Rec. Me A Lens!!!

[ITSTOCK]

I need a new lens to take interior house shots (need to be able to see a lot of the room and take notice of lighting). I know a good wide angle lens can reach 1000+, and I'm really not looking for that. What's a decent (even used) lens I can look for? This is for a canon digital rebel. The goal is I would like to see the "majority" of the room. I currently have a 35mm-80mm lens.

Thanks
Steve

[ITSTOCK]

All these good photographers and no recs?!?!? I want to buy asap, just throw out some suggestions.

Thanks
Steve

[cburwell]

Sigma 12-34 is a good lens. Most people use it for landscapes, but I have seen some great results with indoor shots from that lens.

I have had good lick with sigma4less.com. I bought my macro lens from them, and I have no complaints.

[TROLL]

You'll want to pick up a wide zoom, and hopefully you are already using a tripod. I would say a 17-35mm or the 12-24mm mentioned above would both be good ranges for wide shots... you may need the 12mm end for your use but I'd recommend going into your local 'pro' shop and checking a couple of them out.
If you're doing interior shots, then distortion will be a factor to consider in your purchase. Less expensive lenses will show more distortion, especially as you zoom out more (wider). This will really show when shooting architecture of any type as it deals with a lot of straight lines.

[ITSTOCK]

The 17-35mm is $1200 (unless I'mlooking at the wrong one), and I can't find any 12-34mm lenses. I'm really shooting for a couple hundred dollars, as opposed to over a 1000. Thanks for the replies, and I'll keep looking. Are there any decent camera sites with classifieds sections that I can look in?

Thanks again
steve

[WhiteXFire]

The cheapest I see is $500-700...

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=breadCrumb&A=search&Q=&ci=12039

The Sigma is 12-24, not 12-34.

[ITSTOCK]

Any places to look used? Is ebay a decent place?

[cburwell]

The Sigma is 12-24, not 12-34.

Yes, that was a typo on my part.

I really do not think you will find a quality, wide lens for $200. As Troll stated, even the "cheaper" ($500-700) wide zooms are going to produce distorted lines at their widest point. On top of that you will be sacrificing image quality.

Most of my lenses are Sigma's "EX" line, which is supposed to be their highest quality lense. Even from them there is a noticable quality difference between the pictures from my Sigma lenses and my one Nikkor 50MM.

You may also want to look at a prime or fixed lense. These should produce better results then a cheap zoom, and it should save you some money over buying a high-quality wide zoom.

[cburwell]

Any places to look used? Is ebay a decent place?

Ebay is a decent source for used lenses. You just have to be careful, if you can have have one of your photography buddies check over the auction before you commit to a bid.

B&H, Adorama, and KEH are also good sources for used glass.

[ray@turbotek]

troll says:
you could look for a 20mm prime, or even a bit wider if you could find it without getting too expensive. the quality in prime lenses is pretty much always quite good and distortion will be kept to a minimum on a prime too. the drawback to a prime lens is that you dont have the freedom to zoom in or out.
i think sigma makes a wide lens thats more affordable than the other expensive lenses you've been looking at, might want to check that out.
as for where to look for used, check www.photo.net , www.fredmiranda.net , www.sportsshooter.com , hmm i'm sure there are others. ebay can be ok i guess but watch for sketchy vendors, there are a lot of them on there.

[ITSTOCK]

I don't "need" a wide angle lens per say, I can always stitch together. I'll try those sites out. So is 20mm the lowest you can go without having a wide angle lens?

Thansk again for the replies

[cburwell]

20MM is generally considered a wide angle lens, but with the 1.5-1.6 factor with a digital sensor it is less wide.

You could look for a wider lens, but the price could jump a good bit. I use a 24mm Zoom on my digital SLR, and it is plenty wide for my needs. I think 20MM should be fine with you

[TROLL]

you cant take interior shots without a wide lens... no sense in buying anything else and then stitching them together every time.