Question on Lenses for Architecture and Close Up Photos

[scottydoesntknow]

I am a student majoring in Architecture and as such, my needs for quality photos and a good camera have increased dramatically. I no longer own a simple point and shoot and have gotten into more advanced cameras (I own a Canon 20D and have two lenses, a fixed 50 and a 75-300mm USM, both Canon lenses). I am fairly happy with these two lenses, however most of my images that I need to take photos of are generally to close for even my 50mm lens to take good photos of, even people.

I need a lens perfect for closer range such as indoor and outdoor photos of buildings close up, with minimal distortion, fish-eye effects and what not, as a lot of photos are used in tracing and various artistic techniques we utilize. I am also taking photos of models so anything that can combine for a good macro lens would be appreciative as well, I know a friend of mine was using a 28-135mm lens with a macro function on it, and claimed it took pretty good photos, I believe it was about a $500 lens.

Does anyone have any suggestions for a good lens? Any questions about what else I would need it for or any clarification, let me know, I got the 75-300 first, realized it was a huge mistake but still useful, got the 50 since it was cheap (roughly $60 off Amazon) and found it to be far better but still far from perfect.

 

[Battou]

I would say prolly the Canon EF 35mm f/2 Should suit your needs fairly well. I've never shot it but my Canon FD 35mm 3.5 is a very nice lens and I have to assume they have only improved since then.

If money is not a factor I would look into Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L USM or the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM but if Money is an issue the 35mm f/2 should suffice

 

[Sw1tchFX]

For architecture, no doubt, the 24mm Tilt-Shift is what you should be looking at. You can correct for convergence at time of shooting because not only does correcting in photoshop take forever, but it looks like junk.

 

[scottydoesntknow]

For architecture, no doubt, the 24mm Tilt-Shift is what you should be looking at. You can correct for convergence at time of shooting because not only does correcting in photoshop take forever, but it looks like junk.

Is the 24mm Tilt-Shift a Canon lens or a generic lens made by various manufacturers?

 

[usayit]

Canon makes 3 tilt-shift canon lenses. They are neither easy to use nor cheap. They will allow you to correct at the time of shooting just as switchFX mentioned...

Another non-tilt-shifting lens to use would be the 14mm or 24mmL lenses from Canon. Each control distortion pretty well.

 

[Alpha]

As a cheaper alternative, you could look into the Hartblei 35mm f2.8 Tilt/Shift, which is much cheaper than the Canon. The two drawbacks are 1) It's not quite as sharp, and 2) It's not as wide.

http://www.hartblei.com/lenses/lens_35mm.htm