Need Help Getting a New Lens For My 350D XT

[AmirVscas]

Well this summer I will be traveling to New York City and also LA. I will be shooting a lot of landscapes, street scenes, most probably people (candid) and also some indoor shots (lets say a Café;) or something and with my budget its really hard for me to get two lenses. So I have to go with the one that is more suitable for all of these purposes. Other than that I use the Canon 50mm 1.8 for the portraits and it’s a very good lens. I just want a good lens for this summer so I can take with me while traveling. I guess for the indoor shots like the Café and stuff I can use my 50mm f/1.8 because it does a really good job when there is not enough light. These are the lenses i have in mind..which one would you go with from the list considering i have a Canon Rebel XT (350D) which is not a full frame. Btw my budget is around 600$ so i have to get a lens from this list or something that fits my budget so please dont recommend something i cant get.

Canon 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS
Canon 17-40mm f/4L
Canon 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS
Canon 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5

Sigma 24 - 70 mm f/2.8

Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8
Tamron 18-270mm f/3.5-6.3
Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8

Tokina 12-24mm f/4

the thing im hearing from my friend who recently purchased the 17-40 is that he was hoping for it to be amazing, but he is a bit disappointed with the sharpness. he told me i should also have the Canon 17-85mm f/4-5.6 and also the Canon 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 in mind. By the way my camera is not a full frame and soon like in couple of months im thinking of upgrading to a full frame so i want something to be useful for me when i get my full frame.

by the way this is out of topic but what is the cheapest Canon full frame? is it the 5D? its around 2000 thats sooooo expensive..i have to work my #&# off to get that body

[Franglais]

...Btw my budget is around 600$ so i have to get a lens from this list or something that fits my budget so please dont recommend something i cant get.

Canon 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS
Canon 17-40mm f/4L
Canon 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS
Canon 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5

Sigma 24 - 70 mm f/2.8

Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8
Tamron 18-270mm f/3.5-6.3
Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8

Tokina 12-24mm f/4

the thing im hearing from my friend who recently purchased the 17-40 is that he was hoping for it to be amazing, but he is a bit disappointed with the sharpness. he told me i should also have the Canon 17-85mm f/4-5.6 and also the Canon 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 in mind. By the way my camera is not a full frame and soon like in couple of months im thinking of upgrading to a full frame so i want something to be useful for me when i get my full frame.

by the way this is out of topic but what is the cheapest Canon full frame? is it the 5D? its around 2000 thats sooooo expensive..i have to work my #&# off to get that body

I think that your first priority is to decide whether or not you really need full frame and whether it is in your budget. The cheapest FF Canon is the (discontinued) 5D.

The following lenses on your list are NOT usable on Full Frame:

Canon 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS
Canon 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5
Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8
Tamron 18-270mm f/3.5-6.3
Tokina 12-24mm f/4
(and the 18-55 that came with your 350D)

If I were you I would forget full-frame and look rather at a more modern crop body that does high ISO better than your 350D.

[Loupey]

As long as you're staying with a crop body for the foreseeable future and based on the specifications only, of the lenses you listed I would recommend the Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8.

I have not tested this lens but the f/2.8 coupled to that zoom range is why I would recommend it. I did own the Canon 17-40mm and the 28-135mm so I can speak for those based on personal experience. The 17-40mm has a nice zoom range for landscapes, interiors, candids, and street-shooting (although the 40mm is a tad short) but the f/4 is dreadfully slow for ambient light shooting. The 28-135mm isn't wide enough on a cropped body and also it isn't as sharp are modern lenses (this model is quite old). The internal stabilization is nice, but again this is a slow lens.

Slower lenses (f/4+) can be used but you need to crank up the ISO's to the 800~1600 range for a lot of evening/interior shooting. If you are happy with the high ISO performance of the XT in this range, then no problem. Otherwise, stick to faster zooms. But I would say that on an APS-C body you need a zoom that goes down to at least 17mm.

[AmirVscas]

thank you all

i have seen great reviews on the

Tamron 18-270mm f/3.5-6.3 Di-II VC LD
Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5

any thoughts on these?

i decided to go with a faster lens like the 2.8 or maybe a slower one but with IS and decided to stay with the crop body for now and maybe upgrade to another crop body such as the 50D instead of the 5D in the near future. So that leaves me with these options. Im not getting nice reviews on any of these lenses on B&H which makes it harder for me to choose one.

Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 XR Di II LD Aspherical [IF]
Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8
Tamron 18-270mm f/3.5-6.3

Sigma 17-70/2.8-4.5

Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS
Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5

[Franglais]

A faster lens (f2.8) is useful when you need to stop action in poor light but otherwise a slower lens with more zoom range and IS is much more versatile and probably smaller too.

Another strategic decision to take: right now do you need an extreme-walk-about lens or an extreme wide angle? Only you can decide. In my case I know I use my 18-200 VR (walk about) much much more than my 11-18 (wide-angle).

The Canon 10-22 is well known as being an excellent lens.

If I were you I would check out the autofocussing of the Tamron 18-270 at telephoto settings on your body. I've heard that Canon bodies have great difficulty is focussing when the maximum aperture is smaller than f5.6 and that's the case here. If I was going to put an extreme walk-about lens on a Canon body then it would be the Canon 18-200 IS, which is very similar my Nikon 18-200 VR and I recommend.

[AmirVscas]

well i did a lot of research in the past few hours and decided to get the Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8. I had a hard time choosing between the Canon 17-40 f/4 and the Tamron 17-50mm but decided to go with the Tamron which is much cheaper and is a f/2.8 and i dicided save up the rest for later on. I might get the 50D body soon so its better if i get the Tamron and save the rest for the new body.

[Loupey]

Congrats on your decision.

One last comment for others viewing this thread that often gets overlooked is that fast lenses (with constant maximum aperture) produce brighter viewfinder images. A slow lens in a darkened room or at night makes it extremely difficult to see a person's expression or nail the focus.

Even in good light, a faster lens provides better visual confirmation of focus due to the shallower DOF as viewed through the viewfinder.