Lens advice 350D wide angle

[hughjayteens]

Hi All,
I need to take some wide angle indoor photos for our website and the freebie 18-55 lens on my EOS350D just isn't doing it. I will also need some diffused lighting to get away from the horrible built in flash. We do use professional photographers for our major installs, but for our regular portfolio shots it doesn't make sense. I need to get pics like the ones we had a pro take such as these:

http://www.prestigeaudio.co.uk/gallerydetail.asp?S...

any suggestions on a budget!?

Cheers

Chris

[mikee boy]

I hate budgets.

However, I just got a Canon 10-22 EF-S lens and I'm really impressed with it. Mine was used for 400 quid and I can't believe how good it is.

[snoopstah]

The Sigma 10-20mm is an excellent super-wide on a budget, indistinguishable in image quality from the Canon 10-22mm I tried.

It's around 380 quid new, and a fair bit cheaper second-hand as you'd expect.

10mm on a 350D:




13mm on a 350D:

[RobDickinson]

You'll need a good speedlight with any lens wider than 18mm on the 350D.

The built in flash just isnt good enough, or wide enough, to fill that arc.

I have the sigma 10-20 and its a great landscape lens , best used at f8, wide open its not too sharp - so if your wanting wide open use look else where (theres a new f3.5 one out soon).

Thought of using a tripod and no flash (or cant?).

Edit - having looked at the pics get a 10-20 sigma and use a tripod. Heres one of mine... (tho HDR)

Edited by RobDickinson on Tuesday 14th April 22:40

[paul911]

I have a 350D and Sigma 10-20mm and believe this should be up to the job.

Even at F4 - 5.6 should be sharp enough IMHO. Anything above F8 really losers sharpness dramatically.

[andy-xr]

Just be a little bit careful with it @ 10mm, can do allsorts of funny things to seemingly straight lines

[hughjayteens]

Cheers chaps - the Sigma 10-22 is what I had spotted and I am currently watching one on eBay!
Some of the cinema rooms we build have very low light levels, but with some bright light sources such as LEDs, so am I correct in assuming that I would really need some sort of flash lighting to photograph these properly?

I think I also need to get some practice in and maybe get a photography book as I am still far from convinced I know what I am doing with it!

[mikee boy]

hughjayteens said:

Some of the cinema rooms we build have very low light levels, but with some bright light sources such as LEDs, so am I correct in assuming that I would really need some sort of flash lighting to photograph these properly?

It may be difficut to effectively fill a room with flash within your budget and without a lot of time to set it up. It might be better to get a cheap tripod and take longer exposures to compensate. Try putting your camera on a table in a dim room in an automatic mode and you'll see it can cope as long as it's still.

[RobDickinson]

Just get a tripod.

[hughjayteens]

I already have a tripod but my main issue is not knowing the best settings to use. Need an idiots guide to photography I think!

[RobDickinson]

For this kind of shot set up the camera frame the shot, set custom function mirror lock up to on, set timed shot.

Set it to f8(Av mode w sigma 10-20), focus at 4m ish (hyperfocal) meeter and shoot a test shot see how it looks (check out the histogram make suer you havnt blown any areas you want detail in and that the majority of the scene is somewhere in the center 2/3rds.

Adjust lighting (if possible) or shutter speed as needed.

If the scene is way out of a single shot range (like mine above) shoot a number of shots 1 stop apart and make a HDR.

[mikee boy]

Chris

I see you're in Watford. I'm sure there is somebody close with a suitable lens who could give you some time so that you could do the shots yourself (in return for coffee and biscuits obviously). Unfortunately I'm about 2 hours away.

Alternatively, take some test shots and post them on here to see if we can give you any advice.

Good luck

Mike

[hughjayteens]

RobDickinson said:

For this kind of shot set up the camera frame the shot, set custom function mirror lock up to on, set timed shot.

Set it to f8(Av mode w sigma 10-20), focus at 4m ish (hyperfocal) meeter and shoot a test shot see how it looks (check out the histogram make suer you havnt blown any areas you want detail in and that the majority of the scene is somewhere in the center 2/3rds.

Adjust lighting (if possible) or shutter speed as needed.

If the scene is way out of a single shot range (like mine above) shoot a number of shots 1 stop apart and make a HDR.

Sounds perfectly plausible but I have almost no idea what most of your above post means!!! Google here I come!