I want to go Wide

[TheBigYin]

Back out in Dijikal Land I occasionally use a sigma 10-20mm UWA lens on my Canon 450D. Now, I know that some of these ultra-wide shots are overdone, and not to everyone's taste, but I like them. The thing is, I'd like to be able to go that wide on the EOS-3 as well.

Now, I may have mentioned that a friend of mine has a bunch of L glass and so forth that I get to scrounge on a regular basis, but he's making noises about getting back into wedding photography, and if he's using the kit, I'll need to get my own. Now - the easy, if expensive route is to just get a 17-40 f4.0 L which will do double duty on the EOS-3 as a UWA and as a not-particularly long walkabout lens on the 450D.

However £570 is quite a lot of money to me, and I find myself thinking about a couple of wide primes instead. As they're going to be for landscape-ey shots, I can handle them being manual focus.

I know that Canon FD lenses are out, as the FD>EF adaptor needs glass in it, which not only adds a possible distortion but pretty much works as a short (approx 1.2x) teleconverter - defeating the point of getting wide lenses. So - if anyone can recommend lenses in the 17mm,20mm and 24mm ranges that'll adapt onto the EOS it'd be appreciated

 

[colpepper]

Didn't Tamron do an AF EOS fit 17mm? Or was it 19mm? I have a 24mm FD that's at the very limits of what I consider acceptable without absurdly converging verticals or an ear at each side of the frame. This (dodgy scan) was taken on it:

 

[TheBigYin]

There's the Canon EF 20-35mm which I've considered, but it fares really poorly in IQ compared to the 17-40L.

 

[tappilappi]

How about the Sigma 12-24mm? Or the 17-35mm? Both work on (canon) film as well as digi bodies. 12-24 holds its value better than the 17-35, which can be had pretty cheap as it is "unfashionable" now.

 

[TheBigYin]

Sigma 12-24 costs more than the 17-40L, and is way wider than I'm likely to want to go, tbh. 17-35mm might be worth a look, though to be honest, after taking 3 attempts to get a properly aligned 10-20mm I'm inclined to only buy Sigma's from a decent shop that I can walk into and try the lens out before buying.

 

[tappilappi]

Most of my stuff is "bird on a stick", any wide stuff is just for fun so I am not too bothered if it not as sharp as it should be - I have both of the above lenses and have not checked either of them for misalignment!

PS: If you are without the use of a wide when you need one, you are welcome to borrow either of mine.

 

[TheBigYin]

I think in the long run, i'll be looking for a 17-40L to be honest, I just wondered if there were any M42 fit gems of wide angle lenses I could grab in the meantime.

In the long-term, I'd be looking to pick up my own set of F4 L glass, the 17-40, 24-105 and 70-200... preferably (shameless digital camera admission) with a 5Dii to go alongside the EOS-3. By the time I can afford all that though, there'll probably be a 5Dviii out

 

[excalibur2]

I just wondered if there were any M42 fit gems of wide angle lenses I could grab in the meantime.

A good screw:- Zenitar if you get a good copy also flektogon.

oops meant to put flektogon not distagon

 

[s162216]

28mm f3.5 SMC Takumar M42 is supposedly an excellent lens and from pictures using it that I have seen it looks very good. I am going to get one at some point when I have some leftover money, their about £40 from a photo dealer or perhaps slightly cheaper on ebay.

If you want wider then there are 24mm, 20mm and 15mm SMC Takumar's each getting progressively more and more expensive (especially the 15mm) and slower. Theres also a very expensive 17mm non-circular fisheye.

The SMC Takumar's are the best M42 lenses and well deserve that title.

 

[paleblue]

I've got a tamron 19-35mm EF fit I use for film. It's decent, lightweight and cheap - but obviously won't compare to a 17-40L. There is one on ffordes for £59. They also have a Sigma 17-35mm for £149, but I hear that has an awkward filter size and is very soft wide open. (tamron has more common 77mm filter size).

Anyway here's a shot you may have already seen, but it's at 19mm on the tamron.

 

[medwaygreen]

The Tokina 19-35mm AF has a very good reputation, I have not used one, but a friend does on his Canon and he is very happy with it. They seem to be very competitive on price as well.