Recommendations for a good canon wide angle lens for indoor and outdoor use

[JippersinCornwall]

Hi Folks,

I currently have a Canon 1200D (Rebel T5) and tend to use the nifty 50 quite a bit. I am however looking to buy a good wide angle lens that would be suitable and fast enough for indoor photography but also good for landscape photography.

Can anyone offer great recommendations?

Thanks in advance.

John Paul

[William W]

Do you have the Kit Zoom Lens? (EF-S 18 to 55 F/3.5~5.6 IS).

If yes, then it has a Maximum Aperture of F/3.5 @ 18mm, why is that not suitable?

If no, then what is your Budget?

WW

[JippersinCornwall]

I do indeed have the kit lens. However I find that it's just not fast enough indoors.

I'm willing to go up to around the £600 mark.

I've been looking at the Sigma 18-35mm F1.8 DC HSM and Sigma 18-35mm F1.8 DC HSM

[William W]

I do indeed have the kit lens. However I find that it's just not fast enough indoors.

I'm willing to go up to around the £600 mark.

I've been looking at the Sigma 18-35mm F1.8 DC HSM and Sigma 18-35mm F1.8 DC HSM

Thanks for answering. Yes as you have probably found, if you want fast and wide (assuming "wide" means 18 to 24 on APS-C), then there aren't many options in Prime or Zoom. I think that Sigma made a market place killing when they introduced that Zoom Lens. I have not used it but all the reports (from sources I find reputable) it is good value for money.

F/1.8 is certainly much faster than F/3.5 - and it is a Non Varying Maximum Aperture Zoom (whereas you only get F/3.5 from 18 to 22~23 on your kit zoom lens).

The Sigma lens does not have OS (Optical Stabilization), so there will still be a fast Shutter Speed / High ISO element when quantifying the Exposure for some of your indoor shots. But at the wide end of lenses for APS-C, I think that all those lenses which have Lens Stabilization are quiet a tad slower than F/1.8 - (but I am not sure about all the third party brands).

Is that a typo or is there another lens that you are considering?

WW

[loosecanon]

if on a limited budget the Canon 10-18mm is stabilised and so usable at lower shutter speeds, the limited max aperture does mean for about £250 or less one gets a lightweight compact lens.

[William W]

How is your choice going?

[Ken MT]

What about the Tokina 11-20mm f/2.8? Unless you want to stay with Canon.

[rpcrowe]

What about the Tokina 11-20mm f/2.8? Unless you want to stay with Canon.

I was going to suggest that lens... I don't use it but, I have the 12-24mm f/4 Tokina and the quality is excellent.

However, while I used the Tokina extensively when my medium focal length zoom was the 24-70mm f/2.8L; I don't use the Tokina all that much anymore since I get a lot of wide angle use out of the 17mm side of my Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 IS lens. The Image Stabilization, constant f/2.8 aperture and the very quick and accurate auto-focus makes this a very good lens for low light shooting...

[Dave Humphries]

Ken/Richard,

I suspect the only issue for John Paul will be the aperture improvement going from his current f/3.5 to f/2.8 being insufficient to justify the expense.

John Paul,

I wonder if there are any cheap wide primes available in a Canon mount, however, they will lack IS and probably lack AF too, being Manual only - but it's just a thought.

I can't help with anything else, being a Nikon shooter.

Dave

[William W]

If we a are using F/1.8ish as a benchmark for "fast". . . then wide and fast primes (of all ilks) tend to drop out around FL = 24mm. To add Auto Focus, that then tends to get expensive.

I have mentioned this before, (one of the main benefits of the larger format DSLR) - if a Canon user really wants "wide and fast", then the option of buying a re-furbished or second hand not too late model 5D Series Body is a thought worth considering: that then opens up a vast array of wide and fast primes, both AF and Manual Focus. The same logic applies to Nikon Users.

WW

[rpcrowe]

Dave mentioned...

"I suspect the only issue for John Paul will be the aperture improvement going from his current f/3.5 to f/2.8 being insufficient to justify the expense."

I used a 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS lens for quite a while until I switched to a 24-70mm f/2.8L and then to the 17-55mm f/2.8 IS lens. During the time I was shooting with the 28-135mm lens, I would always carry a 50mm f/1.8 Mark-I for low light shooting. However, when I finalized my medium angle zoom to the 17-55mm f/2.8L, I found that this lens was better in low-light shooting than the 50mm f/1.8 and far-far better than the 28-135mm lens. The 28-135mm lens is a variable aperture lens as is John Paul's kit lens and, as such can be up to 2-stops slower than the constant aperture f/2.8 IS lens. The Image Stabilization of the 17-55mm lens is better than that of the kit lenses as is the low light focusing capability. Aside from that, I have no hesitation to shoot wide open with the 17-55mm f/2.8 IS lens while I did not like the IQ of either the 28-135mm or the 50mm Mark-I when shot wide open.

I have been shooting in low light with the 17-55mm f/2.8 IS lens since I was using the Canon 30D... Even with that older camera, I could push the exposure to ISO 1600. This image was done at f/2.8 using 1/45 second at 44mm (70.4mm equivalent)



Now shooting with a more modern DSLR camera, I will push my ISO up to 6.400 when I need to...



I really like the several stop IS for shooting in low light situations. Granted it will not stop subject motion but, that can be worked around more easily than camera shake...

Additionally, if a person wanted a few extra stops, than a Rebel and a Kit Lens will offer, a recent full frame body with an f/2.8 lens will give that leeway...

However, for many low light situations, a little fill flash can go a long way and allow you to shoot with a lower ISO. This shot was done with the old 30D at ISO 400 using the little 270EX flash bounced for some additional fill. f/4 @ 1/60 second...



IMO the secret in using flash is to obtain imagery that doesn't scream "FLASH-FLASH-FLASH" to the viewer...

[george013]

Look at this thread.Tamron wide angle zoom

It's a little bit more expensive as 600.00 Pound,900 at Amazone, but a lot cheaper as the others. It has vibration reduction. The only disadvantage, it doesn't like to fall down the stairs.

George