Moved to "What to Buy".

And, it looks like you've done your research. In my opinion, this isn't even a question, Sigma 17-70. Done. That lens is awesome. I'd also buy the 50 f/1.8 while you're at it.

For the record, I've used the 50 f/1.8, 50 f/1.4, and Sigma 17-70.

$75 -- Canon Normal EF 50mm f/1.8 II Autofocus Lens [80mm]

Great Lens for the $$, Recommend this to everyone learing.

$180 -- Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Auto Focus Lens [28.8-88mm]

Save the $$ and either buy the kit, or the EF-S 17-55 f2.8 you added at the end.

$230 -- Canon EF 50mm f/2.5 Compact Macro Standard AutoFocus Lens - Gray Market [80mm]

$ for Lens, the nifty is a better buy, or for a little more you can buy the US version of the 50mm 1.4 see below:

$285 -- Canon 50mm f/1.4 USM Autofocus Lens [80mm]

Great lens, Ive been debating on upgrading to this bc of the USM alone. Although with my limited used of the 50mm, Ill most likely stick to the 1.8


$300 (used) -- Canon Wide Angle EF 28mm f/1.8 USM Autofocus [45mm]

Not WA on a crop sensor such as the XT, If you go prime route, this, the 50 1.4, and the 85 1.8 are the three to have.



$320 -- Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC HSM AutoFocus Wide Angle Lens [48mm]

Might as well buy the Canon above.

$400 -- Sigma Zoom Super Wide Angle AF 17-70mm f/2.8-4.5 DC Macro Autofocus Lens [26-112mm]

Scott Loves this lens.


$900 (refurb) -- Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM Ultra Wide Angle Zoom Lens [26-88mm]

This is on my wish list, Ive heard great things about it and is pretty close to "L" as they come minus the red ring and some build differences. But mainly due to its EF-S status.






It really depends on what you want to shoot? Portrait and Modeling Photography I use both the 24-70L and the 28-105 on cropped sensors. They both seem to be the perfect range for me and those uses.

What are you using now? What are your plans for the new lenses?

Originally Posted by ride5000

hey, didn't i read somewhere that you were thinking of selling that sigma?

Already sold. Hated to see it go. Now I have to use the stupid, twice as expensive 17-40 L.

Originally Posted by ride5000

scott,

is it safe to assume that many of the pics on your website were taken with the sig?

ken

I'm pretty sure most of them were...

Originally Posted by ride5000

scott,

is it safe to assume that many of the pics on your website were taken with the sig?

ken

Originally Posted by Markitos

I'm pretty sure most of them were...

Yeah, Mark's got it covered. I'd say 80% or so.

PRIMES:
Canon 50mm f/1.8

• if you have the money after the zoom, BUY THIS LENS NEXT!!!
• I have owned this lens, and it's a fantastic way to learn about how apertures work (not aimed at you Ken).
• It's an amazing tool for low light photography on a budget
• it's f/1.4 brother is worth the money, but this a fantastic lens if you aren't sure about primes or can't afford more
• It's plastic
• It's AF sucks

Canon EF 50mm f/2.5 Macro

• Skip this lens. You can get the 50mm f/1.8 AND macro tubes for less money. The macro tubes will work on any lens including any of the zooms you have listed, so they're more useful. The only catch with Macro tubes is that if you want to go from focusing close to far, you have to remove them where a macro lens can just adjust. So you could potentially miss a shot while removing the tubes... But they are a much better option, at least for me because they are less expensive, lighter, and work on all my lenses.

Canon 50mm f/1.4

• Great lens. I have this and you're welcome to meet me sometime (or come over) and try it out. It's built 3 times better and it's price reflects that. It's AF is also faster and it's bokeh is better. Nothing against the f/1.8, but if you can afford this and like the FL, this is a fantastic lens also.

Canon Wide Angle EF 28mm f/1.8

• Another great canon prime I own. Again, call me and you're welcome to come check it out. IMHO since you're looking at a rebel, get the sigma below. It's faster and the same price, but it's also a better lens from the tests I've seen. This canon is an awesome low light wide prime. I use this the most of my AF low light primes.

Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC HSM

• If you're buying for 1.6 bodies, but this. It's as good if not better than the canon 28mm for the same price and the FLs are close enough anyway.

ZOOMS:
Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS

• This lens is a big improvement over the original kit. It's a great lens and the IS is very helpful if you're stuck w/o a tripod. Optically it's been improved and is what I would call "good" and "great" for the price. A lot of people rip on the canon kit lenses as being crap and are quick to show you photo examples. Usually those examples have technical problems with them that are due to the photographer, not the lens. The sample image thread on PotN has some amazing images taken with this lens.

Tamron SP AF 17-50/2.8 DI II LD

• This is a fantastic kit lens option. I don't know much about it's actual performance as I don't know anyone with it, but it's a constant f/2.8... It's a tough call trading f/2.8 for IS, but if you can afford it, it's worth it IMHO.

Sigma AF 17-70mm f/2.8-4.5 DC

• Here is another fantastic option. It's not a constant aperture and it doesn't have IS, but you trade those for better range. We also all know this lens is capable of spectacular results after seeing what Scott can do with it.

Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM

• If price is not issue, this is the lens to get. Slightly shorter range than the above sigma, but it's a constant f/2.8 AND IS... Can't beat that really. It also works out to be the typical standard zoom range for a 35mm film camera. It's not an L by name, but beyond weather sealing and a red ring it might as well be... If you can afford this lens, it's a better option (the best in this range?) than the 3 options above, but you could buy all 3 of those for this price....

My take on it is to buy one zoom and one prime. What's the budget for the lenses here? If you think you're going to be a prime guy, get either the 50mm f1.4, 28mm or 30mm and the 18-55mm zoom... If you think you're going to be a zoom guy, get one of the 2 "better" zooms and the 50mm f/1.8. But I would recommend one of each anyway. The 3 zooms will be your hardest choice. All are good, so you really need to pick between the IS, the f/2.8 or the range on the sigma.

As for the primes, I can also throw you one more curve ball... I have an olympus 50mm f/1.4 that's the sharpest lens I own.... I picked it up used from KEH and also bought an adapter ring for olympus to EOS. You have the manually focus it as well as manually stop down the aperture, but it cost me around $100 all in, and is ridiculously sharp. I'm mentioning it because it has the better build of the more expensive primes, and the best IQ around at around the price of the 1.8... Something to consider. Also, if you have old MF 35mm lenses sitting around (or can steal some from you prime loving father ) adapter rings could get them working for less money...

$.02
YMMV

ben, regarding using old lenses on the new bodies... i take it that the aperture will always be in the "shooting" position (as opposed to "viewing") and that your preview through the viewfinder will dim as you stop it down? how do you set the camera? aperture priority, leave that wide open and let the body determine the exposure time?

i know my old man's got a 50mm/1.4 and a 35mm/2, and perhaps a 120mm kicking around. i grew up with those things, both in my face and (very carefully) in my hands. i haven't seen them in a while but they were always so solid, heavy, and cold in my memories. it would be cool to get 'em snapping pics of MY daughter, some 33 years later.

(edit: after some research on the web, i have surmised that he had a Nikon F with Photomic T viewfinder, probably purchased in the mid-late 60's.)

Yeah, you shoot in Av. The camera just looks at the light coming in and matches up the shutter speed to that. The viewfinder matched the aperture you're on... Obviously if you're at f/1.4 it's bright, f/16 and it's dark. You can open it up to f/1.4 to focus, then stop down to shoot, but you have to be careful not to bump the focus, and it takes time (so you'll miss some action). It's not for everyone, but I've enjoyed it at times.

The exif will read f/0 or f/x.x depending on the adapter ring you get. My ring is programmed for 50mm f/1.8 even though the lens is a 50mm f/1.4... So everything I shoot with that lens says it's at 50mm f/1.8 regardless of the aperture used. Also, If I used that adapter on any other olympus lens, it would still say 50mm. It's just the programming on the chip. You can get them unprogrammed so it says 0mm and f0 if you want, but the programed chips allow you to use the AF beep with them. That's nice because you hold down the AF button as if you were using a AF lens, then slowly adjust the focus. When it's right it will beep and the circle in the viewfinder will light up. That can be helpful at times, especially with wider lenses where the details are smaller. Hyperfocal can also be your friend. There are some guys on FM that set a wider lens to f/11~f/16 hyperfocal it, and then just compose all day and never touch the focus.

Ben, you've peaked my interest in other lenses as well now. I'm curious about some wide-angle, potentially higher quality primes.. hmmm...

go fish!
http://www.keh.com/onlinestore/home.aspx
http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/board/55

Start one here! Actually, don't, go read my suggestion.