Affordable Wide Angle Low Light Lens

[Metalliogre]

Good Morning!

I am in search for a nice wide angle low light lens I can use on my 70D. I would prefer something under $500. I am looking to capture photos of the night sky and landscapes at all times of the day/night. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

[TTMartin]

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@ebiggs1 wrote:

Return it.  It will never work for you.

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And get the EF-S 10-18 IS STM.

[Waddizzle]

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@TTMartin wrote:

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@ebiggs1 wrote:

Return it.  It will never work for you.

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And get the EF-S 10-18 IS STM.

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Great lens, but falls short on the low light front. 

I hate to say it, but Rokinon, and a few others, have Canon soundly beaten, hands down, on the wide angle, wide aperture lens market.  One quirk of the Rokinon lenses is that they can show high CA outside of the DOF, but  within the DOF they tend to be razor sharp.  This behavior is quite the opposite of the focusing behavior of most lenses.

I like the idea that Canon does not make any manual focus lenses for EF mount.  But, there is really nothing wrong with making high quality manual lenses for the EF mount, IMHO. But, I can see why Marketing would not want to do so.  {Warning, I'm an Operations guy, so i am notorious for blaming Sales.]

Don't get me wrong. Canon does make high quality, manual focus lenses.  Their EOS cinemat lenses are reputed to be the best in the business.  NBC used them exclusivelhy at the Rio Olympics in 2016.  Those images were very high resolution, and razor sharp with very little CA. 

But, the Rokinon manual focus can be pretty good, assuming you can get your hands on a good copy, supposedly.  Well, I have had no problems with the more costly versions of their manual focus lenses, the cinema verions of them.

[Metalliogre]

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@ebiggs1 wrote:

Return it.  It will never work for you.

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How do you feel about the lens that TTMartin suggested? Should I still go with the Rokinon? I don't mind the manual focus at all, I just want beautiful pictures.

[TTMartin]

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@Metalliogre wrote:

Should I still go with the Rokinon? I don't mind the manual focus at all, I just want beautiful pictures.

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I do own the Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 and the Rokinon 8mm f/3.5 Fisheye. I purchased them before Canon released the EF-S 10-18mm IS STM. Before the EF-S 10-18mm IS STM the Rokinons were the lens of choice and I recommended them.

However, the Rokinons do have quality control issues. I had to return the first 14mm lens because it was bad. The 8mm has some sort of flaw that shows up in the lower right of every photo when shooting in sunlight that I missed during the return period.

The EF-S 10-18mm IS STM deservedly has great reviews. The 4 stop IS more than makes up for the slower aperture, by allowing you to use a slower shutter speed even handheld.  

Keep in mind, ebiggs does not regularly shoot with an APS-C crop sensor camera like you own. His experience with lenses on those cameras comes second hand, or from short tryouts with them. 

[TTMartin]

ebiggs dislikes anything I suggest simply because I'm the one who suggested it.

[ebiggs1]

"ebiggs dislikes anything I suggest simply because I'm the one who suggested it."

Actually that isn't the reason.  

[Metalliogre]

You guys are awesome! Haha. I am learning so much. Seriously!