Wide Angle Lens - help, opinion, discussion

I'd really like a wide angle lens for landscape photography but have a bit of a dilema....

A the moment I'm using a Canon 40d and the widest lens I have is an EF-S 17-85mm USM IS lens.

Like most DSLR - the 40D is NOT a full frame sensor camera. The crop factor is 1.6

The beauty of an EF-S lens (rather than an EF) is that it's designed for none full frame sensors so 17mm really is 17mm.

If you want a long lens, sticking a long EF lens on a cropped sensor is fine as it actually gives you a longer lens than EF-S but going wider creates a dilema.........

If I was to buy a wide angle lens which was 'EF' rather than 'EF-S' It would be equal to X1.6. In other words - forking out on a EF 10mm lens would be equal to 16mm which is not much wider than the 17mm I already have in EF-S form.

The only way to go wider is to go 10mm in EF-S format (which would actually be 10mm) but I suspect that somewhere down the line I'll end up with a full frame camera which wouldn't be able to use EF-S lenses.

Bit of a quandry - is it really worth investing money in EF-S lenses for cropped sensors if full frame (or BIGGER) will filter down fairly soon to become the norm.

I have a Sigma 12-24mm which is useable on my Nikon DX format but is also useable on the full frame Nikon FX. Seems a good lens and is wide and well corrected rather than the curves and bowing of the Sigma 10-20mm. I like the extremes of a 10mm but I think this is a reasonable compromise.

You're right about full frame. There is only so much quality you can get out of a APS-c sensor. I would have thought even now manufacturers could more easily make a 12 megapixel full frame camera of brill quality and low noise rather than trying to get a 12 or 14 megapixel into the smaller size we are used to. Prices could quickly drop if manufacturing this size became the norm but there would be a lot of cheesed off owners of photographic kits I guess. If they sold the Nikon D700 (Canon 5d Mk2 in your Canon speak!) for a grand I'd have one and start buying into new kit that I felt was going to be around a while. 1600 quid plus for the body is too much right now for me.

why not get the Nikon 12-24m len for your Nikon camera, I have it and it works for me.

Bazza

I use a Canon EF 24-105 and I love it as much as my beloved 60mm macro lens Definitely not a cheap lens but the results can be stunning

This isn't strictly accurate. A 17mm or a 10mm EF-S lens does not give you 17mm or 10mm on a cropped sensor. I have the 10 - 22mm and it gives me an effective focal length of 16 - 35mm on my 20D. It doesn't matter whether you use an EF or an EF-S lens on a cropped sensor, the effective focal length is still multiplied by the factor of 1.6.

This is purely down to your own preference and only you can make that decision. I was totally against EF-S lenses initially however this one lens changed my mind. If I was ever to go full frame I would still keep my 20D as a backup and I could leave the 10 - 20mm attached permanently, or failing that I could sell it (this is one lens that does not seem to depreciate much in value).

If thinking about what *might* be in the future is enough to put you off then don't get it. However a lot of people who say they are going full frame don't. I had the option of getting the 17 - 40mm L or the 10 -22mm, after testing both I found I prefered the 10 - 22mm. Why not test the lens and see what you think?

This is what I was thinking too - thanks GH!

Cheers guys.

So you're saying that on a Canon 40D the angle of view (what fits onto my shot) would be exactly the same regardless of whether it was an EF or EF-S lens ??????

Yes, because it's the body that is cropped/not cropped, not the lens. But let one of the canonites confirm!

Yes that's right

I have a chart somewhere which tells you the effective focal lengths for different EF and EF-S lenses - not sure where I got it from though! This is why the only EF-S lens I considered was the 10-22mm, the next widest canon (EF lens) is the 16-35mm which on a cropped body gives you an effective focal length of 26-56mm.

Here is the link to the chart I mentioned

Canon EF Lens Chart

(it is a .pdf document so you will need to download it )