Yes, another please help me thread. Wide angle lenses.

My current craving for my 7D is a wide angle lens that will be used mainly for nature and landscape photography in all kind of weather. I have tried and fell in love with the 14mm F2.8L II but the price tag is WAY over my budget at the moment, also liked the 24mm F1.4L II but that is also little over my budget :/

I have been eying the 28mm F1.8 USM and the 20mm F2.8 USM but can't really decide between the two, I like the 28 mm since it has a large aperture (it's large when the F nr is low right?) but the store won't get it before September.

So.....Should I wait for the 28mm lens to arrive? Get the 20mm one since there is no big difference between the 20 and 28 mm? Should I max out my credit cards and go for the 24mm L lens? Or just save, save and save and save yet again for the crème del a crème 14mm L lens?

If you have any other good recommendations for a lens then it will be much appreciated

All of the lenses you list are designed for full-frame cameras and are not so wide on your 7D, except for the 14mm, but here you would be wasting money, because the thing that makes it expensive is its ability to cover the full-format frame, and you'd be throwing a large part of that away with your smaller sensor. It will be only slightly wider than your 15-85 goes. All of the wide angle options for the 7D are zooms, such as the 10-22 and Sigma's 10-20 and 8-16. Tokina make well-respected 11-16 and 12-24 options too.

Jesus......How on earth did I not see that I was looking at EF lenses when I really should have been looking at EF-S.
Damned. Now I feel stupid :P

Get the tokina 11-16, if you can find it at retail price (will be very hard), it's only $600. I have a 24L II lens too on a crop, and although it's what's on my camera 95%+ of the time, I use my tokina every time I want a wide angle shot. The 24L II acts almost like a 35L on a full frame, not very wide, but perfect for general purpose shots. 14mm on a crop is not that wide too, by the way. 95%+ of the shots I take with my tokina 11-16 are at 11mm.

While you're right that EF-S UWA are what you need for a true wide angle, just a note that there's nothing inherently wrong with using an EF lens on a crop camera.

RobertMang wrote in post #12753413
While you're right that EF-S UWA are what you need for a true wide angle, just a note that there's nothing inherently wrong with using an EF lens on a crop camera.

Yeah I know, but then the purpose of me getting a wide-angle lens would be almost gone if I only get pics that are slightly wider than my 15-85

You don't need f1.8 for landscape photography... You will be stopping the lens down most of the time.

On 7D, 28mm isn't very wide at all.... it's more of a "slightly wide normal", similar angle of view to a 45mm on full frame.

20/2.8 is a decent lens... Particularly on crop because it uses the center, sharpest part of the image area. But again, it's not terribly wide on 7D... sort of like a 32mm would be on full frame. Still, it's quite capable... I've posted this shot several times here on POTN already, but it illustrates what the lens can do on a crop sensor camera:

Try 10-22 by canon or it's competitor, Tokina 11-16 also a very good lens.
It should be wide enough on your body.

i like the canon 10-22

I've heard many people say that Zeiss "Wide Angle" lenses are the best in terms of sharpness/micro-contrast, color, build quality,and their lack of distortion. People often refer to how they "render" pictures so much differently than other lenses. I don't have any experience with them though. Just wanted you to consider them if you hadn't already.

As far as Ultra Wide lenses go, the Tokina 11-16 would be my choice. The Canon 10-22 seems like a nice lens too. I owned the Sigma 8-16 briefly but got sick of its distortion and slow aperture.

i'd go sigma 8-16mm...it'd pair nice with your 15-85mm for when you want to get crazy wide...

amfoto1 wrote in post #12753605
You don't need f1.8 for landscape photography... You will be stopping the lens down most of the time.

On 7D, 28mm isn't very wide at all.... it's more of a "slightly wide normal", similar angle of view to a 45mm on full frame.

20/2.8 is a decent lens... Particularly on crop because it uses the center, sharpest part of the image area. But again, it's not terribly wide on 7D... sort of like a 32mm would be on full frame. Still, it's quite capable... I've posted this shot several times here on POTN already, but it illustrates what the lens can do on a crop sensor camera:

Morro Bay Harbor
Canon EF 20mm f2.8 lens at f5.6, B+W Kaesemann C-Pol. EOS 50D camera at ISO 200, 1/400 shutter speed. Handheld, ambient light.


Minimal distortion for such a wide lens.

Hey I've been there and took a very similar shot, I'm sure those boats have been photographed many times.:

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I had the Tokina 11-16 and the Sigma 8-16 at the same time. I liked the Tokina better.

Both were used on the 7D and I found the 2.8 more than made up for the 3mm the Sigma had on it at the wide end

I have the Canon 10-22 and think it's great. I'd read a lot of people saying the Tokina 11-16 was a lot better, so I bought one. The first time I used it outdoors I was amazed - at the amount of flare whenever the Sun was close to the edge of the frame (which is quite often at 11mm). I'd been used to the Canon, where you can have the Sun close to, or inside, the fram and the chances of any flare were close to zero.

So, the Tokina has been demoted to situations where f2.8 is essential (no-flash interiors and astro) while the Canon is still the one for use outside in the daytime.

hollis_f wrote in post #12755946
I have the Canon 10-22 and think it's great. I'd read a lot of people saying the Tokina 11-16 was a lot better, so I bought one. The first time I used it outdoors I was amazed - at the amount of flare whenever the Sun was close to the edge of the frame (which is quite often at 11mm). I'd been used to the Canon, where you can have the Sun close to, or inside, the fram and the chances of any flare were close to zero.

So, the Tokina has been demoted to situations where f2.8 is essential (no-flash interiors and astro) while the Canon is still the one for use outside in the daytime.

Can't you get a lens hood for it???