Lens deliberations...

[Alex]

I've now owned two 'standard' lenses and not really been happy enough with either of them - the Canon 18-55mm which was too slow, and didn't have enough range, and the Sigma 18-125 DC, which was better, but still annoyed me with being too slow at f/3.5-5.6 (the 5.6 being the bit that annoyed me mainly!).

Anyway, it is beginning to dawn on me that in order to get the lens I really want it's going to cost me a bit more

I have a few ideas, so I thought I'd see what everyone thought. Basically, I wanted an f/2.8 lens, so was considering either the Sigma 24-70 f/2.8 or the Tamron 28-75 f/2.8. Problem with these is they're lacking the wider angle that I quite like, and I can't really afford to fork out for another lens at the same time. The Tamron I've heard is sharper than the Sigma, but it lacks even more in the wide angle.

The other idea I had was the Canon 17-85 IS USM. Not as fast, but how much does the IS compensate, in real world terms? It has pretty much the zoom range I'm looking for! For low light, I'm probably thinking mainly of indoor portraits, maybe some local gigs etc.

I'm probably leaning toward the Canon, if it's likely to be fast enough, just due to the wider angle ability.

Would I be losing out by going for IS rather than an f/2.8 lens? The Canon is about £100 more expensive as well, which is stretching my budget...

Argh! Any input and/or ideas?

[IBM]

Why don't you go for some primes? get yourself a Canon 35mm F2, a Canon 50mm f1.8 (bargain of the century lens), or a Canon 85mm 1.8. If you get the second and third of those two lenses, you're getting a comparable length to the TF on that 17-85mm, and although you're missing out on the wide angle of the zooms, the 50mm and 85mm are highly regarded as budget portrait lenses.

[Bobster]

i've been looking at the Sigma 18-50 f2.8 to complete my set

i currently have
tamron 28-75 2.8
sigma 70-200 2.8

but i've been pondering a canon 50mm 1.8 as well..

why IS for portraits?

if you'd doing gigs then you'll be at such low shutter speeds you'll have motion blur of the people leaping around on stage anyway..

this was shot with the Tamron @ 2.8

[Alex]

Well, I want IS and not just primes because this will probably become my 'walk around' lens as well as some portraits and gigs etc.

The Sigma 18-50 f/2.8 does look interesting but just lacks the zoom range I ideally want

May well get the Canon 50mm f/1.8 anyway mind

[noah]

well... if you want IS there's really no choice. Myself i'd have the f2.8 lenses because of the aperture effects you can use. out of the 2 the only one i have used is the sigma, however i'd go for the tamron as it gets great reviews and is meant to be a good bit lighter- which seeing as you want it for a walk around lens is probably a good thing.

for wide angle, get saving and join the sigma 10-20 club

[Alex]

I know... I want!! The only thing that is holding me back from the Tamron is the lack of any real wide angle - now if only I could afford the Sigma 10-20... where's my lottery ticket again?

[Alex]

lol, bugger it the Tamron is on eBay with a buy it now price of £140. Why not have it? Now, if I can get the Sigma for ~£200 I'll be laughing!

[5lab]

if you've got the 400 or 350d, why not just shoot with a prime and crop what you don't need? its rare to have to use the full 8/10mp (unless you're printing *really* big), so you can probably ~double the focal length that way without really sacrificing the quality (thus effectively turning the 50mm prime into a 50-100mm prime )

[Bobster]

you forget the 1.6x crop factor on the non full sensor canons

so 50mm = 80mm

Originally Posted by Alex

lol, bugger it the Tamron is on eBay with a buy it now price of £140. Why not have it? Now, if I can get the Sigma for ~£200 I'll be laughing!

i take it you bought it cos all i can find is @ 176+40 P+P

[Alex]

I did indeed buy it. £143 including delivery.

[Bobster]

WP! i'm sure you'll love it

[IBM]

Damn you all!! I'd gotten over the lens bug, and now it's back!!! That Tamron looks sweet...

[Alex]

lol! I'll post up some pics when I get it - should have it tomorrow or monday. Really REALLY want the Sigma 10-20mm to go with it now though!

[Howard]

Sigma 17-70... Oh you've already bought a lens

[noah]

10-20 10-20 10-20 do it, you know you want it.

if you ever want to try the 10-20 i'm in cardiff most the time, you're welcome to have a go.

congrats on the tamron too.

[Alex]

Cheers Noah - I tried it out in Bristol Cameras a couple of months ago. Was quite nice to play with, but I think the only thing I'd want is to properly be able to test out a lens with a camera, look at some 100% crops etc as I hear Sigma have quite low quality control...

I've noticed that these seem to sell for more on eBay than they do in some shops, weirdly enough.