I'm getting started with the 10D and a EF 28-135. It seems like a nice lens so far but is nowhere near wide enough for anything indoors. So I'm contemplating either going all out with a 15mm ("24"mm) fisheye, or a somewhat more purposeful 17-40mm zoom, or a cheaper job-specific non-zoom wide.

Does the 10D really turn a fisheye into a wide with it's crop factor?
Is 4 stops pretty slow for that 17-40?
Is it easy to live with a non-zoom lens? To me zoom seems important to get focus, compose without moving around etc but perhaps not.

Thanks for any help!

my walk around lens for a digital rebel is a tamron 24-135, which i like quite a bit, but it is still not as wide as i would like, so i have a 15mm fisheye ordered up. i can let you know how it works. should be here in another day or two. the problems is the crop factor makes wide angle not-so-wide, so i think you have to go wider out to compensate. yesterday, the light was really weird here, so i looked outside and there across the street from my house was a beautiful double rainbow. sure wished for that fisheye then.....

also, i have a nice 100mm macro lens which is a prime, and it can take a huge range of pictures. you should go to your camera store and test-drive a prime, you will be amazed at how little you miss having a zoom and how beautiful and sharp the images are!

I have a 28mm-105mm for my 10D as well and would be looking at a wide angle as well. Unfortunately, I'm also in love with USM and man those are expensive.

I've been taking the WD-58 off my GL1. Now... If I could only afford a decent tele that will work for both ;)

this guy's photography website is inspiring. on this page, he checks out a sigma 10-20mm ultra wide, which appears to take really nice shots and might be what you're looking for, jeff. seems worth a look....

http://www.pbase.com/liquidstone/sigma_10_20

the best stuff on his site, however, is his mad scientist experiments with the sigma 300-800mm (yes, you read that correctly), to which he adds 8x worth of teleconverters. heh. crazed!

quite nice!

Man that guy's bird photography makes me cry. And ironically he is color blind.

http://www.pbase.com/liquidstone/image/52821060 (http://www.pbase.com/liquidstone/image/52821060)

Thanks for all the help everyone!

Meryem Ersoz:
I'd like to hear (or see!) with the fe! I guess you are on 10D?
Someday I'll fall for primes, I'm still in beginner's league for now
If the Sigma 10-20 is good enough for that Rob guy to use then it's good enough for me!! Doesn't look like he's having trouble in low light either. Great site too, holy smokes

Keith Forman:
I have the WD58 as well! Great glass. Are you fitting it on somehow? The filter for my 28-135 is 72mm, too big :/ Maybe I'll try the XL2's wide converter, lol

I guess there is a major difference in the cameras- I have the Rebel D100? Sweet little DSLR, and the lens I have is a EFS 18-55. The WD and all my filters fit perfect.

Yeah I guess so, the I don't know anything about the D100 but is still DSLR so I guess it's a lens more then camera issue.
What do you need a wide for anyway, you already have native 18mm on a non-cropped EF-S glass :D Just kidding.

Oh and putting the XL2 WA adapter on my EF didn't work at all, lol

I tell you... with only like 300 different camera models already out, and new ones popping up, it is hard to keep track! I can't even find the series number on the box, or the cam, so I really have no idea what I have anymore. All it says is Rebel, and on the bottom it has DS6041.

I was just really happy to find out the stuff I already had for my GL1 fit it, less I need to buy. I use the WD for those occasions my son has a school show, and those rooms are awful short. I can get all of the show into the shot. The lens I have for it is ok for average shots, but doesn't do anything more than 50 foot very well. I picked up a cheapo tele-extender for my GL1, but it is useless... everything looks like you have cataracs!

jeff: i said i'd report in on the sigma 15mm fisheye...i really like it! it's exactly what i had hoped for...sharp, with a mild, not overly fishy effect, which is eliminated from landscapes simply by cropping (you need to crop anyway, because the lens hood vignettes) but appears in close-ups and medium shots as a nice effect (as opposed to a distortion).

i've taken some shots with it (dining room table, railroad tracks, wooded path, mountains), which illustrate the effect but nothing i would post just yet--no good shots, just test shots on the fly. as soon as i get a worthy shot or two, i'll post them so you can see for yourself. but it is an excellent addition, and i bought mine used from B&H for only $280, which included shipping, a nice price. i am very happy with this purchase. way, way nicer than the 24mm i was getting with my standard walkaround lens. sigma makes some good lenses and some eh lenses, and this one is a good lens, i think.

I have the 17-40 f/4L and I've been very happy with it. It's fast enough for most situations. When it isn't, I bring out the 50 1.8 which only costa 100 bucks and is awesome for all my low-light needs.

I have the Sigma 12-24mm wide angle. Not a fisheye. My fav of all my lenses. I used it on a 10d, can't imagine how insanely wide it will be on a 5d when I get one! Best money I've spent on a lens yet.

I wound up getting the Sigma 10-20, couldn't afford the Canon L that I wanted. It seems like a very square lens so far though, feels solid and the field of view is ridiculous. Completely useless when you want something that is any distance away but the degree of view seems like more then my eye(s).

Cool. I see that that 10-20 Sigma is available in one of my local stores. I'll be sure to try it out.

ooo, you got the 10-20, i have lens envy!

i'm pretty happy with my fisheye, though. it's pretty easy to de-fish and have really nice wide angles. 15mm cropped is pretty dang wide, i bet that 10mm look is huge!

I tried the Sigma 10-20 this afternoon and it was very nice and responsive. It had a version of the Canon USM so it focussed fast (of course it didn't have a big range to work with). I totally want it. However I don't have $650 to spend so I'll have to wait until next month if I want to pick it up.

Meryem: The 10mm is so big it can be disorienting sometimes :} Today I was posing objects right in front of the camera while using the finder, and I kept reaching far past where the stuff really was. I still want to get a fisheye some day but until then this thing is just stupid wide.

that's interesting. but i can't tell if you are happy or complaining about "stupid wide." is that stupid as in giddy woo-hoo or stupid as in stupid? is the lens marked at 15mm? i find that the sigma 15mm fisheye is just about right with my rebel. it's great for landscapes and things like bridges and RR tracks. more might be overkill. there's an 8mm out there which could probably take a shot of the back of my neck!

i love lens experiments.

Hehe, sorry :} I'm happy, the lens just has a crazy amount of view, there is some distortion, but I'm often surprised how little it really effects the picture. I don't even bother fixing it in post, someday I'll try it out of neglect.

"My Porsche is stupid fast. I had to put a 747 windscreen on in case off bug spatter"

Just think, somewhere, there has to be a 1mm. That's probably like, antelope-vision...