I have been photographing for a couple of years now, but still consider myself a beginner. Juggling between architecture school and this hobby doesnt allow much room for movement. I have been wanting to look into an affordable Wide Angle Zoom Lens in order to take photos of Architecture. Any suggestions/recommendations of what lens is good to start with?
which body are you using, crop or full frame
how wide do you want to go?
EF 17-40 for full frame
EFS 10-22 for crop
for canon lenses, you could buy other brands if you need to spend less money
As gpop says the 10-22 is very good. It's probably the best alround choice out there. But while its decent value it's not a bargain.
Best value would be the old sigma 10-20 4-5.6 (not the newer more expensive 3.5) . Almost as good IQ but a fair chunk cheaper .
Also the tokina 12-24/4 is a very bargain. Great IQ but the 2mm difference may not send much but at these viewing angles its huge.
If you want to go even wider the the sigma 8-16 is a lesson it's own .
If your shooting inside and want a faster lens then the tokina 11-16 is the fastest UWA (for crop) you can get .
The above list are all great lenses . All have their pluses (and small minuses) and are the extent of range that should be considered. Tamron have made a couple of atempts at the UWA. But none have any great shakes compared to the ones above
Yes how wide do you want? Also what's your budget?
If you're going ultra wide I also agree the 10-22 is a good choice for your XSi if it's within budget. Some like the Tokina 11-16 as well. If you need to go cheaper than the Sigma 10-20 might be an option. If you don't need that wide then maybe the 15-85, which is a good general overall lens.
I think all of the above are great to start off with.
Since the OP lists a Rebel in his sig I would suggest
a) Canon 10-22 some say is the best UWA on the market. Also the most expensive option, I have not used one but is a great option if the money is there.
b) Tokina 12-24 is my current choice and I am very happy with it. Constant f4 is convenient and is usable indoors if needed. Built like a tank and I love the colors and sharpness.
c)Tokina 11-16 at 2.8 is the fastest available. Little more money, small zoom range. Haven't used it but is suppose to be stellar.
d)Sigma 10-20 is available in 2 flavors 4-5.6 and constant 3.5. Owned the older 4-5.6 for a while. Liked it but I am happier with the Tokina. 3.5 version is appealing but a bit pricey.
e) The least talked about is the Tamron 10-24. Can't say much about this one other than based on other Tammy I have owned should be a decent option.
If you want one that also works FF you could go with the Sigma 12-24 which would be ridiculously wide on FF.
I'm in the same boat as you as far as finding a ultra wide, but I'm shooting with a 60D. After much research I narrowed it down to the Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6. The main complaint about it is that it's not as 'sharp' as the Tokina, but only from roughly 15-20mm that it looses some sharpness on the edges, but I figured that I would be shooting mainly in the 10-15mm range. But If I had the money I'd probably go for the Canon 10-20mm.
I went through this dilemma when I only had a 7D and a 17-40 which was giving me an effective 27.2-64 with the 1.6 crop factor. I needed wider. The 10-22 would have been my choice for UWA on a crop and have an effective 16-35.2. But this one is an EF-S lens that would not work on a full frame body if I were to switch to FF. I know, buy now what you need now, and sell when you switch. For the essentially the same money as the 10-22, I picked up a 5D Classic.
This has worked well especially now that my kid is studying Industrial Design and needed a decent camera to use besides a P&S. He is enjoying the 7D and has a choice of lenses. In your case though, picking up a FF body will necessitate a UWA lens purchase also...
Wobble wrote:
I went through this dilemma when I only had a 7D and a 17-40 which was giving me an effective 27.2-64 with the 1.6 crop factor. I needed wider. The 10-22 would have been my choice for UWA on a crop and have an effective 16-35.2. But this one is an EF-S lens that would not work on a full frame body if I were to switch to FF. I know, buy now what you need now, and sell when you switch. For the essentially the same money as the 10-22, I picked up a 5D Classic.
This has worked well especially now that my kid is studying Industrial Design and needed a decent camera to use besides a P&S. He is enjoying the 7D and has a choice of lenses. In your case though, picking up a FF body will necessitate a UWA lens purchase also......Show more →
This was racing through my mind as well has how much 'future proofing' I wanted to go. Right now I just do real estate photos but I would like to get to the level of a 2nd shooter for weddings. And eventually I would like to try and get a full frame. But after talking to the photographer that got me into this, he says not to try and be a gear head and just get a lens that you'd be excited for and just go shoot. So ultimately it depends on where the OP wants to go with their photography.
There are a lot of good reasonably priced uw options on crop. The 10-22 is widely considered the best. Buy used and if you ever find yourself wanting something different you can sell it for little or no loss on your investment.
Photographing architecture? You probably want a lens that minimizes linear distortion..so you might want to avoid ultra wide lenses.
I bought a Vivitar Series 1 19-35mm some time ago and it performs well and was cheap. I don't know who actually makes it...but there are about four versions of this lens.....all with different names and some slight cosmetic differences...but the same lens.
robbymack wrote:
There are a lot of good reasonably priced uw options on crop. The 10-22 is widely considered the best. Buy used and if you ever find yourself wanting something different you can sell it for little or no loss on your investment.
Yep this is my thinking with most lenses, I usually buy second hand and that way you don't lose much money when it comes to selling it on; having said that the 10-22 has dropped in value but I haven't lost too much
I prefer Tokina11-16 over Canon 10-22, but you can't go wrong with any of the two.
Tokina 12-24 is excellent too, most likely the best value for money.
You may also look at the New Samyang tilt shift as it will probably be ideal for architecture. I don't think it's officially out yet but most of their products are great value if you can live without the af and other electronics. Definitely not as general purpose as the zoom but could be an option down the road if you want to get heavy into architecture
