Fast Wide Angle Lens

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Trevor
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Hello,

I'm after a Canon fit fast wide angle lens - faster than my 10-22mm F3.5 and wider than my 50mm F1.8, anyone have any experience/recommendation on the following:

Sigma 30mm F1.4
Sigma 20mm F1.8
Canon 28mm F2.8
Canon 35mm F2

It's for the Northern Lights

Many thanks

Trevor
 
Second hand Sigma 14mm 2.8??

They've stopped making this but it's an excellent lens and only problem is it may be too wide....
 
I'd vote for the 35/2 if I was a 500D shooter.

Next step up would appear to be 28/1.8 according to canon's website - would make an excellent lens on an APS-C body.
 
I use the Sigma 30mm, it's very rarely off the camera - my standard everyday lens (I've never seen a benefit in walkabout zooms - I'll take the extra two stops of aperture thank you very much). Really nice lens, good focal length for APS-C. It's not full frame compatible, but don't let that put you off. Get a good secondhand example and you won't lose anything on selling it again.

I've got a big pool of samples, but I've never had the privillege of shooting the northern lights.
 
I have the Sigma 20mm f1.8 and the 30mm f1.4.

It's difficult to say which is best as they're both great lenses. The 30mm is pretty sharp and has HSM and it's a very compact lens too, and that is nice.

The 20mm isn't razor sharp at f1.8 but it soon sharpens up. It does lack the HSM of the 30mm but one nice feature is that the focus ring can be slid forward so that you can't damage the mechanism whist using auto focus.

You get a hood and a case with both and I wouldn't be without either.
 
TJJ said:
It's for the Northern Lights
Click to expand...
Are you sure you don't want to use your 10-22?

I've never seen the northern lights myself but I get a lot of people asking for advice regarding which lens to use. All the recommendations I've seen say you should use a lens which is wide and fast, but they don't say how you should trade off wideness against fastness.

I looked at loads of aurora photos on Flickr and tabulated their EXIF data. It seemed to me that wideness was much more important. If your lens is only f/3.5 instead of (say) f/1.8 then you can give it a longer exposure or shoot at a higher ISO setting; but if it's not wide enough then you have no workarounds.

Just a thought. I think it would be really helpful to hear from people who HAVE photographed the northern lights.
 
StewartR said:
Are you sure you don't want to use your 10-22?
Click to expand...

Yup, Stewart is right (again). Wide angle is more important than aperture. If you use the 10-22 at 10mm, ISO800, shutter 15 seconds, f3.5 you should get some results. You can then play with the settings.

The only better option would be the Tokina 11-16, but only by 2/3 of a stop. Or the 17-55 f2.8 - but I'd prefer to use the 10-22, especially if it meant not splashing out more cash.

All of the lenses you list just aren't wide enough on an APS-C camera.
 
canon 14mm F2.8 its as wide and fast as you'll get on the crop sensor at present, the alternative is your lens on 10mm setting, or the 8-15mm @F4
 
Thanks again for the responses. I've read about photographing the northern lights and people who've done it before recommend 10s or less exposure, did a bit of testing with my nifty fifty at F1.8 on low ISO in low light conditions and 30-60s was required.

Perhaps I'm just using this as an excuse to buy a new toy!

Cheers

Trevor
 
TJJ said:
did a bit of testing with my nifty fifty at F1.8 on low ISO in low light conditions and 30-60s was required.
Click to expand...

So use a higher ISO. I had a look at the AP article about the aurora and, if I recall correctly, he was using mainly ISO800 or 1600. Honestly, the settings I gave for the 10-22 will give good results.

Here's an image I took back in May with my 10-22. It's a 30s exposure (so there's some tailing, but I was using it for a time-lapse so that doesn't really matter) at ISO1600. After a trip through Lightroom the noise just isn't a problem.

May%20Stars.jpg


TJJ said:
Perhaps I'm just using this as an excuse to buy a new toy!
Click to expand...

Well, I did wonder! If it were me, I'd probably use it as an excuse for a 17-55 f2.8. But, after I'd bought it I'd probably decide that 17mm really isn't wide enough and use my 10-22 or 11-16 instead. (Actually, if I do go to see the northern lights again I'll probably use both of them at the same time on different bodies).
 
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