Help me pick a lens please

W

willy_baller

Active member
So I just got a T3i and its the first decent camera I have ever owned really. I am excited to get more into videography and photography. I want to get a wide angle for it and I have been hearing good things about the tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 but it is a little out of my price range since i just dropped most of my money on the camera. Is there a wide angle worth getting in the $100 range? Or should I just save up for something like the tamron?

Thanks in advance.
 
There is nothing in the 100 dollar range. Save up for the Tamron, which is still not very wide. 600 will get you a legit ultra wide angle.
 
do you have the kit lens? if so, get the pentax 50mm f/1.4 and an EOS adapter. super fun lens to shoot with. pretty much what i dealt with for a month until i got my tamron.
 
I just have the stock 18-55, so if thats the kit lens then yes. And I was just checking out the pentax and it looked around the same price as the tamron.
 
not if you get it used. you can get in >$150 used on ebay. really fun lens to play around with. your not going to find a decent ultra wide angle for cheap. you could get the rokinon 8mm fisheye, its not TERRIBLE.
 
how wide are you looking for? if youre looking for wider than the kit lens, the rokinon 14mm or 8mm fisheye if youre into that is probably the cheapest youre gonna be able to find.

 
okay thanks.

So it seems like I'm not going to find anything worth buying below $300-350. Would it be worth it to just hold it out with the kit lens until I can afford something thats very high quality?
 
You already got the 18-55, which is a perfectly capable lens, especially for video, and plenty wide.

Get a 50mm f/1.8 or f/1.4 in M42 mount and buy an M42-EOS/EF adapter. Don't get the Canon 50mm f/1.8.
 
if he wants to do 50% photo 50% video, the canon 50 1.8 is probably better for him. He said he is excited to get more into photography and videography, so i'm assuming it's around half and half.
 
like twoods said, yes. for at least a UWA. youll probably want to buy a tokina 11-16 which you could maybe get for around 600 or more used
 
Start with the Tamron for now. It will cover pretty much everything from standard to portraits except for telephoto. I would then grab a Canon 50 1.8 or Pentax 50 1.4 (manual) for low light.

 
I would actually disagree. The 18-55 is probably a more acceptable lens for photo than video, although it kinda sucks either way.

Its terrible build quality makes focusing while filming a pain. It's not a fast lens, and considering that the lowest shutter speed you can shoot at while filming with a Canon is 1/30 at 24p or 1/60 at 60p, it can be quite limiting, especially if you're zoomed at all. Also, if you're doing run and gun shooting and trying to get that handheld look, doing snap zooms and such will look terrible because of the variable aperture.

It gets the job done and I definitely made some things I was proud of when I was stuck with the kit lens, but it shouldn't really be accepted as a decent lens imo. I replaced it with a 17-55mm f/2.8 (wish I'd known about the Tamron 17-50 f/2.8) as soon as I was able to.
 
Tokina 12-24 can be found used in that price range and is an excellent UWA lens. Depending on where you live, they come up on craigslist somewhat often at that price. I also see them with some frequency on the fredmiranda.com buy/sell boards.
 
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