Lens Advice for Church Shooting

[cryptic_star]

I do a lot of photography in churches, shrines, temples, etc. To be clear, I am not doing any sort of wedding photography. Rather, I want to be able to get photos of the interior and some of the details.

The problem I am running in to is that my current two lenses are insufficient. I own a Canon 40D, so I have the cropped sensor already working against me. The two lenses I currently own are the kit lens (17-85mm) and a 50mm f/1.8. I like that I get a wider angle with the kit lens (although sometimes not wide enough), but with f/4.0-5.6, it's difficult sometimes for close-up shots indoors of details, since these places tend to be pretty dark. Additionally, the lens distortion on the kit lens is pretty awful, and I'd like to upgrade to something that will require less hassle in post.

I was wondering if people have suggestions of a lens they use and enjoy for this type of work, or something similar (shooting in houses, etc).

[Preeb]

For a faster lens the EF-S 17-55 f2.8 IS is nice.

For a wider lens the EF-S 10-22 f3.5-f4.5 is very nice. The 10-22 isn't as fast, but when you are shooting that wide, camera movement isn't usually an issue until you get under 1/10 sec shutter speed.

As you can see from my signature, I have both and very much like both lenses.

[Doug Sundseth]

You need a wider, faster lens if you want to shoot large, dark interiors. The Canon 10-22 has a very good reputation, as do the Tokina 11-16 and the Sigma 10-20.

For detail work, you probably want a fast macro, but I don't know the Canon lens array well enough to suggest a specific choice.

What are you using for you post work? The reason I ask is that Photoshop and Lightroom/Adobe Camera Raw both have very good lens distortion removal tools. Generally, a single click is all that is necessary to remove everything but perspective distortion (and that isn't going to be fixed by a different lens).

[RichardTaylor]

Can you use a tripod in the churches?

Almost any of the ultrawide zooms should meet tour needs (10/12-22/24).

[sartracker]

I went to Israel in October, lots of churches. I primarily used the Canon 24 - 105 4L on a 60D and never used flash. It did fine hand held and was easy to carry. It is the most expensive lens I have but it's been worth every penny. I did have to up the ISO occasionally and then I used Lightroom to lighten just a bit if necessary. It was easy to switch from inside to outside as well. I had a wide angle with me but switching back and forth took too much time. As you can tell by the following photo, it was pretty fast and not too noisy. It wasn't wide enough in a few churches where I couldn't zoom out with my feet but overall I was pretty happy. If I hadn't been on a tour and had to stay with a group, I probably would have used the wide angle more. Have fun!

Exposure Time:
0.4s (4/10)
Aperture:
f/8
ISO:
200
Focal Length:
24mm

[inkista]

Tokina 11-16 f/2.8 would be my recommendation. For interiors, you're going to want the f/2.8 max. aperture.