Wide angle lens for Canon Digital Rebel XT

S

straygoat

Messages
12
Edit My Images
No
Hello everyone - first time poster here.

I need some help. My mrs bought a Canon Digital Rebel XT while we were on holiday last year and we were disappointed with some of the landscape photos we took. So this year, we've sworn to invest in a wide angle lens.

We both know next to nothing about photography, so would like some advice on what is a good wide angle lens for this camera and what is a good price. If anyone can offer any advice it would be much appreciated.

On another subject - we have found that a lot of our photos come out too dark with this camera, even after having it recalibrated by Canon. It is quite possible that it is the range of light in the shot and that the camera is just confused as to what to do - would be fare better with a filter? I have heard that they can help improve the photos by toning down the contrast in light coming into the camera. If they would be of use, can anyone recommend suitable filters? We'll be visiting desert areas so I guess the light will be pretty bright.

Thanks
 
Hey up,

Yes, we've just got the lens that comes with the camera. We bought it in New Zealand, so I don't know if it is the same lens you mentioned, but I'd guess that Canon supply the same one in all territories.

The ones we had been looking at were £350+ so that Sigma seems a good choice. How come it is a lower price?
 
ps - and is that wide enough for landscapes? Or do we need an extra wide lens? I really need something that can capture huge open areas and mountain ranges...I can't begin to describe what a shredded mess my testicles will be if I tell the mrs to buy a lens and it turns out to fall short of her requirements!
 
Usually the rule of thumb is what U pay is what U get but not in case of this Sigma 10-20. I can second that it's a fantastic piece of glass with some very lovely results and will surely not drill holes in your pocket.

If you not in a rush then look for someone selling used ones.
 
I can't begin to describe what a shredded mess my testicles will be if I tell the mrs to buy a lens and it turns out to fall short of her requirements!
Click to expand...

Maybe she should do the investigation then.....beings its for her....then she has no one to blame...

But your not going to get much wider than 10mm.....

I can't vouch for the Sigma as I don't have one...but that will certainly be the next lens I purchase....

Good luck!
 
Thanks everyone - the sigma it is then! I really appreciate all your comments.

As for the mrs doing her own research...it doesn't happen for precisely that reason - she needs someone to blame!!
 
straygoat said:
On another subject - we have found that a lot of our photos come out too dark with this camera, even after having it recalibrated by Canon. It is quite possible that it is the range of light in the shot and that the camera is just confused as to what to do - would be fare better with a filter? I have heard that they can help improve the photos by toning down the contrast in light coming into the camera. If they would be of use, can anyone recommend suitable filters? We'll be visiting desert areas so I guess the light will be pretty bright.
Click to expand...
If your photos are coming out too dark even after the camera has been recalibrated by Canon, then that suggests some degree of "user error". By this I mean that you may be using inappropriate settings on the camera, or you may be relying on the camera to get the exposure right in situations where a more experienced user would know that the camera will struggle.

The best thing would be if you could post a couple of sample pictures here, and describe how you took them (exposure mode, settings, etc.). That way we'll be able to offer some constructive advice. But without it, we'd really just be guessing.
 
Okay, here's a link to a pic the wife took in Gloucester:

http://www.straygoat.com/example.jpeg


As you can see, the dark bits are too dark...the sky in particular is much darker than it really was. We've probably got other examples, but this was the first one I could get my hands on.

Any suggestions on how we can get better results much appreciated. Also any recommendations for filters would be good.

Cheers.
 
The shot needs a bit of levels adjustment but otherwise it's not badly exposed. What she has got is a very large tonal range most of which is at the lighter end so the camera exposed primarily for that leaving the shadows dark.
 
so how should she 'adjust the levels'? When taking this type of photo, what advice would you give? Is it possible to take one that comes out lighter, one darker and one inbetween so that they can be cut and pasted in photoshop/paint shop?
 
She would adjust the levels in the software she uses after the photo has been loaded into her computer. If you can tell us what that software is someone will be able to point her in the right direction m8.
 
I recently bought sigma 10-20 and it's a great lens. hope folk don't mind reposts but it'll save you hunting them down in another post. It's a really great lens, though there are other posts in the forums mentioning that some people have had problems.

1
SkyscapeTwo.jpg


2
TakeMeToTheBridge.jpg
 
The wife has just announced that she is going to buy the sigma lens tomorrow, so thanks for the recommendation! It must be good - love that first photo looking up at the towers.

Here's another shot that the mrs is moaning about - she says it is too light in the background and too dark in the foreground.

http://www.straygoat.com/moan.jpg

For editing the pics etc. we're just using Paint Shop Pro 8 (can't afford Photoshop and suspect it will be too greedy for my humble laptop as well).
 
Ha! like your title for the picture... it is a bit dark in foreground, just need to expose for the foreground, unfortunately that would blow out the sky, but you could always use camera raw to get back the detail in the sky. hope you enjoy the lens, do look for other posts regarding the lens and check its softness which seems to be on the left hand side. regards
mark
 
very easy to lift the shadow in the foreground with shadow/highlight adjustment in Photoshop.

Havent a clue if you have it in Paint shop or if its available in Elements as a cheaper option to photoshop
 
hope you don't mind but ive done a quick rough edit on your pic, theres a lot of detail in the foreground, it just needs a bit of time to bring out its best.

Moan2.jpg


once youve seen it here let me know and i'll delete it from here ta
 
Thanks everyone - I've seen the pic and yes, it shows up how little we know! Looks much better.

I'm going to have a look at different photo packages and see if I can get hold of something decent at a reasonable price.

Cheers.
 
Straygoat....i have a tip for you.

Download Picasa from Google (it's free!) and have a play with that. Shoot in RAW and use the 'graduated filter' plugin to first darken your sky a touch, then use fill and highlight sliders to bring out the foreground. It takes a while to get it right, but it's worth persevering, and Picasa is MUCH more user-friendly than Photoshop, GIMP and the like.

Cheers,
James

P.S. You are going to LOVE that Sigma
 
Thanks! I will download it tonight. Free software is always a good thing.

What is RAW though?
 
straygoat said:
Thanks! I will download it tonight. Free software is always a good thing.

What is RAW though?
Click to expand...
RAW is a file format which can be thought of as a digital negative. It contains all the information recorded by the camera's sensor, with no modification whatsoever. (A JPEG file is processed and compressed in-camera.)

The benefit of a RAW file is that it can be manipulated to bring the best out of a picture, to a far greater extent than a JPEG. For example it is possible to correct under- or over-exposure (to a certain degree) with a RAW file, and it is possible to remove colour casts caused by lighting.

The downside of a RAW file is that, like a conventional film negative, it has to be processed. You can't print straight from a RAW file - it has to be converted into something like a JPEG first. This can be time consuming.

What I do is set the camera (I have a 350D like you) to take both RAW and JPEG. Then I have the JPEG for quick sharing, and I have the RAW if I want to work on it later. It takes twice as much memory, but memory is cheap these days.

RAW is not available in any of the "Basic Zone" modes on your camera such as Landscape Mode or Portrait Mode. You have to be shooting in a "Creative Zone" mode - P, Av, Tv or M. See pages 51-53 of your camera's manual.
 
Hi stray goat. Finally im able to give back to the forum that has given me so much.

Right,From one relatively new snapper to another.

In basic terms the camera looks at the whole scene and tried to find the best exposure (if you have it on an auto setting). If there is a large difference between light and dark areas it will get a little confused and the best setting may not necessarily yield the best results. Part of improving is understanding how YOUR camera works. It may have little unique idiosyncrasies. There for a suggestion would be to take three pictures. Expose 1 for the foreground (focus, holding the button halfway down then re-composing the shot), one for the background and looking at the readings. Then, setting your camer to manual try setting a reading somewhere in the middle.

So, using your landscape pic.

I would have set the camera to AV used an aperture of f8 ish. Focussed on the foreground and then recomposed. Then, I would have focussed somewhere on the back ground and again recomposed. Then I would have read the settings whilst looking at the screen on the camera and tried to find a happy middle app and shutter speed. Remember, you can take 1 or ten pics. Its not going to const you any more!

So – my recommendations are as follows.
Read a book. I think I have a couple by scott kelby maybe. But im sure if you do a search on this forum you will get some recommendations. Its amazing how it will all fall into place.
Take your time and think about the shot, what your trying to achieve.
Keep taking photos. In the 4 months I have had my camera I have taken nearly 2000 photos. And gradually, the number of keeps is improving and less are getting deleted.
Play around with the software ie picassa (I use lightroom and elements 6 which is fantastic and can be had for under 50quid each)
PRACTICE
Oh…..and buy a 10 – 20 sigma….thats next on my list too

Have fun
 
Thanks yet again. You are absolutely right - getting to grips with the camera is absolutely vital. Best do some homework before we go on holiday.

I think I understand the RAW format now - it contains all the info that the camera received when it took the shot; other formats compress the info which causes some loss of information which makes it harder to work with in photo applications. All makes sense so far. Will have to look into HOW to take a RAW format photo though, but I'm sure it will be straight-forward enough. Memory is not a problem - as you say, relatively cheap to buy, certainly on the PC side of things anyway.

Time to start investigating the best books...
 
Thanks Stewart. I acutally had that thread bookmarked on my PC at home (I found it while browsing last night), but thanks for taking the time to look it up for me anyway.

Very helpful this forum. I'm impressed.
 
When shooting into the light, the subject (in this case the lady) will appear dark, as the camera has exposed for the bright areas. One easy way around this, until you understand the different settings/buttons/functions on your camera, is to use your onboard flash...it will brighten up the foreground nicely. Its a technique called "fill-in" flash and is very useful in these conditions, especially if you are not too close.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top