EF or EF-S mount?

[SuzukiGS750EZ]

Which would you recommend I invest in first with a crop sensor camera?

 

[KmH]

EF mount - if you can afford the good EF mount lenses
EF-S won't fit on Canon EF bodies. So if you later upgrade to an EF body any EF-S lenses you have won't fit.

 

[zombiesniper]

It really depends on a couple of things.

First and foremost is budget. EF-S lenses tend to be more affordable. For the most part the quality isn't as good as well but there are some gems in the EF-S line as well.
Second is, do you need and EF lens or is there something in the EF-S line that will be sufficient?

For some the full frame question is irrelevant but others may wish to move to full frame so this becomes the number one consideration if you fall into the wanting full frame category.

My opinion is to get the best lens you can but don't break the bank to get it. Also don't forget to look at third party lenses as well. Some of them are excellent quality.

 

[spiralout462]

Both. completely depends on what you need.

I'll never shot a full frame digital but I still would rather have ef lenses if at all possible. there are some perfectly acceptable ef-s options.

 

[john.margetts]

Which would you recommend I invest in first with a crop sensor camera?

With an EF lens on a crop camera you are only using the centre of the image circle. That is the area of highest IQ. You will get no vignetting at all and barrel and pin-cushion distortion will not be visible. Sharpness will be better than with an EF-S lens (and better than with the same lens on a full-frame camera.

 

[weepete]

It depends. EF if you can get it but they are made for full frame bodies so may not have the focal lengths that's as useful on the wide end. In which case buy an EF-S

 

[beagle100]

I agree, look at both - many say the EF-S Canon 10-18 at $199 refurb is a tremendous value
an equivalent full frame lens could cost $1,000 or more (depending on quality)

 

[SuzukiGS750EZ]

Makes more sense to go ef. Would be like looking through binoculars versus a window (ef) on a crop sensor

 

[Overread]

Nothing so extreme - in fact you'd not notice a difference since the extra "area" of the EF lens wouldn't be visible to you anyway through the viewfinder as the viewfinders aim to show what the sensor will see (in real world terms its around 95% or greater depending on the camera body).

EFS is only a small range of Canons own brand lenses and a small range of 3rd party ones too. They can offer you some performances which you won't get for EF for the same price so can be a worthwhile investment. Being generally smaller and lighter can also be a big bonus as it means less bulk to carry around.#

You'll also find zooms like the 18-55mm are more suited to crop sensor than say a 24-70mm in the wide end because 24mm is nowhere near as wide as 18 is on crop sensor. Although that's purely a personal preference issue; some don't mind that EF zooms won't go as wide as cropsensor zooms

 

[SuzukiGS750EZ]

Well, i moreso meant that the APS-C sensor has more glass than it needs which is "infinity" versus the EF-S which is made for the sensor which causes vignetting because it's of the right proportions. Or am i wrong?

 

[Overread]

Made for the sensor should cause no Vignetting in a good lens - yes some might have a modest amount of shadow in the corners - but even EF lenses have slightly darker corners on a cropsensor body. The issue is not that great and typically turning on lens and camera corrections in something like Adobe Lightroom will restore the problem without any degradation to the photo.

In general I would not concern myself with it unless a specific lens is noted for very bad vignetting performance in reviews.

 

[SuzukiGS750EZ]

I have the 18-55mm f3.5/5.6 IS STM in EF-S and the 50mm 1.8 EF as well as the 75-300mm f4/5.6 EF. The 75-300 doesn't give me the greatest image quality. The 18-55 is OK for what it is. I mostly use the 50mm because of its sharpness. What would you recommend under 200$?

 

[spiralout462]

What focal length?

 

[Derrel]

Sub-$200 lenses are generally consumer-grade. The 10-18mm EF-S is a remarkable "buy" for what it is. In the tele-zoom range, the $200 lenses are, well...beginner-level optics, but they have autofocusing, and they communicate with the camera's metering system and the flash system's metering controls, so...

If you want high-quality, inexpensive lenses for a Canon d-slr, look to used-market, adapted lenses, made originally for other brands of cameras, like m42 thread mount lenses, or Nikon F-mount lenses, or whatever. Still--this means awkward work-arounds for the beginner, like only-manual lens aperture re-opening after each shot, focusing by hand-and-eye, and so on.

Canon EF-S lenses will do plenty for you though; how good the pictures are is more the photographer than the lens. if your photos are not good enough, look for better subject matter, shot under more-interesting lighting conditions, or with more planning and thought, and more "sweat equity" invested in making each photo.

 

[DarkShadow]

EF mount - if you can afford the good EF mount lenses
EF-S won't fit on Canon EF bodies. So if you later upgrade to an EF body any EF-S lenses you have won't fit.

Thats not entirely true,EF-S Crop mount will fit EF-Mount Full frame but EF-S recess further into the body thus possible damage to the mirror hitting the lens.Canon warns of this in the user manual and think on there website.