Which lens to go for?
With a plethora of lenses to choose from in the Canon range, it can often be a difficult task to decide on which lens will best suit your requirements.
I run a camera website which contains reviews for most of the lenses currently available, so I thought I would share with you some of the more popular lenses on my site. Not everyone has lots of money to spend on the latest kit, so sometimes it’s worth looking out for good quality second hand lenses, as you can often save yourself a fortune. With that in mind, I’ve listed a guide price next to each lens stating how much the lens would cost brand new or second hand.
Hopefully this will give you some guidance when deciding which Canon lens is best for your photography style.
Lenses for landscape photography
Landscape photography generally works best with wide-angle lenses
If you’re into landscape photography, a wide-angle lens is generally the lens of choice with this style. This is because, with a wide-angle lens you can fit a lot more into the frame than with a telephoto or zoom lens: To get the maximum wide-angle, it is best to use a digital camera with a full frame sensor. Unfortunately this means the Canon 1D or 5D range. All the other digital cameras in Canon’s range use a cropped sensor which leads to greater magnification but less field of vision. Saying that, a wide angle lens on a cropped sensor camera can still produce excellent results!
Canon EF-S 10-22mm F3.5-4.5
Brand new: £442 or $699 | Second hand: £350 or $465
The 10-22mm is considered to have good image quality (sharp and low distortion) and build. The optical construction is similar to L-series lenses, but it is not designated as L-series (as reflected in the build quality), which some have argued is for marketing reasons. It is an excellent wide-angle lens, ideal for landscape photography
Examples of photos taken with the Canon 10-22mm lens:
Canon EF 17-40mm F4 L
Brand new: £481 or $699 | Second hand: £400 or $659
Examples of photos taken with the Canon 17-40mm lens:
Canon EF 20mm F2.8
Brand new: £339 or $549 | Second hand: £220 or $275
The Canon EF 20mm lens is an ultra-wide-angle prime lens featuring rear focusing. Fixed focal length lenses are generally considered to offer a superior image quality over zoom lenses.
Examples of photos taken with the Canon 20mm lens:
Lenses for nature photography
A telephoto or super telephoto lens is ideal for nature photography
Nature photography often requires plenty of patience waiting for the right moment. Often this means taking a photo of a subject some distance away. That’s where telephoto and super telephoto lenses come in.
To get the top end magnifications, say 400mm+ the lenses will cost a fortune, however in the 200mm to 300mm range there are a number of lenses which are affordable well under $1000.
It is also worth remembering that if you own a Canon digital SLR with a cropped sensor (which includes all models except the 1D and 5D models), a magnification of 1.6x is already applied to your photos therefore boosting the zoom.
Canon 70-300mm F4.5-5.6 IS USM
Brand new: £364 or $519 | Second hand: £299 or $499
The EF 70-300mm lens is a telephoto zoom lens made by Canon Inc. The lens has an EF mount to work with the EOS line of cameras.
Two Canon EF telephoto zoom lenses carry the 70-300mm designation. These are the EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM and the EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM. Both versions offer IS and USM and both have nearly the same maximum aperture of 4/4.5 to 5.6 over their entire focal range.
The DO lens stands for ‘diffractive optics’ and is typically a shorter lens, the downside being it is also more expensive. Both lenses have image stabilisation.
Examples of photos taken with the Canon 70-300mm lens:
Canon EF 70-200mm F/4L USM
Brand new: £443 or $608 | Second hand: £394 or $400
The EF 70-200mm lens is a telephoto zoom lens made by Canon Inc. The lens has an EF mount to work with the EOS line of cameras. The lens comes in four different versions. All four have a constant maximum aperture over the whole focal range and all four are L-series lenses. f/2.8L IS USM f/2.8L USM f/4L IS USM f/4L USM All four lenses have an excellent reputation for providing optical quality comparable to various prime lenses at all focal lengths in the zoom range.
Examples of photos taken with the Canon 70-200mm lens:
Canon EF-S 55-250mm F4-5.6 IS
Brand new: £130 or $140 | Second hand: £100 or $100
A temptingly cheap Canon lens. The Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS lens is a telephoto zoom lens for Canon EOS digital single-lens reflex cameras with a Canon EF-S lens mount. It provides a 35 mm equivalent focal length of 88-400mm.
Examples of photos taken with the Canon 55-250mm lens:
Tags: 10-22mm, 17-40mm, 20mm, 50-250mm, 70-200mm, 70-300mm, canon, digital cameras, lenses, telephoto lens, wide-angle lens
