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choices of buying a lens
Hi Guys!
I currently own a 40D with 28-135.
I am going on a cruise to Alaska on the 2nd and going to taiwan on the 15th.
I mainly want to take pictures of the great landscape, but also the people as well, but it would be a great hassle to change lens very often. I was thinking of buying a ultra wide angle such as 10-22 or 10-20, but ya, switching sucks. Then I saw the new 18-200 lens, which sounds good for a lazy person like me, but the review on Dpreview isn't that great on that lens. Heavy Distortion and the chromatic aberration makes me unable to decide whether I should buy the 10-20 (10-22) or 18-200. Any suggestions guys?
Thx!
I currently own a 40D with 28-135.
I am going on a cruise to Alaska on the 2nd and going to taiwan on the 15th.
I mainly want to take pictures of the great landscape, but also the people as well, but it would be a great hassle to change lens very often. I was thinking of buying a ultra wide angle such as 10-22 or 10-20, but ya, switching sucks. Then I saw the new 18-200 lens, which sounds good for a lazy person like me, but the review on Dpreview isn't that great on that lens. Heavy Distortion and the chromatic aberration makes me unable to decide whether I should buy the 10-20 (10-22) or 18-200. Any suggestions guys?
Thx!
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Comments
Speaking of dpreview, I saw this message comparing the Sigma to the Canon 18-200.
My own travel kit consists of:
Canon crop 1.6x camera
Sigma 10-20mm, f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM
Canon EF-S 17-55mm, f/2.8 IS USM
Canon EF 70-200mm, f/4L IS USM
Canon EF 50mm, f/1.4 USM
Tamron 1.4x teleconverter
Canon 1.4x teleconverter
Close focus adapter, 3.3 diopter, to fit the 50mm, f/1.4, gives about 1/2 lifesize.
Canon 500D, 77mm, 2 diopter lens with 67-77mm ring to fit 70-200mm, f/4L, gives almost 1:1 at MFD.
Along with a couple of flashes this yields tremendous flexibility, with very high image quality, in about 15 lbs worth of payload in a single-strap "sling" type backpack.
I generally also use a "camera holster" which holds my most used alternate lens (at the moment) to switch with whatever is on the camera. If you make it "easy" to switch lenses, you are more likely to switch as needed.
While all zooms are compromised, compared to the best prime lenses, I feel that the collection in my travel kit involves acceptable and professional levels of quality for my style of shooting.
If I have to choose just 2 lenses for a day-trip for instance, it is generally the Canon EF-S 17-55mm, f/2.8 IS USM and Canon EF 70-200mm, f/4L IS USM. If I need wider I can generally stitch multiple images at 17mm.
Moderator of the Cameras and Accessories forums
imagine you are walking on the street taking pictures of the scenery and suddenly you want to take pics of your friends. *change lens* then ohhhh you want to take some shots of another street *change lens*
sigh....I wish I was rich enough to buy all the lenses and invent an auto-lens changer ^_^.
just curious...should one buy an used 24-70L or new 17-55?
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I'm actually old enough to remember that zoom lenses were all pretty sad and you "wanted" to use primes as much as possible. I used a Pentax H1a which was screw mounted lenses and manual everything with no meter. I was actually able to take some pretty serious photos with that camera and I still have the body and lenses.
It was also a film camera so every 24-36 exposures you had to load another film cassette.
Later I bought a twin lens Mamiya C330 and it was still prime lenses that ruled, but the camera would switch lenses pretty easily. Film changes every 12-24 frames.
Then I got a Hasselblad and its wonderful bayonet mounted lens system. Still primes, but now the changes were so much easier. The A12 film cartridge only held 120 size film so only 12 images before a change.
At my previous employer's I used a 4" x 5" view camera for years and primes were mounted on "lens boards" and mounted on the camera according to required FOV. A ... film ... change ... with ... each ... exposure.
It wasn't until I got a Canon AE1 Program that I finally bought a quality zoom, although it was a Vivitar brand.
Anyway, the thought of chucking in a fresh lens now and again brings me no pain. It is such a blessing to use the tools that we have today, and I really don't want to go back to the "old days and old ways".
There is also nothing wrong with having a second camera just for snapshots. I often carry a FujiFilm F30 P&S just for that purpose. Not every image has to be a masterpiece.
On a crop 1.6x Canon camera the 17-55mm range is a more "standard" FOV and range than the 24-70mm, f2.8L, although if you really are about to get a full-frame body then the 24-70mm, f2.8L is a standard range for that camera and the 17-55mm does not fit full-frame or crop 1.3x cameras.
Moderator of the Cameras and Accessories forums
17-55 sounds really good, although it doesn't look as hawt as 24-70L haha
i haven't learned any PS or stitching stuff....so I was thinking of buy a 10-22 for the ultra wide...
I'll look into the 17-55...
thx guys
Another option is a Sigma 17-70mm.
I personally think those 18-200mm ish zooms make too much compromise in terms of image quality and lens speed for convenience.
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Canon 20D | 10-22 | 17-85 IS | 50/1.4 | 70-300 IS | 100/2.8 macro
Sony F717 | Hoya R72