I'm looking for a good wide angle lens for my Canon XTI for landscape and portrait shots. Any suggestions?

Question

I need a lens for my Canon XTI that is equally good for landscape shots as it would be for taking shots of my one year old daughter. Something that shoots wide, perhaps has IS, and isn't too expensive (under $500). I'm open to non-Canon lenses at this point.

Answer 1

You might also consider the Tamron 17-50mm f2.8. It's very well built, offers a wide, constant aperture, and can be picked up for under $500.

Answer 2

The Canon 50mm f/1.8 is a very good and inexpensive lens.  It would be good for portrait but not quite wide enough for landscape IMO.

I'm a big fan of prime lenses rather than zooms.  You can get the 50mm prime online for about $100.  Highly reviewed and considered the best lens for the buck for Canon DSLR APS sensors.

Answer 3

The best wide angle lens for landscapes is the Canon 10-22 mm zoom.  It however is nearly twice your budget.  You can look at the Tokina line of lenses (they provide many of the lenses sold by Pentax) ... good glass and construction

http://www.tokinalens.com/products/tokin...

Wide angle lenses are NOT portrait lenses ... for that you will want to use the lens you got with your camera (18-55 mm ?)  At 50 to 55 mm you have the perfect focal length for shooting portraits.

IS or VR is really not necessary until you start shooting lenses 200 mm and longer

Answer 4

Check out the Canon 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM lens, it's great glass,  I do a lot of landscape shots with it, and use it as a portrait lens often.  It falls within your price range.

Answer 5

When a wide angle lens is used to shoot a portrait, this is what the subject looks like:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/little_pook...

A short telephoto results in a normal perspective, like this one:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/little_pook...