Need for wide-angle lens?

I currently own the 18-55mm lens (which I hardly ever use) that came with my Canon, and a Tamron 18-250mm f/3.5-6.3. My question is: if I want to be shooting landscape, should I purchase a wide-angle lens, or does the 18mm of my zoom suffice? What are the benefits of buying a new lens unless I wanted to go super-wide with 12mm or something like that?

Also, I'm struggling to come up with any occasion that I'll need to use my kit lens ever again. Aside from the IS, it is inferior in every way to the Tamron, so should I now view it as redundant?

Your thoughts are most welcome.

 

the sigma 10-20mm is supposed to be excellent!

 

Most people shooting landscapes seem to be using ultra-wide lenses (the mentioned Sigma 10-20mm, or the Tokina 11-16mm are some popular 3rd party choices), but in the end I guess it all comes down to this: do YOU feel the need for a wider lens? If yes, then you should probably get one. If not, then you'll be fine shooting with your present lens. Just don't forget that the difference in the field of view between 10mm and 18mm is similar to the difference between 100mm and 180mm, not the difference between 100mm and 108 mm.

 

Do you need an ultrawide? probably not. Your 18mm is reasonably wide and can do alot of landscape work for you. I have the Sigma 10-20 and absolutely love it, but don't use it all that often yet -- I do most of my landscape with my Tamron 17-50, When you want an ultrawide, however, nothing is quite like it -- and it's loads of fun. It opens up all sorts of new ways of seeing:

http://www.10-20mm.com/

 

yeap,
i borrowed a friend's sigma 10-20mm and love it!

agree with manaheim, i did some interior decor shoot and this sure makes the room much wider and spacious, but slightly skewed if taken at some other angle

for outdoor its great, however sometimes the distance is way too far and I would love for it to have a further focal length, but for semi-close up wide shoot, this is the bang for your bucks

can't go wrong man

 

I'm not arguing the wonders of the ultrawide lens. This one is with my Sigma 10-20 at 10mm and I absolutely love it. It is well built with beautiful optics.



The question, however, was do you need one. To that I can only say maybe ... it is certainly not a necessary part of a landscape photographer's arsenal, but it sure is nice!

 

just curious though ...

are there any lens similar to Sigma's 10-20mm that has large aperture?

 

I just got the Sigma 10-20 and I love it! I mainly shoot landscapes.

 

Yes ... the Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 smokes them all....

also the tokina 12-24 F4 is good as well...

 

thanks gonna check it out

are there any pluses from Sigma 10-20 that actually lift it to be more popular than tokina's though?