Alternative to 15-85 USM for APS-H body?

jtmiv

Hello,

I think this is my first post here so i might as well say Hello.

I just picked up a 1DMk11 and while I love the camera I know I am going to miss the 15-85 IS USM I used for a walk-around lens on my 20D. The 20D isn't going anywhere so I still have it available to use but I was wondering if anyone cared to suggest a walk-around lens for the 1D body as schlepping 2 cameras everywhere isn't all that appealing to me?

I'd like to stay in the $ 250.00 +/- price range, and since I am shooting with 10 year old bodies I am definitely not afraid of used lenses, nor am I put off by 3rd party lenses. I would prefer to have a FOV equivalent to 24mm or something close to that. I'd like to find a 20-35 USM, but they don't seem to be all that common?

The lens will be used for scenic and landscape photography, f2.8 for indoor use is not a requirement.

Any suggestions?

Regards,

Tim Murphy

ziggy53

The Canon EF 17-40mm, f4L USM is a very nice wide-angle zoom for a crop 1.3x/APS-H body. More than your budget the results are worth the extra cost IMO.

I cannot recommend the very old Canon EF 20-35mm, f2.8L, if that's what you're intending. I had that lens and it has a number of problems, optically and mechanically.

I suspect that you mean the Canon EF 20-35mm f/3.5-4.5 USM, since you also mention the $250 price range. That's a very nice wide-angle zoom, with limited zoom range but an excellent value. Stop it down a bit for best image quality (and smaller apertures are often normal for landscape photography.)

If you want more image detail, purchase a "value" macro, like an older Tamron 90mm, f2.8 Macro. While it's a true macro lens, capable of 1:1 macro imaging, you can build/DIY a fairly simple rig to allow multiple overlapping image captures, which you can stitch together in post to produce panoramic images with any field-of-view and staggering amounts of detail. The very well controlled distortion of that lens makes the stitching process a lot more efficient than a less-corrected lens.

Stitched panoramics do take more work than instantaneous single captures, but for scenics and vista landscapes it can be extremely rewarding.

Do check out the best panoramic thread ever:

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=101529

Results:

http://dgrin.com/showpost.php?p=990541&postcount=274
http://dgrin.com/showpost.php?p=994328&postcount=293

Be sure to see what Baldy did here:

http://www.dgrin.com/showpost.php?p=1039964&postcount=362
http://www.dgrin.com/showpost.php?p=1039966&postcount=363