Wide Angle Lenses for T3i, NEED HELP!

I have had my Canon t3i for about two years now and have always wanted a wide angle lens to add to my collection of lenses, but I have never known which to buy. I have went to many camera stores and have a ton of different recommendation, mainly two which are total opposites. First I hear buy lenses made specific for crop sensors because you have a crop sensor camera(obvious). Second I hear that it is okay to buy full frame lenses, and is actually recommended to do that so that if I ever do upgrade bodies to a full frame sensor camera I will have that lens to use. So you can see why I would be confused on what to buy. I feel like I have looked at all the wide angle lenses out there I just don't know which to buy and which would be best for me. I am an 18 year old so I am about to go into college, which means I won't have a ton of money this year to spend on upgrading bodies, but I am extremely interested in photography so I do plan on upgrading bodies in the distant future (2years or so). For right now I don't want to exceed $600 for a wide angle lens, and honestly if we can keep it to 3-500 that would be awesome. Any recommendations for specific lenses, pro and cons on specific lenses, really any opinions will help! Thanks!

Buying lenses which also support full frame cameras is fine, but it certainly isn't required. If you're on a budget it's not something I would recommend. Furthermore, there are very few to none lenses that will fit on a full frame camera that are also a wide angle lens on a t3i.

In your case, I recommend the Canon 10-18mm STM which will complement your kit lens really well. I've heard great things about it on the forum here and it retails at under $300. If you do upgrade bodies, I think this lens will be easily sold.

Buy the lens you need now for the camera you have now. You can always sell it later, if you ever "upgrade" to FF.

One reason to get a crop specific lens is because there are very few full frame lenses that are particularly wide when used on a crop camera. Those few that are reasonably wide are also very expensive. For example, look up the EF 11-24mm ($3000), EF 14/2.8 ($2100)... about the least expensive Canon lens is the EF 16-35/4L IS USM, for about $1100. Tokina offers a 16-28mm for close to the higher end or your price range... about $590. Canon EF 20/2.8 is a nice lens, too, for about $540 (plus another $25 for lens hood). Yet, when used on a crop sensor camera, none of the these are particularly wide.

So, I'd strongly suggest you look at crop sensor lenses, instead. And, you're lucky... there are a couple excellent Canon ultrawides:

EF-S 10-22mm USM is one of the best ultrawides from anyone. It's well corrected, has great image quality and is one of the most flare resistant of all the ultrawides. New it's $600, used around $450.

EF-S 10-18mm IS STM is a new model recently introduced at the best price of any ultrawide: $300 new. It's more plasticky than the 10-22mm, but has IS and has pretty good image quality.

There are lots of other possibilities from Tokina, Sigma and Tamron, many of which are within your budget (but all are at least $100 more than the Canon 10-18mm). I'd recommend looking at the two Canon EF-S first. OEM lenses will likely hold their value better, if you ever need to sell them to upgrade to full frame. Read all the reviews you can find and check them out in a store, if you can. It would be nice to get either of the Canon at a favorable enough price to leave some budget for a lens hood (not included with these two Canon), and maybe a quality circular polarizing filter (handy with a lot of wide angle subjects).

What do you have now? It's a big difference in wide if your widest now is a 50/1.8 and you are looking for a standard zoom 18-xx or if you have an 18-55 now and are looking for wider. I am thinking most people are assuming you mean ultra wide 10-xxish on crop but it wouldn't hurt to be clear since technically wide angle is 28mm on FF or 17mm on crop.

buy for the camera body you currently own, not some off in the distance future camera you don't own...

assuming you have a lens that's widest at 18mm, any of the UWA lenses will do you just fine

the 10-18IS is the newest, and cheapest...being on a budget i'd look there first

but just about every other UWA lens available is capable of great shots, the sigma 10-20mm's the tokina 11-16mm, or 12-24mm, the sigma 8-16mm

i own a 10-20mm from sigma, and love it, i've never felt the need to upgrade to another lens, if anything i've contemplated a 8-16mm, just because of how wide it is...

if you decide to go canon, i'd definitely look for refurbished they've got the 10-18IS for $239, and the 10-22mm for $520...the 10-18IS is currently out of stock, but if you go to canonpricewatch.com and set up a notification, you can get it for a good price

Another vote for the 10-18mm STM. I bought one for shooting video but found it very good for stills also. Don't let the small maximum aperture fool you. It's sharp wide open.

There is no harm in a little forward thinking if a FF body is in your near future, but it's really only useful for medium to long telephoto lenses (for example, it might make you think twice about buying a lens like the EF-S 60mm f/2.8 macro over an EF 100mm macro). But at the wide-angle end of the spectrum, you need to buy an EF-S wide zoom lens for your T3i if you want a truly wide view that fits your budget. The 10-18 is the obvious choice. A lens that goes as wide as 10 or 12mm and works on a FF body is not only really expensive, it's something you might not even find useful on a FF body because it's going to be a very specialized ultra-wide lens.

I believe there's still a 10-22 for sale in the used forum. Last price I seen was 310$ I think. Act fast if u find it.

I use a 10-22 on a T3i and highly recommend it. It's probably my favorite lens.

I come across as though I'm a salesmen for B&H Photo but I'm just and old satisfied customer. I use
them as a reference also and just checked two lenses that would fit your needs.

Canon EFS 10-18mm STM IS would cost you $263.62
Sigma 10-20mm has a $200 price drop now going for $431.04

Check them out and read the customer reviews.

Note that the Sigma is a fixed f3.5 not variable.

When it comes to the sigma 10-20mm, I think the variable aperture is actually a bit better, it's been discontinued, but can still be found for cheap- B&H actually had it on their daily deal page for $270 a few weeks back

The Sigma 10-22 mm f3.5-5.6 is now selling for $335.04. The Canon 10-18mm is not as good as the
Sigmas build wise but a big bang for the buck.

There are a lot of newbies buying crop frame DSLRs and dreaming of one day "upgrading" to FF. Few actually ever do.

Fortunately for us gear lovers, the camera technology scene is changing quickly today (still). Who knows what will be hot in a couple of years. But there is greater chance that your next camera will be a 4/3 mirrorless system or some other small sensor alternative than an FF.

As others have said, buy what you need now, not what you think you might need later.

10-18 STM. If you do eventually upgrade to a FF, sell the 10-18 and look at the difference as the cost for a 2 year rental. I bet it will be less than $75/yr.

If on the other hand, you get another camera with an EF-S mount, you're way ahead.

mlanyi wrote in post #17632038
I have had my Canon t3i for about two years now and have always wanted a wide angle lens to add to my collection of lenses, but I have never known which to buy. I have went to many camera stores and have a ton of different recommendation, mainly two which are total opposites. First I hear buy lenses made specific for crop sensors because you have a crop sensor camera(obvious). Second I hear that it is okay to buy full frame lenses, and is actually recommended to do that so that if I ever do upgrade bodies to a full frame sensor camera I will have that lens to use. So you can see why I would be confused on what to buy. I feel like I have looked at all the wide angle lenses out there I just don't know which to buy and which would be best for me. I am an 18 year old so I am about to go into college, which means I won't have a ton of money this year to spend on upgrading bodies, but I am extremely interested in photography so I do plan on upgrading bodies in the distant future (2years or so). For right now I don't want to exceed $600 for a wide angle lens, and honestly if we can keep it to 3-500 that would be awesome. Any recommendations for specific lenses, pro and cons on specific lenses, really any opinions will help! Thanks!

Heya,

How wide are you thinking you need? What's the widest angle you have now?

Don't worry about full frame, worry more about learning exposure, composition, etc, and use the camera you have now and focus on glass and lighting. Don't move to a new camera until your current camera literally is holding you back and not the other way around.

Also, what are you wanting to shoot with the wide angle? What's your goal?

Very best,

MalVeauX wrote in post #17633000
Heya,

How wide are you thinking you need? What's the widest angle you have now?

Don't worry about full frame, worry more about learning exposure, composition, etc, and use the camera you have now and focus on glass and lighting. Don't move to a new camera until your current camera literally is holding you back and not the other way around.

Also, what are you wanting to shoot with the wide angle? What's your goal?

Very best,

^^^This!

Seriously, address these questions before you end up with something too wide. Your "info" doesn't list equipment; what do you have now that makes you want to go wider?