Lens for Canon 40D

[Cheryl]

Hi
I will be travelling to New Zealand at Christmas and would like advice on the best all round lens. I will be taking photos of family (grandchildren, children) and scenic photos. In the past when I have visited I have been able to take Zoom, Wide angle etc and been loaded down. I cannot do that any more. Please advise on the best lens for the job... something with a stabiliser. I am tired of spending money on lenses that just sit in my bag.... Cheryl

[chris-p]

Depends on your budget.

If it's for

family (grandchildren, children) and scenic photos

then I would suggest that you probably want something like Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 VC. Wide enough for landscapes and 35mm - 50mm is great for portraits. However it is £530 and only available for pre-order.
They do a non-VC version which is £330 as well.

Personally though, I'd buy the Sigma 18-125 which is stabilised, well built and covers a really useful range of focal lengths. It's also only £245.
A recent back to back test of this lens and the Nikon 18-105 VR in Amateur Photographer chose the Sigma, mainly on build quality (it has a metal mount while the Nikon has plastic etc.)

[flake]

Wouldn't it be good if people indicated some kind of budget they had in mind! Mainly because like most things in life, the more you spend they better the lens, (in most cases).

So my first recommendation will be the best and most expensive lens. The Canon 17 - 55mm f/2.8 IS EF-s this lens won a highly recommended at photozone, but costs £725 quite high - you could consider buying second user.

There's the 24 - 105mm L IS a really good lens, but 24mm isn't very wide on a crop frame, and again it's a lot of money at £800

But out of all the lenses I could recommend there is one which stands out over the rest, and that is the newly released 15 - 85mm IS EF-s currently around £450 so new that there are no reviews yet. It has a USM motor which means focus should be both fast & silent, the very wide 15mm means you will be able to get much more into the frame for lanscapes, and being a Canon lens you know that it will work properly. The Sigma 18 -125mm although not bad optically does have question marks over its focus accuracy. (available RGB tech)

I think I'll leave the list there, there are lots of excellent lenses which would perform very well for you, but don't have any kind of IS system, in bright light it's not really necessary, and you are going to New Zealand in their summer!

[JeffCohen]

personally i would go for the canon 55-250is ,superb image quality ,couples up very well with the 40d ,for ease of use ,o.k its a cheap plasticky lens but for some reason the image quality with the glass they use is superb .so basically you get a decent zoom range,good i.q ,image stabilisation ,light weight,for a cracking price as they can be purchased for around the £150-£200 area brand new if you shop around ,just go onto flickr and do a search for images by that lens ,you'll be surprised

[flake]

And how would the 55 - 200mm be suitable for landscape photography? With a crop factor of 1.6 this lens has a field of view eqivalent to nearly 90mm ! far too long to be used as an all round lens.

Good though it might be for its price it is not a lens which fits the criteria the OP set out, Landscape, portrait, and group shots.

If money were no object I'd suggest the 28 -300mm IS L which is fantastic as a travel lens but it is heavy and expensive, and on a crop frame it's 28mm (45mm equiv) is not really wide enough.

[chris-p]

Originally Posted by flake

And how would the 55 - 200mm be suitable for landscape photography? With a crop factor of 1.6 this lens has a field of view eqivalent to nearly 90mm ! far too long to be used as an all round lens.

You beat me to it...

[flake]

There is also the new Canon EF-S 18-135mm f3.5-5.6 IS is worth considering, it's so new that there's no reviews yet, currently it's around £380 at Bristol cameras.

A larger focal range than the 15 - 85mm which might be attractive, but might be a little difficult to track down. Funnily enough I saw one yesterday as part of a kit with a 7D

[pavman]

I am a 40D user and use the Canon EF 24-105mm F4 IS USM lens for travelling abroad. It is a very good quality lens, good focal range for holiday pictures of family days out etc. also if you want to take "serious" images, this lens produces excellent results, prior to buying the 24-105 I used a Sigma DG Macro Zoom 28-300mm F3.5-6.3 (filter 62mm) lens. When I compare images from the two lenses, the Canon is way out in front with image quality and sharpness. If you can afford to buy the best "glass" you can, go for it otherwise save like hell ( I do I have a weekly camera kit allowance{Pocket money LOL}!! which I use and plan my next purchase currently saving for EF100-400)

EDIT:yes Flake 100-400.I have the 70-200 F2.8 which I used mainly for sport with x2 extender the prime lens 400mm is way outside of my budget hence why I would like to buy the 100-400

[flake]

I take it you mean the 100 - 400mm IS L ? If so I'd advise you to take a slightly different course. The IS is a first generation and only offers 2 stops which isn't much, It's also quite slow at f/5.6. As an alternative consider the Sigma 70 - 200mm f/2.8 which is a great lens returning image quality close to the Canon version. team it with a 1.4x telecon and you have a 100 - 300mm f/4 use a 2x and you have a 140 - 400mm f/5.6 which is as fast as the Canon. You will then have a lens which is great for portrait use, and plenty of telephoto use, and at f/2.8 a fast one, f/4 is still quite fast for longer work, and if you really need the extra 100mm you can do it at f/5.6.

If you really really must have the long reach, consider the Sigma 50 - 500mm (not the 150 - 500mm which people say isn't as good) and save a fortune with image quality on a par with the Canon plus an extra 500mm.

[steveayres]

I used to have a Canon 17-55 when I had a 40D. It's a very fine lens and I'd happily recommend it to anyone. In fact I would say it was probably better than the 24-105L that I now use. If you can stretch your budget to it I'd be very surprised if you were disappointed.

Cheers,
Steve

ImageArcade - Photography by Steve Ayres