.8 'L', and I have to say its the best lens I have, even better than the primes. It is expensive, but the results are stunning.

Degen, do those reviews on the Canon 20mm refer to the lens on a digital camera such as 10/20/300D?

Most very wide angles will show fall-off in resolution towards the edge of the frame, which will bring down the overall rating of the lens, but this won't matter with the 1.6x crop factor of those cameras.

There may, of course, be problems with vignetting or colour fringing.

That crop factor makes the 20mm effectively a 32mm, so if you want a really wide angle then you'll just have to go for the 14mm or, as Falc suggests, the 16-35mm!

Sigma make a 14mm but I don't think it rates as highly as the Canon - but, again, if it's only the edges that let it down then this won't matter, unless you have thoughts on a full-frame camera in the future.

Which ever one you choose, I would try to find a dealer who will let you try it before you buy to check how it performs - good luck!

Further to my comments above, I thought I'd show the difference between the 'full (35mm) frame' size and those cameras with a 1.6x crop factor, such as the EOS 10/20/300D

The yellow area is the full frame and the blue is the 1.6x cropped area.

Any lens that is only 'poor' in the outer areas of the full frame could well be OK with the 1.6x cameras (other faults permitting!).

Thank you very much for your detailed comments, Adey!

Because I don't know how big future sensors will be and I hope, that I will use a lens longer than a body, I try to get a lens which is also good for a full frame sensor.

But I will really think about your comments and try to find a good compromise.