Wide angle lens

Lindsay · Aug 20, 2010

My sister is getting married in December. She has asked me to take pictures for her, and I dont mind, I just need to get a wide angle lens 1st. I have the Canon rebel xsi, any suggestions on a good lens? I want to get everyone in the picture without being a mile away where you can't tell who anyone is!

Naphtali14 · Aug 20, 2010

Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 = my personal favorite. It's an extremely good lens for the price. Read reviews as well as asking advice on forums. Good luck ^.^

oldmacman · Aug 20, 2010

Lindsay said:
My sister is getting married in December. She has asked me to take pictures for her, and I dont mind, I just need to get a wide angle lens 1st. I have the Canon rebel xsi, any suggestions on a good lens? I want to get everyone in the picture without being a mile away where you can't tell who anyone is!

Just be careful with how close you get. The closer to the edges, the more distorted the figures will get. I have read that this is less of a problem with prime wide angle lenses, but I certainly have to be careful with my 17-40mm.

peanut170 · Aug 20, 2010

I really like the tokina 11-16 also, buy what a terrible recommendation for a wedding lens. Do you plan on being in everyone face all night and then have them asking why does my head look so big and my arms are so long and why does grandma look so small. Deff need something fast but also with a little bit of range more than 11-16.

SageMark · Aug 20, 2010

90% of this event can be shot with a 50mm 1.8, or preferrably a 50mm 1.4.

sobolik · Aug 20, 2010

To evaluate options:

Digital Wide Zooms Personally I own the Tokina 12-24 and LOVE it! I used this lens the most at last months wedding.
or Tokina 11-16mm

Canon specific

Canon Lens Reviews

ruaslacker2 · Aug 20, 2010

I have the Canon 17-40 and seldomly take it off my camera.... great lens....

786soul · Aug 20, 2010

I've heard really good things about the 11-16 (Tokina). I owned the 10-22 for a little bit but wide-angle photography wasn't something I did so much, thus sold it off. The quality on the 10-22 was pretty good; the reviews I read on the 11-16 said it was better so I can only imagine...

As said earlier though, wide angle is going to be a challenge to use during a wedding sort of setting. Unless you're taking pictures on the dance-floor. If you're on the side you're better with something with a bit of zoom, or the 50mm prime 1.8 or 1.4 are excellent.

pgriz · Aug 20, 2010

Peanut, oldmacman, sagemark and soul are giving good advice. Unless you're going for the distortion effect a wide-angle gives you, I'd stay away from this type of lens for weddings and group shots. A normal to medium-telephoto (about 35-100mm in the 1.6 crop format) range is more appropriate and will give better pictures. If you're shooting available light, then the fast lenses (F1.8 or better) will be more useful. Of course, if you're shooting wide open, you have to be pretty accurate on your focusing point. If it's a really large group, you could put the camera on a tripod, shoot three or four shots in a panorama sweep, and use the Canon software to stitch them together.