Canon Digital SLR Lens Choice?

[yellowduke]

I am thinking about upgrading to a Canon 350D for use above and, eventually, below the surface. I am currently selling my old film SLR kit but will be keeping my current underwater compact digi setup until I am kitted up. I know one or two people have similar Canon kit already and I am interested to know what sort of lenses they have used and are using currently.

Cameras Underwater list the Canon EF-S 60mm USM for macro and the Canon EF-S 10-22mm USM for wide angle. Are there better lens choices than these? Having looked around it is possible to get good prices on the camera and the lenses especially with the Canon cashback offer which is worth £105 in this case.

It will be next year before I look to buy a housing as I want to learn the camera first and I can't afford it all at once!

Jim

[Tim Ingmire]

Can't help you with Canon, but I have to ask, why Canon and not Nikon?

[recurve]

I can't comment on the particular lenses you mention, but on the whole, Canons own glass is usually pretty damned good, especially if you can stretch to L series lenses.

My own experience has been that my Tamron 19-35mm represented excellent value for money (bought new off ebay from the states). My Canon 28-135 IS is a great general purpose lens on a digital (not for underwater use though) and my Canon 'L' 300mm f2.8 is awesome (but can you imagine a lens port for THAT?

Keep on hoping to pick up an Ikelite housing I can squeeze my dated but very robust D60 into, and in the meantime make do with a point and shoot Fuji underwater.

PS why not have a dive trip out to HK and pick up your gear there? The savings could pay for the holiday

[Narced at sea level]

If you don't want to take the DSLR underwater yet - then I'd hold fire on buying one until you are - there's no guarantee that in a year or so you will still be able to get a housing for a Eos 350D as it will probably have been superceeded a couple of times in that period.

the lenses sound pretty good - especially the wide angle zoom - in general the factors you want to look for are minimal focus distance ( the closer the better obviously) and quick autofocussing.

you might want to look at the 15mm Fisheye too.

worth looking at sigma lenses - they are every bit as good as original eos kit (if not better in some cases) but significnatly cheaper.

[yellowduke]

As far as I can see the Canon 350D is the most highly rated entry level DSLR camera. There are excellent deals around for it as well. I had previously looked at the Nikon D70 and Canon 300D as well. Of those I preferred the Nikon but now the 350D looks best. Since I have no previous lenses to suit either the choice is really down to price and product reviews. Really what I need to know is simply should I opt for the EF-S USM lenses or something by Sigma, Tamron or older EF lenses. The USM lenses have been developed specifically for the DSLR so may be better because of that reason.

Jim

[Narced at sea level]

The canon 350d is a lovely bit of kit - if I could afford one that's what I'd go for - however I'm an EOS user and have several EOS lenses already so it makes sense for me to stick with that system - however the Nikon D70 isn't a million miles off and if you have been a nikon user up until now then it might name more sense to go for that - I don't know which film slr you use at the monent so i can't comment but you will find that the actual camera itself is the cheapest part of the system as a whole - the expensive bits are the lenses and the strobes - bear that in mind when selecting your system.

I think the main difference with the USM lenses is that they have an additional magnifier lens that allows the DSLR to have the same operation as FSLR lenses.
With DSLR's the angle of acceptance is reduced by around 20% due to the size of the CCD - or something like that - really wizzy techies will be able to tell you exactly how this works - but the upshot is that for example a non USM 24mm lens on a Film slr would have the same angle of acceptance as a non USM 20mm on a DSLR - more or less.

[Daniel Taylor]

Personally I prefer to use a 90mm macro rather than the 60mm. The extra distance between the lens and the object underwater is not going to be great enough to make any real difference. The extra difference also helps avoiding squashing the poor thing you are taking the picture of.

As another Nikon user I don't know about Canons lenses but the Tamron 90mm macro is a cracker. Really sharp and good quality.

As a rule prime lenses are better quality than zooms and likely to be faster. There is unlikely to be any great benefit in having a ultra zoom underwater compared to a descent prime.

Just my pennies worth.

Daniel

[yellowduke]

As I understand it the EF-S 60mm USM is a fixed focal length macro lens that is the equivalent of a 96mm lens used with film. A standard EF 50mm lens might be an alternative as that comes out as an 80mm equivalent. The 10-22mm wide angle is a zoom equivalent to a 16-35mm lens used with film. The CCD sensor multiplys the lens focal length by 1.6 with these cameras. I believe that this is a common trait with DSLRs. I think I will have to go with the recommended lenses for this reason. Fortunately the mutiplying factor will work in my favour when it comes to long distance zoom photography so I could use an older EF lens to my advantage.

Unfortunately my old Pentax isn't compatible with anything these days so that is on Ebay and should pay for a battery for the Canon! I am thinking about next February or March for buying a housing so availability shouldn't be a problem. If Cameras Underwater have it on offer before then I might be tempted though.

Jim

[Keiron]

A most excellent lens choice.

The 10-22 is an absolute gem for underwater wide-angle.
The 60mm is much better over the 100mm f2.8.

You have chosen well, you'll find these are fast becoming the lenses of choice for underwater Canon shooters. The only one missing from your stable is the renowned Sigma 15mm fisheye for those fun shots.

The USM is merely the autofocus motor inside the lens and is nothing to do with the Field of View crops prevalent in the majority of DSLR's.

[Narced at sea level]

Originally Posted by Keiron

The USM is merely the autofocus motor inside the lens and is nothing to do with the Field of View crops prevalent in the majority of DSLR's.

yes - but aren't the new digitsl only eos lenses ( which also happen to be USM) corrected for digital lenses so that the focal length they quote is actually the one you get?