best lens

Aaron Wilson · October 20, 2004

What would be the best lens to shoot with at night... both a tele photo and wide angle? Im shooting on or with a 20D. I usually do more telephoto but have been taking a lot of bridge pictures.

cmr164 · October 20, 2004

Aaron Wilson wrote:

What would be the best lens to shoot with at night... both a tele photo and wide angle? Im shooting on or with a 20D. I usually do more telephoto but have been taking a lot of bridge pictures.

The answer is clearly $$$$ driven. But suggestions are:

16-35 2.8L
24-70 2.8L
70-200 2.8L IS

35 1.4
50 1.4
85 1.2

cletus · October 20, 2004

cmr164 wrote:

The answer is clearly $$$$ driven.

It's hard to answer without knowing a lot more info:

What kind of budget are you working with?
How wide of a wide angle do you want?
How much telephoto do you want?
Is weight an issue?

For a fairly wide angle with a pretty fast aperature and a half-way reasonable price, I might consider the Sigma 20mm F/1.8.

In a short telephoto it's tough to beat a good 85mm F/1.8. For something a bit longer maybe the Canon 135mm F/2.8. Anything longer (or faster) than that and you'll rapidly approach the $1k mark. If that's still in your budget there are a lot of good lenses in the 200mm f/2.8 neighborhood. Just be aware that these lenses are fairly big and heavy so be sure to go to a store and put your paws on one before taking the plunge.

mercphoto · October 20, 2004

Lenses

Aaron Wilson wrote:

What would be the best lens to shoot with at night... both a tele photo and wide angle? Im shooting on or with a 20D.

Since it is low-light you are shooting go for fast lenses. f/2.8 or better. Auto-focus needs light to work, so a faster lens helps that at night. Also your 20D will focus better (on the center point) with lenses 2.8 or faster, so its worth the extra money.

Primes will be less money than zooms. The 24-70/2.8 is a nice lens, but on a 20D that is like a 38mm lens, which isn't terribly wide. The 16-35/2.8 might be better but is nearly 2X the cost. One or two wide primes might be better bang for buck.

For a tele zoom the 70-200/2.8 is a great lens. Get the f/4 if money is an issue, get the 2.8 if it is not. Canon also has several good, fast prime teles, such as the 85mm, 135mm, 200mm and 300mm.

If you don't need terribly wide or terribly tele, the 28-135 lens is a great choice. Its big problem is it is slow glass. This might cause problems with auto-focusing poor light, and might not. It will depend on what you are shooting. I use that lens a lot.

First question: can you deal with the limitations of a prime (i.e. you needing to move to compose a photo, versus zooming to compose a photo), or do you want/need the flexibility of a zoom?

Next question: how wide, and how tele, do you need?

If you go zoom you can likely get away with only two lenses. Go prime and you might have four lenses, maybe five, but will likely spend less money and have faster glass.

damonff · October 22, 2004

I use the Sigma 20mm on my 10D and it rocks. I can shoot handheld, crisp shots indoors with no flash. Get it.

best lens

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