Wide-Angle Lens Recommendations for Canon SLR Digital Camera?

Recently I bought the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT 8.0-Megapixel SLR
Digital Camera. So far I love this camera. I'm purely a novice
photographer and take photos as a hobby, whenever time permits.

I've been looking around for a reasonably priced wide-angle lens for
this camera. I don't know much about shopping for this type lens and
was hoping some of you maybe able to recommend a few.

Thanks,

Dave

 

What is reasonably priced and what do you consider wide angle?

Tokina 19-35mm is a steal at $150
Sigma 15mm Fisheye is entertaining at $400
Canon 20mm is spectacular at $450

Jim

 

Add to the above with,
Canon 10-22mm best of the Canon compaible very wide lenses But $7-800
or so
Tokina 12-24mm f4 good reviews $450
Tokina 17mm $300 or so
Canon has a 15mm fisheye at about $500

Tom

 

Thanks to the both of you for the replies. Reasonably priced I was
hoping to find something in the $200 - $300 range. The only lens I have
now is the standard 18-55mm Canon lens that came with purchase.

Right now I'm looking for a wide-angle lens for landscape shots. Then
possibly picking up a Fisheye lens further down the road.

 

[POSTED TO rec.photo.digital.slr-systems - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]

Why not shoot and stitch panoramas? I've gotten some spectacular results that
way.

 

When you shoot and stitch the panoramas together, do you use a tripod
to take level shots or do you take the shots handheld.

Also, any particular software you could recommend to stitch the
panoramas together that's around $100.

Thanks again,

- Dave

 

Autostitch is fine for hobby stuff, and is free:
http://www.cs.ubc.ca/~mbrown/autostitch/autostitch.html

 

I'll take one of those $7 ones....

 

Presumably you have the kit lens which goes down to 18mm or so.
If so this is the 35mm film equivalent of 28mm, decent enough wide angle
coverage for most users, especially beginners.
To get wider coverage you have the option of zooms in the +/- 10-20mm range
from Tamron, Tokina, Sigma and Canon.
Despite what is posted on this newsgroup the more expensive Canon may not
be the best choice for you.
Before spending money on more lenses I think most people would be better off
investing in a good image manipulation program, e.g. Elements or CS2, and
learning how to process their images. In particular you should learn to use
the raw format.

 

Thanks Again for all the replies, its all very helpful.

Paul Murray, I was playing around with the software you directed me to
at http://www.cs.ubc.ca/~mbrown/autostitch/autostitch.html . This is
exactly what I'm looking for, but this software seems to kill the
resolution of the photos. Any recommendations on panorama/stitch
software out there that can handle higher resolution photos?

Thanks,

- Dave

 

Have a look at the software that came with your camera. I don't have
my own CDs to hand at the moment but I'm sure Canon's PhotoStitch was
included in the software that came with my 350D.
Al

 

SNIP

http://www.tawbaware.com/maxlyons/gigapixel.htm
http://www.tawbaware.com/maxlyons/
http://www.tawbaware.com/ptasmblr.htm

http://www.autopano.net/

http://www.ptgui.com/

Bart

 

I'm happy to say that I just paid $670 (including overnight shipping) from
www.buydig.com - not gray market. It just arrived today. So far I'm very
impressed.

 

I've read quite good reviews for the Sigma 10-20mm. It's in the $350-$450
range, depending on how hard you shop around.

 

How will that enable me to take wide angle pictures?

----- Paul J. Gans