Wide/ macro lens advice

As a novice I'm looking for some sound advice on what lenses to buy.

I have a Canon 60D with the 18-135mm kit lens and the cheap 50mm 1.8 lens.

I would like to shoot:

1. landscape shots (particularly night shots of cityscapes etc/ but day time too) & general day time city shots

2. some macro stuff...such as water drops, insects and that kind of thing


So anyway, I was considering these:

Canon EFS 10-22mm f3.5-4.5
Canon EFS 60mm f2.8

I don't have huge amounts of money to outlay...I dunno...$1500...around that much...

So, given what I have and what I think I should get...for my target type of shot...what do you think/ recommend?

Am I on the money? Close? Way off?

thanks

for insects i'd go for the 100mm f2.8 macro to give yourself some more working distance...also you didn't mention an external flash...so if you don't have one...put that into the budget as well...you should have enough to pull it off...but i think a flash is practically a necessity for macro shots

I will get a flash too, I have that in mind.

Why, technically the 100mm? Can you explain that to me? A 60mm would give a wider shot right?

hello people wrote in post #11888205
I will get a flash too, I have that in mind.

Why, technically the 100mm? Can you explain that to me? A 60mm would give a wider shot right?

well typically with macro shots the idea is more about magnification than wide...since both the lenses give 1:1 magnification...the wideness won't really matter...but you'll have to physically be closer with the 60mm in order to get 1:1 than the 100mm would require...so if you're taking shots of bugs they might be scared off...

I get it. Thanks for the explanation. How about the 100mm for water drops and that kind of thing...how is the depth of field? Is it way, way narrow?

And by the way, how do those macro lenses go when you just take a shot of something...as in, not way close up...if I used it like a standard lens and took shots of a person in a room from 4 meters away...does it still work as that kind of photo lens?

hello people wrote in post #11888259
I get it. Thanks for the explanation. How about the 100mm for water drops and that kind of thing...how is the depth of field? Is it way, way narrow?

DOF on any macro shots is going to be really shallow...hence why the flash is really necessary cause you'll be stopped down to f10/11 or so to get more in focus, which can cause really slow shutter speeds...for water drops though the 100mm should work out fine...it's all just about different working distances between the two lenses...

Macro lenses in the 90-105mm range are often used for portraits, where their flat focal plane and sharp optics perform well.

So the 100mm could double up for macro and portrait? I suppose yes

some of the best portraits I've seen have been shot on macros. Canon and other. Personally, I choose the 100L as it boasts both great macro capabilities as well as very sharp portraits. The Non-L also is a great choice.

One thing with macro +portrait=every pore, pimple,scar, blemish, psoriasis flaking in ALL its super crisp shining glory. Be prepared to give it a run through Portrait Pro 10 plugin when you are done

Thanks for the tips.

How about the 10-22mm wide lens...is it good for such things as night cityscapes and day landscapes?

Yep, given your big budget ($1500) that's the widest you are going to get on the 1.6 sensor (with the exception of some third party lenses).

The Canon EF-S 10-22 will be good, and I'd probably recommend also with others the 100 2.8 macro (non-L version) over the 60 2.8 macro just to give a bit more leeway or working room in distance.

The remainder excess cash you can drop for a better tripod set up and some quality multi-coated polarizer + full ND filters for your lenses.

hello people wrote in post #11890511
Thanks for the tips.

How about the 10-22mm wide lens...is it good for such things as night cityscapes and day landscapes?

If that focal range suits your needs and style, yes. For my landscape shooting, the 70-200 is regularly too short... Independent of the lens, you'll probably need a good tripod, and a polariser can be pretty useful, too.

For a wide lens, try the Sigma 8-16. it's the widest you can get, and the wider the better usually.

Canon 10-22mm
Canon 100mm Macro