Can someone please give some advice on these lenses

Chris28

Chris28

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Hi guys,

Ok I am really getting into photography now and am gonna grab a 40D pretty soon. I was thinking about getting just the body on it's own and picking my own lens. I found this lens:

http://www.warehouseexpress.com/product/default.aspx?sku=1017291

It has a fixed aperture and a nice minimum focus distance, but I need to know...

1) If it will autofocus and work with the 40D.

2) It doesn't have HSM (sigmas equiv to USM), I was wondering how much slower (if any) this lens would be to autofocus over something with HSM and if it's noticable. Not worried about noise.

3) Is the IS feature on canon's lenses actually useful at this sort of focal length and beneficial enough to go for a canon over the sigma?

4) I also need to know (being fairly new to photography) if the fixed aperture would have big advantages over something like this;

http://www.warehouseexpress.com/product/default.aspx?sku=1002750

which has IS and USM. Looks very much like the kit lens however I have been told it's not quite the same?

Thanks to all that reply! :) :clap:
 
I went for the 28-135 IS for my 40D. It can be picked up for a lower price than the 17-85 if you look around.
To me its a good general lens for someone (like me) who is new to this game.
 
Hi Chris28,

Sorry I can't be too much help on the 40D side as I'm a Nikon boy, but it might help if you give us an idea of what sort of usage you'd like to get from this lens? I'm assuming that you're not concerned about macro photography given the short zoom ranges and lack of concern over noise?

I have both HSM and non-HSM lenses and I can tell the difference in speed, however the lens you mention above has a reletively small zoom range, meaning that the amount of work that any AF motor has to do is less anyway. Unless you are specifically aiming at the sort of shots that must have mega fast AF then IMHO you probably wouldn't notice.

The equivalant of IS in my Nikon world is VR (well VRII), which gives enough stablisation equivalant to two full f-stops. If IS lenses perform the same (someone please confirm?) then at the the short focal lengths that Canon may outperform the Sigma is terms of image sharpness when hand held, however it still won't be a true 2.8 lens, meaning that if your into heavy bokeh shots (the nice blurry out of focus portions of the background) then you might be dissapointed.

Clear as mud really.
 
I've got the Sigma and it's a brilliant lens. Focusing is quick and quiet and the fixed aperture eliminates most of the need for IS - which I think isn't really all that beneficial at these focal distances anyway. I can press the lens hood (supplied) right up against an object and it still focuses! :)
 
Hi Chris and welcome to TP.
Chris28 said:
1) If it will autofocus and work with the 40D.
Click to expand...
Yes.
(For those who can't be bothered to click on the link, it's a Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 EX DC.)
Chris28 said:
2) It doesn't have HSM (sigmas equiv to USM), I was wondering how much slower (if any) this lens would be to autofocus over something with HSM and if it's noticable. Not worried about noise.
Click to expand...
Don't know. I have the Sigma 18-200 which doesn't have HSM, and it's certainly not as quick as Canon's USM, but it's quick enough for my needs most of the time. It depends at least partly on what you think you'll be shooting, and how quickly you need to focus.
Chris28 said:
3) Is the IS feature on canon's lenses actually useful at this sort of focal length and beneficial enough to go for a canon over the sigma?
Click to expand...
It can be. I can hand-hold the Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS at half a second. That means I can take hand-held shots virtually in the dark.
Chris28 said:
4) I also need to know (being fairly new to photography) if the fixed aperture would have big advantages over something like this;

http://www.warehouseexpress.com/product/default.aspx?sku=1002750

which has IS and USM. Looks very much like the kit lens however I have been told it's not quite the same?
Click to expand...
(For those who can't be bothered to click on the link, it's a Canon EF-S 17-85mm f4-5.6 IS.)

I don't think there's anything magical about a fixed aperture. On the other hand a fixed f/2.8 is desirable - it will be 1 stop faster than this Canon lens at the wide end and 2 stops faster at the long end. On the other hand, IS will more than compensate for that as far as camera shake is concerned. On the other other hand, IS won't help freeze subject motion but f/2.8 will. And you'll get nicer out-of-focus backgrounds at f/2.8 than at f/5.6.

Again it comes down to what you want to shoot.
 
gman said:
I've got the Sigma and it's a brilliant lens. Focusing is quick and quiet
Click to expand...

It's just worth noting that the Nikon mount verson has HSM whilst the Canon mount hasn't been upgraded yet. Focussing speed is unlikely to match Gman's experience.

Bob
 
Canon Bob said:
It's just worth noting that the Nikon mount verson has HSM whilst the Canon mount hasn't been upgraded yet. Focussing speed is unlikely to match Gman's experience.

Bob
Click to expand...

I got tricked with this one in that Calumet were advertising it as having HSM on the Canon and it clearly didn't :shake: I don't find it a problem but then I'm comparing it to my Sigma 20mm 1.8 prime which was a beast at focusing, noise and speed! lol The HSM will probably be a lot quicker.
 
Chris, I'm not sure what kit you're running at the moment but I have a 40D, and most of the time it's connected to my Sigma 24-70 f2.8, which, IMHO is an excellent lens for the money. (The canon id superior, but not 3x better, and it's 3x the price).

I find it an excellent partner with the 40D, a little heavy, but I have the grip as well. As an all round lens, I think it's great, especially as it will do a bit of macro too. You can get it from 1 stop digital for about £220 delivered.

HTH

Steve
 
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