Help with lens choice

My wife and I will be making our annual trip to Yellowstone around the end of May. I'm in the market for a wide angle for landscape shots. I have a Cannon Digital Rebel Xt with the kit lens, a 75-300 tele and a 100 macro. The lens will need to be compatable with my wifes Cannon Rebel EOS 2000. Any suggestions from the experts here will be most welcome as I'm completely clueless in what to look for.

Thnaks

Don

Before I buy any lens, I ask myself two questions.

1) What kind of shots am I wanting to use it for?
2) How much am I willing fork over for it?

It sounds like you have #1 answered for the most part, but maybe expand on it a bit. How wide of a wide angle are you looking for, how much on the other end do you want (50mm?, 70mm?) or do you want it to be fixed?. And how fast do you need the lens to be?

For #2, do you want best bang for your buck? Are you looking to upgrade to pro level lenses? There really are decent lenses in every type of price range, but not knowing what your min-max is, the lens suggestions can be quite numerous.

Hey Durwood,

Are you looking for a wide or an ultra wide? If you want an ultra wide, I suggest the Sigma 15-30. It is an awesome lens for the money. The only gripe I had with it was the fact that the motor was a bit slow. It was very sharp - I think sharper than my 16-35 F2.8. The price is probably about $500.00.

If you are looking for something not that wide, I suggest the Tamron 28-75. For about 400 bucks, it is considered to be one of the finest 3rd party constant aperture lenses on the market.

James

Tyler and James

Thanks for the replies, I'm looking to spend between $300 to $500 on the lens. Not quite the pro level ....yet. I'm leaning toward an ultra wide with a fast,preferably fixed,apeture. Being an amateur I'd like to get as much bang for my buck that I can.

Thanks

Don

You might want to consider the Canon 17-40 F4L. It's wide; built like a battleship and sharp. Not quite as sharp as my EFS17-55 F2.8 but also not $900. And the color quality from the 17-40 is extraordinary. I didn't appreciate that quality when I had it but now that I've used other lenses and look back at the shots taken with the 17-40, I appreciate that there are things other than pure resolution when it comes to lens performance. You can get that lens at a very good price, used, from KEH www.keh.com.

Jim

15 and 17 mm is just not that wide on a crop sensor. If you want wide the 10-22mm Canon is excellent, maybe you could find a used one in your price range.

KEH's lowest price for the Canon 10-22 is $645. If you need a wide-angle lens for shooting interiors, then Preston's point is a good one. But you stated you wanted it for landscape and on a crop body like your Rebel, the 17-40 is equivalent to 27-64, plenty wide enough for landscape work. And the fixed aperture is nice. Sigma, Tokina and Tamron make ultra-wides for their digital line which used might be an alternative if you really want to go "wide".

Jim

I am not sure what you mean if you have a kit lens, AND the 57-300 Tele. How long is the "kit Lens"?

One of the lenses I am currently looking at is the Sigma 8-16. WIKID wide and very sharp. That is why I need to know where your kit lens picks up at. If it is 18MM you will be missing 2MM. The 10-22 might be better for you.

Roman

Roman
The kit lens is a 18-55.
Thanks for the replies everyone, this gives me some options to look at.

Don

Hey Don,

Please let us know what you ultimately do- and post samples!!

James

Sure will, everyone here has been very helpful and I appreciate it.

Don

The last time I was in Yellowstone, I found myself not so concerned with using wide angle lenses, but rather shooting at about 70mm and stitching a series of shots together to make panoramic landscapes. When I wasn't shooting for panos, my 28-70mm on a full frame sensor, was just fine for single frame landscapes. On the other end of the spectrum, I was photographing wildlife with a 200-400mm 1.4x teleconverter.