Canon Eos 50d Lens Advice

scholes

Hi all,

I have been wanting to buy a fairly good digital slr for a long time and picked up a Canon eos 50 d in the states last summer. It came with a 28 - 135 IS USM Lens. I really want to learn photography and love taking pictures but dont know a lot about lenses.
I find the the 28-135 is to close for family photos etc I need to stand a good distance back and have been adviced to buy a 17-85 IS lens.

Does anyone recommend this lens, I have looked up the Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM lens and it says that it provides an effective focal length range of approximately 27-136mm in 35mm format. What does this mean? Is it going to be the same as the 28-135 lens I already have?

Any help would be really appreciated.

Thanks in advance

kelly1

Hello Scholes,

you should have no problem using a 28-135 when zoomed to around 50-60mm range.

The 50D and most Canon cameras have a sensor which is smaller than than the area of a piece of 35mm film. What this means is that the image is cropped because you loose the edges. It's almost the same effect as zooming in to a longer focal length. Most Canon cameras have a "crop factor" of 1.6 meaning you multiply the lenses focal length by the crop factor to get the "effective" focal length. Thus a 50mm lens effectively becomes an 80mm and this is often indicated by the acronym efl (effective focal length). Some higher end canon cameras have a 1.3 crop factor and full frame cameras like the 5D have a crop factor of 1.

The efl of your lens is ~ 45-216. So unless you in a tight space photographying a large group, you should be fine. Are you having trouble getting people into the frame?

Regards,
Noel.

scholes

Hi Noel,

Thanks for the reply, I was recently at a wedding and wanted to capture people but tried to get the the complete subjects in the frame and found it was far too close even at the start of the zoom which is 28. I had to stand right back.

I had borrowed the brother in laws 18-200 efs lens and found that this was perfect.
I was thinking of buying the 17-85 lens but was worried that if i bought this that it would be the same as the 28-135 lens as I read on a site that they were comparing this lens to the 28-135? so I was totally confused.

Thanks

Freddie59

scholes wrote: »

Hi Noel,

Thanks for the reply, I was recently at a wedding and wanted to capture people but tried to get the the complete subjects in the frame and found it was far too close even at the start of the zoom which is 28. I had to stand right back.

I had borrowed the brother in laws 18-200 efs lens and found that this was perfect.
I was thinking of buying the 17-85 lens but was worried that if i bought this that it would be the same as the 28-135 lens as I read on a site that they were comparing this lens to the 28-135? so I was totally confused.

Thanks

I had the 17-85 for a long time. Great walkabout, all-purpose lens, with great clarity and sharpness. Have a look at the London 2009 set on My Flickr page for some examples.

Here's a review with some sample shots.

kelly1

scholes wrote: »

Hi Noel,

Thanks for the reply, I was recently at a wedding and wanted to capture people but tried to get the the complete subjects in the frame and found it was far too close even at the start of the zoom which is 28. I had to stand right back.

I had borrowed the brother in laws 18-200 efs lens and found that this was perfect.
I was thinking of buying the 17-85 lens but was worried that if i bought this that it would be the same as the 28-135 lens as I read on a site that they were comparing this lens to the 28-135? so I was totally confused.

Thanks

OK, I can see how you'd have a problem with a large group in a confined space. The 28-135 would be more suitable for a full-frame camera and the 17-85 better for a cropped model like yours.

The efl of the 17mm on your camera is 17x1.6 = 27mm and the efl of your 28 is ~45mm which is more "normal" than wide. If you have the dosh, I'd go with the 17-85.

Pete67

You could also consider the Canon EF 17-40 f4L, which is a very high quality lens, but does not have image stabilisation (IS). Can be got second hand for around 450 to 500, compared to around 400 for the EF-S 17-85 IS lens new. The 17 - 40 has better image quality, is more robust and will be compatible with a full frame camera if you ever decide to upgrade, whereas the 17-85 is cheaper, has image stabilisation, and a longer max focal length, and is suitable for cropped sensor cameras only. I'd suggest trying both out before making a decision.

You could look into the Sigma wide angle zooms, there are a couple of 10-20mm lenses that are generally well regarded.

Keep an eye on the photography section of adverts.ie as well.

scholes

All I can say is a big thank you to everyone that replied you have really helped me out. Never knew about crop factor e.t.c. full frame Noel very informative , also thanks freddie59 will take a look at those photos on flickr when i get home this evening, and will also keep an eye out on adverts.ie pete. Thanks again

kelly1

Articles on crop-factor:

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/digital-camera-sensor-size.htm
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/crop-factor.htm

You'll also hear the term APS-C used for a Canon cropped sensor.

scholes

Great
Thanks Noel, never knew any of this , a bit sorry i didn't save up a bit more and go for the 5d instead