Which one?

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Molly47

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Hi guys,

My daughter is getting married in Cyprus in Oct & I would naturally like to get some good shots of my daughter & her new hubby.
The only lenses I have are the 18-55 kits lens, 55-250 & 50mm 1.8.
I have a maximum of £400 to spend on a new lens, I want this lens to replace my kits lens.
I have gone through the options & read reviews but I am still no further on.

My options are

Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 XR Di ll LD Aspherical (IF)... non VC as I have been told it is sharper than the VC, can anyone verify this?

Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4 DC OS Macro HSM

Canon EF-S 18-135mm f3.5-5.6 IS

Canon EF-S 17-85mm f4-5.6 IS USM

Sigma 18-125mm f/3.5-5.6 DC OS HSM

I will be very grateful for any advice :)

Thanks, Carole
 
Carole,I'm in a similar position with lens choices, I posted on here and had a few recommendations for the tamron 17-50 non vc, from the reviews it does seem pretty sharp. My mate brought one in today and it seems good value, quick and sharp though I can't decide if I want a little more reach than 50. I think the downside is you start losing speed and low light capability with longer lenses

from what I can tell its all about picking the right lens for your photography style, what you want to achieve and how it.complements your other kit.
 
The only one I can comment on is the Tamron, I have the non vc version and imo it's a cracking lens, very sharp.
 
I've had the Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 non VC and Canon 17-85mm.

I liked the Tamron much better. The Canon has a good range, IS and USM but it has a lot of distortion at the wide end and it was on the edge of what my software could attempt to correct plus of course it isn't a f2.8 lens.

I found the Tamron to be very sharp, IS and USM would be nice though.
 
I used the Tamron vc one for a while,althought the vc does need getting a bit used to,most of the time i just swiched it off.

But i thought the lens was very good :)
 
Thanks for your replies, the Tamron seems to be ahead at the moment for you guys. I was veering towards the Tamron too but the lack of focal length was sending me towards the Sigma 17-70mm.
I do think it should be between those two, as they are both 2.8 too, but which one :thinking: Although the Sigma 18-125mm seems attractive too :thinking:
 
The only thing with the sigma is you lose the fast aperture of F2.8 at the long end,would this be a problem for you :)
 
I tried the Sigma 17-70mm and I found that I only had to think about turning the zoom ring and I lost f2.8. I don't know what the exact zoom point is but I'd be surprised if you can zoom more than a couple of mm from 17mm before losing f2.8. It's only really available at the widest zoom settings IMVHO.
 
You could get a second hand canon 15-85 for this money which is supposed to be spot on!
It's next on my list once I sell my tamron 17-50!!
 
simonblue said:
I used the Tamron vc one for a while,althought the vc does need getting a bit used to,most of the time i just swiched it off.

But i thought the lens was very good :)
Click to expand...

What do you mean by saying the VC needs getting used to Simon, is it a lot different to the IS on a Canon lens


The only thing with the sigma is you lose the fast aperture of F2.8 at the long end,would this be a problem for you
Click to expand...

I don't think this would be a problem but to be honest I had never considered this, do you think it could effect me in taking shots of my daughter & for general shooting?

You could get a second hand canon 15-85 for this money which is supposed to be spot on!
It's next on my list once I sell my tamron 17-50!
Click to expand...

I hear you & I was recently going to buy a second hand lens, until I was told of someone who had privately bought an expensive lens only to find out later that it had been dropped at some point & was pretty much worthless, so I have gone off the idea of second hand.
 
There's Always good lenses popping up in classifieds on here and I don't think you'd get a bad one from it!!
 
The VC on the Tamron does have a bit of a cluck to it,as i begin to work you can feel and hear it :)
 
You should definitely take a look at the Sigma 17-50 2.8 OS as well. It's quite pricey but superb IQ, excellent stabilisation and fast and quiet auto focus.
 
Molly47 said:
My options are

Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 XR Di ll LD Aspherical (IF)... non VC as I have been told it is sharper than the VC, can anyone verify this?

Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4 DC OS Macro HSM

Canon EF-S 18-135mm f3.5-5.6 IS

Canon EF-S 17-85mm f4-5.6 IS USM

Sigma 18-125mm f/3.5-5.6 DC OS HSM

I will be very grateful for any advice :)

Thanks, Carole
Click to expand...


I've used most of those lenses. Personally I had a bad experience with a Tamron 17-50 and got an awful copy which was very soft. However, people don't rave about it for nothing. It clearly is a sharp lens. Remember that the zooming turns the opposite way to what you are used to with Canon which can be annoying and take a while to get used to, especially when switching between it and other Canon lenses. Personally I could never put up with the AF noise on this lens, as it's so intrusive. Others do not find it a problem...I'd say they were deaf or in a situation where the noise literally does not matter like loud places.

Sigma 17-70 is a great lens. Borrowed one and could not fault it. I personally prefer...

Canon 18-135 IS
If you are going to grab a more walk about lens of which you want for all situations and not having to change to a longer zoom, this is one of my favourite lenses for that. The IQ is excellent and it's a pleasure to use. I found the IS really good on the one I used for a while which belonged to a friend. Lovely lens.

Canon EFS 17-85. My mate had one. Used it a few times. His broke as have others. I can't recommend this lens. It never really seemed to offer great IQ and as said it has big distortion at the wide end. it is now inferior to the 15-85mm which has replaced it.

Sigma 18-125. I haven't used so can't comment.

Have you also considered the Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 DC Macro? It's the general competitor to the Tamron 17-50. I don't mean the new Sigma 17-50mm OS which would blow your budget (competes with Canon 17-50 £££). I owned the Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 DC Macro and it was ace. I always pimp this lens though and I am biast. It can be had for about £200 second hand. It is built really well and has great colour and contrast.


It depends on what you want the lens for. Do you want to sacrifice the long end for a shorter focal length but with constant f/2.8? It would depend on the wedding venue. If it is outdoors in bright Cyprus sun, I would be more inclined to go for the Canon 18-135 as an all rounder and the ability to take longer range portrait shots. If it is indoors and you need low light performance, grab the Tamron or Sigma I mentioned maybe.
 
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