0
AndyMan

Favorite digital lens?

Recommended Posts

What's your favorite every day digital lens?

I skipped the kit lens when I bought my 300D, so I don't have a good every day lens.

I use a crappy 35-80mm f/4-5.6 that I borrowed from my film SLR, but it's not nearly wide enough for digital, never mind the crappy depth of field.

What do people use for a good, every day lens while shooting digital?

_Am
__

You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Quote


What do people use for a good, every day lens while shooting digital?

_Am



I use the Canon 28-200mm as a nice every day lens, it is a very nice lens and reasonably priced.
It's not superwide, but wide enough for most of the stuff..

I've heard people say really good things about the new Canon EF-S 17-85mm IS USM too but I don't have that lens personally.. I've only worked with it once and it seemed nice.

Iwan

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I really like my Sigma 18-50 3.5-5.6 DC lens. Its a new series of lens that Sigma put out just for digital cameras. Compressed in size to allow for the smaller element. Plus it was cheap. $100 new and its also in a combo kit with a 55-200mm DC lens thats I think 4-5.6f for $225 for both lenses.
Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Quote

I really like my Sigma 18-50 3.5-5.6 DC lens. Its a new series of lens that Sigma put out just for digital cameras.



Was that the lens you had in Dublin? It looked like a nice lens.

I don't buy the "specially for digital" lenses, since I want to be able to use the lenses on my film body too (yes.. I still shoot film once in a while) and maybe sometime in the future, when full frame CCDs become more common than only on the 5000 dollar cameras.. these lenses might not work for you anymore.. although the main reason for me is using them on film (35mm) bodies..

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Quote


I don't buy the "specially for digital" lenses, since I want to be able to use the lenses on my film body too (yes.. I still shoot film once in a while) and maybe sometime in the future, when full frame CCDs become more common than only on the 5000 dollar cameras.. these lenses might not work for you anymore.. although the main reason for me is using them on film (35mm) bodies..



I've already had to discard a lot of good equipment when I made the switch from Nikon to Cannon. The last thing I want to do is build a collection of lenses that won't work with a future body.

I think.

_Am
__

You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I don't own a 35mm camera so it does'nt bother me one bit about Digital only lenses. After the 10d gets worn out I might jump to the 30D (since it will be out about then :P) or higher. My usage of film will not happen and there for I can go with lenses that are set up for the 1.5 or higher crop factor. If full CCD sensors are ever availble on Prosumer digital cameras then I might be up a creek, but all reports are that its going to be a very long time before that might happen and with each passing camera series its getting more and more likely that the functionality will only be on top end cameras for the Professional series.

The mounts are all EF mounts so they work with any Canon camera out there (unlike the EF-S mounts :S)
Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I'm using the Canon EF-S 17-85mm on the 20D, and got to play with it a bunch over the winter. Like it much better than the 18 - 55. If nothing else than for the added zoom.

Haven't had a chance to play with the image stabilizer feature yet, but have heard from others who have, that it's great.

Fuzzy
Ambition / Ability: Know the difference.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Ok, now I'm confused.

First you said " Compressed in size to allow for the smaller element. "

Now you say it's a standard EF mount...?

I guess I don't know what you mean by "compressed to allow for the smaller element".

Do your lenses work on any camera with an EF mount? What happens if you try to use the lens with a full frame (ie, film or high end) body?

_Am
__

You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Quote

Ok, now I'm confused.

First you said " Compressed in size to allow for the smaller element. "

Now you say it's a standard EF mount...?

I guess I don't know what you mean by "compressed to allow for the smaller element".

Do your lenses work on any camera with an EF mount? What happens if you try to use the lens with a full frame (ie, film or high end) body?


The lenses that he is talking about are designed for small-frame digital cameras. They are similar in concept to the Digital Rebel kit lens: smaller frame mean less glass, means cheaper/lighter lens. The use a standard EF mount, so you could put them on a 35mm camera or something like a 1DS, but the pictures would be cropped. They depend on having a cropping factor of something like 1.5 or more.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
So does that mean that the digital only lenses compensate for the small CCD element? In other words, do you still get the 1.6 crop factor?

Help me out here, I'm looking at going digital and trying to figure out what lens to get.

- Dan G

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I still get the 1.6 crop factor. Basically the glass in the lens is only large enough for a CCD and if I was to put it on a 35mm body then I'd end up with a lot of black around the edges. Reduces the size and weight of the lens since I don't need all the extra glass.

I'll still be getting a 15mm or so lens once I learn the camera.
Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I use a Sigma 28-200, and if I look at the price I'm really pleased with it:)
When I get the money I will switch for a better lense with the same range. It's not to big, and I love to have that range at my fingertips all the time.

And avtually, my 15 mm fisheye is used a lot to....it's a really fun lense on the ground tooB|

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I've got a 28 - 300 sigma which I use for general purpose. I really like it because its pretty versatile, although I did like it better on this EOS film body.
Expensive but solid. No where near as good as the Canon USM for focusing speed though. I just got my new 10-22 and I can only describe it as awesome. virtually zero distortion and mega wide!

Stay Cool
http://www.waycool.com.au

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

0