Lens Recommendation

[gibbstom13]

Semi-beginner photographer looking to do more landscape work, have a canon 50d, looking to invest "enough" money to get a very nice lens. i'm wondering if anyone has any good recommendations for this general type of work (obviously something with a nice focal range, semi-wide angle). ef17-40 looks intriguing...any experience with this lens?

[OsmosisStudios]

Intriguing, but not terribly wide on a crop body. It was designed for full-frame.

Unless you have plans for a 5DmkII or something similar, I'd go out and grab a Canon 10-20, Sigma 10-22 or Tokina 11-16 (depending on your needs).

[ravncat]

what lenses do you have now?

[gibbstom13]

how about this gem?

Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM Lens Review

[OsmosisStudios]

Originally Posted by gibbstom13

how about this gem?

Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM Lens Review

That's the crop-sensor version of the venerable and classic 24-70 f/2.8 lens. It's a bit limited in the reach, but it's an f/2.8 constant aperture which makes it a ton of useful.

[gibbstom13]

i have a 50d, and I guess I'm somewhat confused by the cropped sensor conversion multiples. would the range of this lens be 1.6x larger on a 50d? I thought ef-s lenses were made for the cropped sensors, so a 17-55 ef-s would be 17-55mm on a 50d. Am I incorrect? Help!

[RichardTaylor]

The focal length range of a lens, is a physical attribute of that lens, and it doesn't matter what camera body the lens is used on.

However the field of view (FOV), ie the area of a scene a lens captures, can be different depending on the body the camera is used on.

What Canon EF-S means is that the lens is designed for a Canon crop body with an APS-C Sensor ( ~ 15mm x 22.5mm). (the same size as a 50D)

You may find this page handy.
Crop factor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[gibbstom13]

so, in summary, the field of view for the 17-55mm on 50d will be 17-55mm, not 17x1.6 to 55x1.6. correct?

[RichardTaylor]

The field of view @ 17mm, on a 1.6 crop camera will be

Horizontal ~65 degrees
Vertical ~ 46 degrees
Diagonal ~ 75 degrees.

Which is nearly the same as 28mm (17x1.6 ) on a full frame, no crop, camera.

The crop factor is just to give some photographers who have been around for a while, like me, an idea of to expect in relation to to 35mm ("full frame") film camera terms.
"Full frame" (sensor/film size 24x36mm) has developed into a sort of common standard.

As far as FOV goes, and for other calculations you may find this website handy.

http://www.tawbaware.com/maxlyons/calc.htm

[Michael_2010]

I use a Canon 10-22mm on a crop body and I think it is my most fun lens for landscapes. It forces you to look at things differently and adds something to almost any setting that other lenses just can't emulate.