Walk around Lens recommendation

beagle100 · Sep 24, 2015

TonyUSA said:
Thank you Thank you Thank you for all suggestions. Only one reason that I bought 70-200 IS and need other walk around lens is to take my kids photos. He is in swimming and stating to go to swim meet. So I was thinking to buy other lens to take pics when we go to Disneyland, Universal studio, take some pics at school, and etc. One of my friend told me to check out Sigma 18-35 f/1.8., don't know if the range is too small.

the Sigma 18-35 f1.8 might be suitable for something like Disneyland but for swim meets I would probably go with a longer zoom like the 70-200 2.8

TonyUSA · Sep 24, 2015

Thank you. Yes, I bought 70-200 just for swim meets.

Solarflare · Sep 25, 2015

Well, as always in these threads - when I hear "walkaround", I actually think "prime", not "normal zoom".

I see little point in a normal zoom because IMHO one can just zoom by feet in that focal length range, while with a wide or tele zoom, zooming by feet is no longer practical. Also normal zooms are optically a bigger challenge to do than wide or tele zooms, while prime lenses in this area are especially cheap to construct and can offer big advantages compared to zooms in respect to maximum aperture as well as price, weight and compactness.

So I would pick a prime lens between say about 24mm and 60mm, depending upon personal taste.

Thus my D5100 is almost "glued" to an AF-S 35mm f1.8 DX and my D750 is, well, kind of "glued" to an AF-S 28mm f1.8. Though getting out the zooms is a lot more frequent on the D750 since its not collecting dust and since the zooms are pretty good quality.

TonyUSA · Sep 25, 2015

Thank you. I also got a Canon 50mm f1.8 STM last week but haven't try it yet. I was reading and seem Sigma 18-35 f1.8 is very good. At first I was lean into Canon prime "L" lens too but seem to be very expensive.
I am very interested in Sigma 18-35mm right now but since I am already have 50mm, don't know if it worth it to get sigma. Sigma wasn't on my list at the time so I ordered 50mm 1.8 to try out due to the low price.

beagle100 · Sep 26, 2015

TonyUSA said:
Thank you. I also got a Canon 50mm f1.8 STM last week but haven't try it yet. I was reading and seem Sigma 18-35 f1.8 is very good. At first I was lean into Canon prime "L" lens too but seem to be very expensive.
I am very interested in Sigma 18-35mm right now but since I am already have 50mm, don't know if it worth it to get sigma. Sigma wasn't on my list at the time so I ordered 50mm 1.8 to try out due to the low price.

On a crop (like your 50D) many prefer the 17 -50 2.8 as a walk around lens but if you shoot a lot indoors in smaller spaces I can see the Sigma 18-35 1.8 being more useful

TonyUSA · Sep 26, 2015

Thank you. Does picture quality of Sigma 18-35 1.8 is MUCH better than Canon 17-50 2.8? I really looking for best picture quality such as picture sharpness for $1,000 but Canon 24-70 2.8 at $1,700 is too much for me.

MLCIII · Sep 27, 2015

My "walk around" is the Canon 16-35 f/2.8L II mounted on a 7D, and I think it's perfect. I do a lot of travel photography, so it basically lives on the camera. I also keep a 50mm close.
My only real advice is not to buy EF-S lenses. They're not much cheaper (if at all), and you're limiting yourself both in build quality and future-proofing.