Canon lens advice

mikehiow

mikehiow

Suspended / Banned
Messages
248
Edit My Images
Yes
Hi,

I've just made the jump from my little Sony NEX-F3 to a Canon 650D after seeing it advertised at a bargain price.

Now, on my NEX I used a Sigma 30mm f/2.8 almost religiously - I made it work for most situations and it was a great lens.

I want a bit more flexibility with the Canon and have a budget of no more than £1k for lenses over the next few months.

I have been looking at three;

Canon 28mm f/1.8
Canon 10-22 f/4 (Borrowing one of these at the moment, love it!)
Canon 24-105 f/4

I think with some careful buying of used items, I should be able to squeeze all three close to budget.

My question is, are these a good basis for a well rounded lens collection? I generally tend to take pictures of my three year old, night pics (stars, light painting etc) and landscapes for the most part, but I enjoy experimenting with all sorts!

I also wonder if some of these may be wasted on a crop sensor. Is this the case? I'd like to be looking towards upgrading to a 6D towards the end of the year if the 650D ends up being used well, so I'd like lenses that I could keep!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
I know the 24-105 F/4L takes some lovely photos on my 600D can be picked up for around £500 for a very good condition example
 
Could you post some samples? I'd love to see them.

I've heard it described as the perfect walkabout lens, is this your experience?
 
Y U NO 17-55? It's the best EF-S lens out there...!

20130913-IMG_1188.jpg by landwomble, on Flickr

The 50mm 1.8 is also a corker. I have the 10-22 and it's a great lens but so wide on a crop sensor that I only use for fairly extreme wide angle stuff...
 
The 28mm is in the list purely because I want a fast lens around that focal length. I had a Sigma 30mm f/1.4 with my last SLR and would have loved it had it been able to focus reliably, it seems a friends Sigma 24mm has similar issues.

I always felt that I wanted something a bit wider when playing with the 50mm on a crop sensor. Perhaps it's something worth putting up with given how cheap it is.

Any suggestions on an alternative?
 
Last edited:
@landwomble - I assume you think the 17-55 ought to be there in place of the 24-105?

Any reason why? Being faster it certainly appeals, but it's almost half the focal range :/
 
It's bloody great. Fast as hell, best crop zoom out there...! It's the perfect leave-on lens.
 
mikehiow said:
Hi,I want a bit more flexibility with the Canon and have a budget of no more than £1k for lenses over the next few months.

I have been looking at three;

Canon 28mm f/1.8
Canon 10-22 f/4 (Borrowing one of these at the moment, love it!)
Canon 24-105 f/4
Click to expand...

Yes, with careful 2nd hand purchase you should be able to pick up the 3 (or very close to) for your £1000 budget, but I would consider other possibilities and also (if you can) try to decide what you want from a lens and are you buying everything in 1 go or are you staging your purchases...

The 24-105 is a belter of a lens and you should be very happy with it - possible alternatives are the Canon 17-55IS, the Canon 15-85IS lens, not to mention other 3rd party lenses...

The Canon 10-22 F3.5-4.5 lens is a very good UWA lens - you're using one at the moment and know how good it is - possible alternative is the Sigma 10-20mm.
 
mikehiow said:
I also wonder if some of these may be wasted on a crop sensor. Is this the case? I'd like to be looking towards upgrading to a 6D towards the end of the year if the 650D ends up being used well, so I'd like lenses that I could keep!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

If you are already thinking of upgrading to a full frame body, having only just bought the 650D, then the UWA lens from your list won't fit on the 6D - as a general rule of thumb, Canon's latest EF or EF-s will fit the 650D, only EF lenses will fit the 6D, so certainly something to think about with regards to your lens purchases now...
 
landwomble said:
It's bloody great. Fast as hell, best crop zoom out there...! It's the perfect leave-on lens.
Click to expand...


yup he's right, I have just sold my 17-55is last week as I have bought a full frame with the 24-105, but I can assure you that I would definitely buy another if I went back to a crop
 
If I were buying a crop body today, my first "everyday" lens choice would be the EF-S 15-85mm f3.5-5.6 IS USM.
Although it's the ideal general purpose lens for Full Frame, I would have thought that the 24-105 was a little restricted at the wide end on a crop body camera.
 
I owned the 15-85 at the same time as the 17-55 and although the 15-85 is a good lens a very good lens indeed, the 17-55 is a better lens I found.
 
Joeturner11 said:
24-105mm f/4L is a great lens and you can pick a mint copy on the forum here for around £450...
Click to expand...

Or a brand new one from the likes of Digital Rev for £500. Yes I know some consider there may be warranty issues, let's not go there, but it will be brand new.

Personally if I was after a whole set up, I would like one to have a little length and the 24-105 gives you this.
 
If you're planning on moving to FF eventually then from my experience and what I've seen, I'd get the nifty 50, unless you want the sigma 50mm 1.4 which is awesome. The Sigma 35mm (from the Art range, which you can buy the dock for) is also awesome, as is Canon's 70-200 F4 non IS. The three can be had for a shade over £1000, or £1200 if you got the 50mm 1.4.

It depends on what you're taking photos of and what style/length you like. Personally on crop I loved 50mm (80mm on crop), and also had the sigma 12-24 but rarely used it. On FF I've yet to find a need for wider than 35mm, but if that's what floats your boat then there's also the option of the various 24-70 models out there. Sigma, Tamron and canon (2) have them.
 
I bought the 17-55 in the end and loving it so far. I can't help but think I could have done with the extra 50mm focal length but being able to shoot the little one running around on the beach before sunset at fastish shutter speeds at ISO100 is certainly something I'm grateful for!
 
For £1000 and what you seem to like shooting (and guessing the upgrade to full frame happens sooner rather than later, it always does), these would be my three choices:

Sigma 35mm 1.4 Art
Samyang 14mm 2.8
Canon 85mm 1.8

Depends if you're happy without a zoom or not. The quality of these 3 is almost unsurpassable for hundreds, perhaps thousands, more.
 
I didn't think I needed a zoom, I thought I managed fine with the Sigma 30mm on my NEX, but I got so many more shots this evening with the 17-55
 
mikehiow said:
I didn't think I needed a zoom, I thought I managed fine with the Sigma 30mm on my NEX, but I got so many more shots this evening with the 17-55
Click to expand...

Sorry I missed your post saying you had already picked up the 17-55. It is an exceptional zoom. Enjoy it! Take a look into the other two (Samyang 14mm & Canon 85mm) if you're still interested in landscape and portrait lenses though, they are superb and will give you something the 17-55 can't.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top