Advice on 10mm or 10-22mm lens for 550D

[isthistaken]

Hi there,

I have been asked to shoot some walk-through tours inside a few houses, which means I'll need a wider lens than my stock 18-55.

It looks like a 10mm would be an ideal size but that's only because I've seen lots of examples of 10mm.  Canon has a 10-22mm lens which can be bought used on ebay for $500-$600.  I also know Sigma has some for about $500.  But I honestly don't know enough about them to make a wise choice.  I'm intrigued by the idea of using "vintage" lenses with an adapter.  I always manually focus anyways (at least for video work).  For a walk-through tour I think I would assume to set a deep focus so as to not have to be changing focus at all (or much) during the tour.  They all all be filmed during daylight hours.

I would like to keep the cost under $600 if possible, and again, I don't mind playing around with adapters and old lenses IF it's worth the hassle.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

[ilguercio]

Vintage lenses don't go past 17mm.

[a1ex]

For extreme wide-angle I prefer the Samyang 8mm - the images can be straightened in post. This lets you use the Panini projection ( http://vedutismo.net/Pannini/ and http://wiki.panotools.org/The_General_Panini_Projection ), which has a much better balance between rectilinear and area distortions than a regular lens IMO.

ML can preview the Panini projection in playback mode.

One of my pictures: http://a1ex.magiclantern.fm/IMG_1584r.jpg

I've also read good things about Tokina 11-16, but didn't try one.

[Francis]

I have the Tokina 11-16 and love it. It is sharp corner-to-corner even wide open. Build quality is great, AF is snappy. I believe there is a Mk. II out now with a so perhaps the original has fallen in price if you can find one used. Very nice lens.

[babarasghar]

ist option ... Sigma 10-20 f4-5.6 ... best build quality in all UWA lenses ... including canon 10-22 n tokina 11-16 ... from hood till back cap best built ... but image quality is inferior to both ... especialy wide open ... but again it is cheapest ... find out in ur local markets about its rates ... idal for land scapes when stopped down till f8-f11 can work on a full frame body but with vignetting from 10mm till 15mm

2nd option ... canon 10-22mm f3.5-5.6 ... fast n silent af motor ... sharp ... pretty sharp actually ... build quality is great ... except hood ... sharper than sigma at f7-f9

3rd option tokina 11-16 f2.8 ... best lens out there ... a balanced lens ... 2.8f is a biggest plus ... build quality is better than canon ... but worst hood and lens cover ... af speed is also a bit slow ... slowest among all three ... but still much better than kit lens ... silent as well ... ideal for astrography and low light for its 2.8f aperture ... n it is sharp also at wide open ... my personal fav ... also usable on full frame but manual focus n vignetting ... except 16mm ... expensive of all three ...

4th option .. sigma 8-16mm hsm ... well this is one beautiful lens ... which only the APSC users can enjoy ... widest lens out there ... a bit pricy also ... might be most expensive ... but behold ... 8mm is really wide

[isthistaken]

Thank you all for your thoughts and suggestions.  This gives me a lot to consider.

I like the Tokina 11-16, but the price is about $600-700.  Ebay has lots but most are form Hong Kong... Not TOO far out of my budget, but I wonder if the 2.8 is really worth the higher price for my needs.  But everyone says it's sharper too.

I love the idea of 8mm, but I think that's a little wider than I need for this application, but wider would be better than not wide enough. 

Having never used anything wider than 18, I'm trying to find videos demonstrating the difference between 11mm and 10mm.  I know it's small, but if the 10 is just that much wider it might only make sense to go with the canon.  The cost is better too, but the f4 could be a little limiting.

I'll watch some online samples now.  My only concern is that it looks like a lot of the tour videos are shot using gopros or similar, so it's tough to get a good idea of the size I need.

Thanks for you help so far, it gives me a lot to get started on!

-Stephen

[DFM]

I'd always rent before buying. You can get something like a Sigma 8mm or Canon 10-22mm for around $70 a week.

[deslog]

I have a canon 10-22 lens and it was dropped attached to the camera onto a rock pool. The assistant was trying to put it back into one of those small camera bags and didn't do the buckle up properly and it fell out and hit the rock! the 550d suffered water ingress and died. The lens hit the rock with the hood on(which stopped it being scratched) but the sudden force of the impact damaged it. The lens now wobbles a bit but works perfectly! I have been using it for photos and video for 6months (professionally)so far with no problems. Oh by the way the 550d my friend lent me back then was put into his cupboard and I asked him if I could have it a month ago and he said yes since it did not work. Can you believe when I took it home to look at it it fired up fine and has been working perfectly since!

[Malcolm Debono]

I also love the Canon 10-22 and the reason I got it was that it has the least distortion when compared to similar lenses (obviously you'll still get distortion since it's ultra wide, which also explains why you shouldn't get something wider than you need). The only downside of this lens is the aperture since it can only go down to f/3.5 at 10mm and f/4.5 at 22mm. That said, I barely shoot wide open with this lens since I mainly use it when the camera's mounted on a tripod or during daytime.

[isthistaken]

Thanks again for all of your advice.  I ended up purchasing the Canon 10-22 used on ebay.  I love it so far!  I don't think the higher f-stop will be a problem as I will mostly be using it in controlled environments and with adequate preparation.

Thank you again for your advice, it definitely got me started in the right direction for researching.

-Stephen

[Videogolfo]

Get the Sigma 10-20mm, awsome lens, sharp and way cheaper than competitors.

[phunkyboy]

I have the canon 10-22 mm. the first day I used it I let it fall and smashed the filter miraculousy it worked perfect after and sustained no damage. Its a great lense.