First Time Posting, few wide-angle lens questions.

Just picked up a Refurbished Canon T3i kit from the Canon direct website, this isn't my first DSLR but I never considered getting into photography seriously before. I recently grabbed the 1.8 50m as my walk around lens, I love this lens and debated between this and the 40mm for a while (I'm planning to do more video than anything) but the lack of lowlight options.

I've beem looking to add another lens or two because I got rid of the kit lens, I'm not a huge fan of zoom lenses, at least not at the entry level. But I am looking to get into a wide angle lens, while there are several options and combinations I can do. I have about $800-$1000 to play with and wonder what you guys think I would get the most bang for my buck out of these combinations.

Rokinon 85mm Cine (not a wide-angle but again really looking to get into video)
Canon 35mm (or 28mm)

Canon 17-40mm L

Canon 10-22mm

Rokinon 35mm
Rokinon 85mm

Or is there anything out there better??? I really do like the Rokinon 85mm (as well as the 35) and I normally shoot in manual focus, but the manual aperture scares me... A lot of people have follow focus and things of that nature to better support them but I wouldn't be able to afford both the lens the other needed accessories.

On a crop body like the T3i the only wide angle lenses you list are the 17-40, and the 10-22. The 10-22 is an ultrawide so if you are looking to go way wide thats your opton. I dont recommend the 17-40 on the crop camera simply because there are better options meant for a crop, namely the 17-55 2.8 IS. Its got L quality optics, IS and 2.8. Video aside manual focus lenses like the rokinon are good values, but manual focus on a pentaprism rebel is a bit of an adventure.

Go for the Canon 10-22mm, it will give you the widest field of view of any of those lenses and is designed specifically for APS-c sensor cameras. It is well built and has very good to excellent IQ.

gonzogolf wrote in post #16016866
On a crop body like the T3i the only wide angle lenses you list are the 17-40, and the 10-22. The 10-22 is an ultrawide so if you are looking to go way wide thats your opton. I dont recommend the 17-40 on the crop camera simply because there are better options meant for a crop, namely the 17-55 2.8 IS. Its got L quality optics, IS and 2.8. Video aside manual focus lenses like the rokinon are good values, but manual focus on a pentaprism rebel is a bit of an adventure.

The 35mm and 28mm aren't wide angle lens?

KeenanRIVALS wrote in post #16016963
The 35mm and 28mm aren't wide angle lens?

Not on a crop body. Not to get too far into the crop vs full frame minutia but a 28 on a t3i gives you the field of view of a 44mm lens on a film or full frame digital body. Thats darn close to a normal field of view, its certainly not a wide angle.

A 35mm focal length on a crop is like 50mm on a FF, so you FOV is standard, not wide.

(I hadn't seen your reply as I typed mine, gonzo. And your math is better than mine...)

it's too bad you got rid of your 18-55 already...you could've used it to know which focal lengths work for you...

if you want wider than 18mm there are plenty of Ultra Wide Angle lenses that are good, starting at 10/11/12mm...

for a wider prime I'd look at the sigma 30mm f1.4...the newer one if you can afford it, or the older version if you want to save some money

Corbeau wrote in post #16016991
A 35mm focal length on a crop is like 50mm on a FF, so you FOV is standard, not wide.

(I hadn't seen your reply as I typed mine, gonzo. And your math is better than mine...)

Ahhh I did hear that, I think people were saying the 40mm on cropped is actually a 64 and 50mm actually an 80mm...

DreDaze wrote in post #16016999
it's too bad you got rid of your 18-55 already...you could've used it to know which focal lengths work for you...

if you want wider than 18mm there are plenty of Ultra Wide Angle lenses that are good, starting at 10/11/12mm...

for a wider prime I'd look at the sigma 30mm f1.4...the newer one if you can afford it, or the older version if you want to save some money

Actually just sold it today, havent shipped it off yet, i chec the 30 on the sigma out, is it a true 30mm or is it cropped to around 44 or something like the above statment, I just want a true 28mm or 30.

KeenanRIVALS wrote in post #16017074
Actually just sold it today, havent shipped it off yet, i chec the 30 on the sigma out, is it a true 30mm or is it cropped to around 44 or something like the above statment, I just want a true 28mm or 30.

unless you have a background using a film camera, don't bother with the crop factor for now...

just realize that 30mm on your 18-55mm will look like the sigma 30mm...28mm will also be the same as 28mm on your kit lens

the crop factor is just going to add confusion for you, if you have no film background

what makes you want a true 28, or 30mm?

KeenanRIVALS wrote in post #16017074
Actually just sold it today, havent shipped it off yet, i chec the 30 on the sigma out, is it a true 30mm or is it cropped to around 44 or something like the above statment, I just want a true 28mm or 30.

You need to understand the crop factor and how it works. Because your sensor is smaller than that of 35mm film you only see the middle of the image captured by it. Thats why we call APS-C cameras crop bodies. The lens doesnt change, but the camera only uses a portion of the image created by the lens. So all lenses perform as marked, but what you can get out of them is determined by your camera, not the lens. So if you want to go wide with your camera you need to think 17mm as truly wide, and anything less than that as ultrawide.

gonzogolf wrote in post #16017099
You need to understand the crop factor and how it works. Because your sensor is smaller than that of 35mm film you only see the middle of the image captured by it. Thats why we call APS-C cameras crop bodies. The lens doesnt change, but the camera only uses a portion of the image created by the lens. So all lenses perform as marked, but what you can get out of them is determined by your camera, not the lens. So if you want to go wide with your camera you need to think 17mm as truly wide, and anything less than that as ultrawide.

Oh okay, makes perfect sense now, thanks for explaining that.

I know its a zoom lens but I think I decided on the Tamron 17-50, I already have the nifty fifty which I'll still be keeping for portraits, or is it worth keeping at all?

The nifty fifty is cool to keep around because it does 1.8, is very light weight and doesn't cost much. No reason to get rid of it if it is working for you.

Primes offer one thing that zooms do not, the ability to shoot at apertures wider than 2.8. That means you can shoot in lower light (although its often poor light) but more importantly the ability to shoot shots with shallow depth of field. That ability to control depth of field via aperture is the reason to keep the 50.