The first question a lot of new Canon EOS DSLR owners will ask is “what Canon EOS lenses should I buy?”. If this is their first digital SLR, perhaps even their first SLR or digital camera, this is a reasonable question. Those with previous experience with the Canon EOS system will probably already have a bag of Canon EOS lenses, or at least enough experience to know what they want!
This review is for the new users. The assumption is that they don’t want to spend $7000 on an EF 600/4L IS USM, and indeed they probably don’t even want to spend $1150 on an EF 300/4L IS USM. I’ve chosen a series of Canon EOS lenses which the new user might be most interested in. These are mostly zooms and mostly priced in the $200-$500 range. I’ve avoided recommending most of the low end, plastic mount, inexpensive Canon EOS lenses normally sold with Rebel series bodies because, quite frankly, they aren’t all that good. If you’re spending $900-$1500 on a digital SLR it really doesn’t make sense to buy the cheapest lens you can find for it when spending another $100-$200 can give you significantly better performance.
I’m also assuming that most new Canon EOS DSLR owners probably won’t be interested in many prime (non-zoom) lenses. For those who are intersted in primes, all the Canon EOS prime lenses are excellent and they can all be recommended if you have need for a fast lens of a particular focal length. I have included the 50/1.8 though since it’s so cheap and so useful, it’s almost a crime not to own one!
The 300D (Digital Rebel), 350D (Digital Rebel XT), 400D (Digital Rebel XTi), EOS D30, D60, EOS 10D, 20D and 30D have sensors smaller than the normal 35mm film frame. The format is known as “APS-C” because it’s approximately the same size as th eold APS-C film format. The consequence of this is that the image recorded is effectively a cropped version of a 35mm image. Since it’s cropped it has a smaller angle of coverage - and another way to say this is that the effect is equivalent to putting a longer lens on the full frame camera. So, for example, if you shoot with a 50mm lens on an EOS 300D, 350D, 20D or 10D, you get the same coverage (or FOV - Field of View) as you would with a lens 1.6x longer - 80mm - on a full frame 35mm camera. This is sometimes called a “1.6x” multiplication factor, though it’s more accurately called a “1.6x” cropping factor.
Canon have two lens lines. The first are their “EF” series lenses. These will fit on any EOS camera body ever made, including all 35mm fil, APS film, APS-C digital and 1.3x and 1x (full frame) DSLRs. Any EF lens will work with any EOS body. The second line of lenses are the “EF-S” series. These lenses have reduced frame coverage suitable only for use with recent APS-C DSLRs. That means they will fit on the Digital Rebel, Digital Rebel XT, Digital Rebel XTi, EOS 20D and EOS 30D. The advantage of EF-S lenses is that they can be slightly smaller than EF lenses, they can be optimized for the smaller sensor size and they can be made with shorter focal lengths then full frame lenses (for example the EF-S 10-22 can be made, but the widest lens made for full frame cameras in the EF series is 16-35mm).
In the table above the first column lists the actual focal length and the second column lists the focal length you would need to use on a full frame 35mm camera to get the same angle of view. As you can see, a 300mm lens “becomes” a 480mm lens on an APS-C DSLR - which is great if you want a telephoto lens! At the other end of the range though the effect may be less desirable. Your super wide-angle 20mm lens now has the coverage of only a 32mm lens on a full frame 35mm camera and 18mm becomes the equivalent of a 29mm lens on 35mm full frame.
Canon EF-S 10-22/3.5-4.5
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This is the widest lens available for the 300D, 350D and 20D (won’t fit the 10D). At 10mm it gives you the same field of view as a 16mm lens mounted on a full frame 35mm camera. Though it’s not cheap (around $675) it does give you that ultra-wide coverage. |
Canon EF 17-40/4L
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Though again it’s not cheap at $675 and probably not likely to be high on the list for new Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT owners, many EOS 30D/20D owners are buying this lens. It does give you true wide angle coverage (equal to a 27mm lens on a full frame 35mm camera) and being an “L” series lens it’s built to professional standards with high quality optics, a silent USM ring motor, distance scale and comes with a hood. It’s certainly a recommended lens if you can afford it. It has full frame coverage so can be used on any Canon EOS film or digital body. |
Canon EF-S 17-85/4-5.6 IS USM
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The 17-85/4-5.6 IS USM gives the same coverage on a Digital Rebel XT or 20D as the EF 28-135/3.5-5.6 IS USM does on a full frame 35mm camera (note, it’s an EF-S lens and won’t fit the EOS 10D). This is a very useful range for everything from landscapes to portraits and covers the focal lengths that most photographers will use most often. The Image Stabilization (IS) means it can be handheld at 3 stops slower shutter speeds then a non-IS lens and still provide equally sharp images. It’s not an inexpensive lens (about $510), but it can replace several others and it might be the only lens some photographers will need. |
Canon EF-S 18-55/3.5-5.6 USM
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The EF-S 18-55/3.5-5.6 is supplied as a standard “kit” lens with the EOS 300D, 350D and EOS 20D. It can’t be bought separately, but the similar EF-S 18-55/3.5-5.6 USM can. The only difference is the USM version has (obviously) A USM motor. This lens gives the coverage of a 29-88mm lens on a 35mm camera - very similar to the popular 28-90mm lenses often sold in camera “kits”. It’s one of Canon’s low end, inexpensive lenses and typically they do not perform as well as Canon’s mid-range lenses. However, for $140 (or around $100 for the non-USM version bought as part of a kit) you get a lens with coverage it might cost you $700 to get with Canon’s better lenses so I think it is a lens well worth considering.
Canon EF 20-35/3.5-4.5 USM
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This is the least expensive of Canon’s higher quality wide-angle lenses. Performance is good, even wide open and it has a ring USM motor giving silent operation and full time manual focus (i.e. you don’t have to switch from AF to manual focus). It’s well built with a metal lens mount, distance scale and IR focusing marks. It also works very well on Canon EOS 35mm film bodies. The cost is higher than the 18-55, it’s not as wide and the zoom range is smaller, so you have to decide whether it’s worth spending more. A lot depends on what other lenses you buy since you don’t want too much overlap in focal length. |
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Canon EF 24-85/3.5-4.5
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Another higher quality lens with ring USM and full time manual focus. It matches pretty well in focal length with either a 75-300, 100-300 or 70-200mm lens without to much overlap or too much of a gap, so it’s a good choice for the semi-wide to semi-telephoto lens of a higher quality lens pair. The only drawback is, of course, it’s not very wide on an EOS 300D, 350D, 20D or 10D, 24mm being the equivalent of a 38mm on a 35mm full frame camera. |
Canon EF 28-105/3.5-4.5 USM
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This is a workhorse 35mm lens, highly recommended as a relatively low cost, high quality alternative to Canon’s cheap “low end” lenses. Much better built, ring USM motor with full time manual focus, distance scales, IR focus marks and a metal mount. It takes 58mm filters. The only reservation is that 28mm isn’t all that wide on an EOS 300D, 350D, 20D or 10D since it gives the same field of view as a 45mm lens on a full frame 35mm camera. If that’s not a problem for you this lens is maybe the best $240 you can spend. |
Note that there is also a EF28-105/4-5.6 USM which is a totally different lens! The cheaper 4-5.6 version has different optics, a plastic lens mount, a micro (not ring) USM motor and lacks full time manual focus and distance scales. It sells for around $160. The 3.5-4.5 version has a metal mount, full time manual focus and better optics. It sells for around $240, but it’s well worth the extra cost. The II version of the 3.5-4.5 lens is mainly a slight cosmetic upgrade of the original 3.5-4.5. The optics are identical.
Canon EF 28-135/3.5-5.6 IS USM
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One of my personal favorite lenses, especially on a full frame camera. It has IS (Image Stabilization) which is a scheme which allows you to hand hold this lens at shutter speeds 2 to 3 stops slower than you could without IS and still get sharp images. If you don’t like carrying a tripod this is invaluable. It’s a sharp lens, one of Canon’s better mid-range zooms. Again the 28mm wide end equates to 45mm in full frame 35mm terms, but the lens also goes out to 135mm - which is 216mm in full frame terms - and that’s a respectable telephoto. |
Canon EF 28-200/3.5-5.6
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Though the 28-200 sounds attractive, especially to those who just want one lens that does everything, the large zoom range results in lower performance than lenses like the 28-135 IS. Especially at the 200mm end this lens has a reputation for being soft, and even at shorter focal lengths it’s not as good as some of the shorter range zooms. If you must have just one lens, it’s the only affordable Canon choice (the 28-300L lens is $2500!), but it’s still not cheap at $360 or so.
Canon EF 50/1.8 II
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It’s under $80, it’s small, it’s light, it’s sharp and it’s 2-3 stops faster than any of the zooms. What more can I say. Buy one. You won’t regret it. |
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Canon EF 55-200/3.5-5.6 II
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Another of Canon’s low end lenses. Originally designed to be sold with APS film cameras and then discontinued since APS never took off, it’s now back in a “mark II” version for use with the Digital rebel, Digital Rebel XT and EOS 20D. Plastic lens mount, no distance scales, no ring USM or full time manual focus (though it’s a USM lens, it’s a different type of USM). It does match the 18-55 in focal length but it’s not inexpensive and unless you really need the 55mm focal length I think that a 75-300 would be a better buy. I doubt you’d miss the 55-75 range much. |
Canon EF 70-300/4-5.6IS USM
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This new lens, announced August 22nd 2005, is a replacement for the EF 75-300IS USM. It has 5mm more on the wide end (70mm vs. 75mm), upgraded IS (3rd generation), with a panning mode, upgraded autofocus performance, upgraded coatings optimized for digital, a zoom lock at 70mm and new optics including one UD element.The sharpness of this lens should is better than the original 75-300IS and this is quite noticable at 300mm. The only downside is that the price has increased a little, but I think the new lens is worth the extra cost. |
