DPReview.com is closing April 10th - Find out more

Budget lens for auto shots?

Started Feb 15, 2013 | Discussions thread
photonius Veteran Member • Posts: 6,895
Re: Budget lens for auto shots?

mpiper wrote:

I'm looking at picking up a lens to use to take shots at car shows and other automotive events. The final shots would range from wide shots showing the full car at a 1/4 view to narrow shots focusing on paintwork/details with bokeh in the background.

The budget I'm setting for myself is $500.

The lenses I've looked at are:

  1. Sigma 18-250 Macro OS f/3.5-6.3
  2. Canon EF-S 17-85 ISf/4-5.6
  3. Canon EF-S 18-135 IS STM f/3.5-5.6

I'm leaning towards the Sigma because I can use it in more situations than the others. I'm looking at the 17-85 because it has the sharpest focus of the three. And the 18-135 is a compromise between the other two.

Does anyone have any experience with these lenses to offer any advice on which they think would be the best solution?

Amongst all these lenses, what's wrong with the 18-55 IS? None of your suggested lenses are fast, and the 18-55 IS also has a pseudo-macro mode to get really close (1:3). If you want to complement this with a tele, the 55-250 IS would be recommended. These two lenses give you better IQ than the Sigma.

And will 17 or 18mm be wide enough for this, or do you need perhaps even wider?

-- hide signature --

*** Life is short, time to zoom in *** ©

 photonius's gear list:photonius's gear list
Canon EF 100-400mm F4.5-5.6L IS II
Keyboard shortcuts:
FForum PPrevious NNext WNext unread UUpvote SSubscribe RReply QQuote BBookmark MMy threads
Color scheme? Blue / Yellow