# Best lens for car pictures with canon 550d



## S3kel (Apr 2, 2012)

Hi i,m looking for a lens to take pictures of my car ,friends cars events etc i,ve heard good things about the Tamron 17-50 f2.8 and the sigma 10-20 wide angel lenes ,any pros out there got any advice ,cheers..


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## Buck (Jan 16, 2008)

Hi John

I had the Sigma (bought second hand) for a short time but bought the canon 10-22 soon after as I didn't like the Sigma IQ - seemed a bit soft to me but might have just been a duff one I had? Can't comment on the Tamron.

For car shots, if you want to get the who,e car in then, yes, a wide angle is what you need. On the 550's crop sensor that'll give you 16mm at its widest. Any wider and you'll start to get distortion.

I have a 17-40 on my 5D mkII and it is plenty wide enough although would love a 16-35 :argie:

The 550D should be ok for you to up the ISO to 400 or 800 with no discernible impact on IQ but doing this will allow you to work with the largest aperture of _f_4 (from memory) on the Sigma or Canon and still get the exposure even in less than good light. Obviously with the Tamron you get the extra stop to _f_2.8 which will help.

:thumb:


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## PJS (Aug 18, 2007)

If you need to go ultra WA, then a cheaper alternative to the Canon 10-22 is the Tokina 11-16.
The Tamron 17-50 is a cracking lens for the money as well.
All said, don't overlook a prime lens - one with a fixed focal length, you can zoom in or out with your feet.

If you've no qualms about going full manual, then check out the Samyang primes.


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## S3kel (Apr 2, 2012)

Thanks Adrian and pjs for info ,looking through the net the canon 16-35 looks like a great lens will check out the tokina 11-16 as well ,as i,m still learning all pictures will be taking using auto settings etc ,until i get to grips with camera ..cheers
Just had a look the tokina 11-16 looks like a great lens ,cheers ...


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## Stewartfinley (Mar 3, 2012)

I use 4 main lenses for all shoots.

Canon: ef-s 10-22, 24-105L IS, 50mm f1.4, 70-200L f2.8.

All have different uses but the 24-105 is a favourite due to the great IS feature.


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## hoikey (Mar 9, 2011)

Buck said:


> Hi John
> 
> I had the Sigma (bought second hand) for a short time but bought the canon 10-22 soon after as I didn't like the Sigma IQ - seemed a bit soft to me but might have just been a duff one I had? Can't comment on the Tamron.
> 
> ...


Could the same be said for a 400D?


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## SteveyG (Apr 1, 2007)

Stewartfinley said:


> I use 4 main lenses for all shoots.
> 
> Canon: ef-s 10-22, 24-105L IS, 50mm f1.4, 70-200L f2.8.
> 
> All have different uses but the 24-105 is a favourite due to the great IS feature.


IS does add some noise to the picture though, I pretty much always turn it off and use a tripod.


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## xJay1337 (Jul 20, 2012)

Fixed 50mm f1.4

On my Flickr, page 5-onwards until there is nothing else from UD12.. so like Page 5-10.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/page5/


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## composite (Jan 31, 2012)

xJay1337 said:


> Fixed 50mm f1.4
> 
> On my Flickr, page 5-onwards until there is nothing else from UD12.. so like Page 5-10.
> 
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/page5/


:thumb:


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## xJay1337 (Jul 20, 2012)

All taken with a 550d as well haha - I think at least, I borrowed the Camera. It was either a 550 or a 500 but it's irrelevant really the details are more in the lense than the camera.

Also a few more that I took which are floating around on my Tumblr but that I didn't upload to Flickr for whatever reason.

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m0r2e4P8Kk1qbr3dvo2_1280.jpg
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m0r2e4P8Kk1qbr3dvo5_1280.jpg
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m0qz3d3Blm1qbr3dvo1_1280.jpg
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m0qu86Vkla1qbr3dvo1_1280.jpg


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## Buck (Jan 16, 2008)

hoikey said:


> Could the same be said for a 400D?


Absolutely. All the crop sensor cameras will operate in the same way.


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## S3kel (Apr 2, 2012)

Right so i,m looking at the canon ef 17-40mm f/4L or the ef-s 10-22mm f3.4 usm lenses as buck is using the second one,is this the best of the 2 for choices ...


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## PJS (Aug 18, 2007)

Might want to hang fire for a bit yet - http://fstoppers.com/fstoppers-first-look-sigmas-new-18-35-f1-8


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## Buck (Jan 16, 2008)

On a crop sensor the Canon EF-S 10-22 wins hands down - I loved mine and the lens was super-sharp

The 17-40 is also the landscape lens for full frame cameras but on a crop sensor thats going to be something like 24-56 which might not be wide enough


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## Dark_knight (Nov 28, 2011)

I use a canon 70-300mm with IS, works a treat


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## EddieB (May 13, 2006)

I'd be tempted by a good 50mm prime - don't necessarily have to go wide to get a good car photo!


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## S3kel (Apr 2, 2012)

Hi dark night i have the 70-300 canon lens


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## B17BLG (Jun 26, 2012)

Another vote for fixed 50mm here too!!


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## james_death (Aug 9, 2010)

Everyone should have a 50mm prime but for crop sensors then the 35mm.

I have crop sensors and my sigma 10-20 lives on there 24/7... sometimes swap out for the 50mm 1.8 Nikon for bokeh.


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## tcsteph99 (May 29, 2007)

Try picking up a cheap Canon 50mm 1.4 or 1.8 prime - great lenses and you can always zoom by walking backwards & forwards 

Other than that, a 17-40L will give great sharp images and on a crop sensor should be a fairly good range of focal lengths to work with. They're also great on full frame cameras should you ever upgrade..!


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