Tamron 17-35mm vs Canon 10-18mm

ebphotography wrote:

I am trying to buy an inexpensive wide angle lens for my canon t3i. My main purpose for the lens is my trip to peru so it will be used mostly outdoors for wide angle landscapes.

I am debating between the 17-35mm by tamron and the canon 10-18. They are around the same price but vary in the wide angle. I am wondering what I would be sacrificing with image quality if at all with the tamron lens because it doesn't have image stability.

Basically what I want to know is what is going to give me the best image quality for a wide angle shot for landscapes such as Machu Picchu:)

As everybody else says - the 10-18 is a real winner. Canon hit it out of the park with this one, and they've been cannibalizing sales of their 10-22 with this inexpensive lens.

The Tamron 17-35 as mentioned is for FF. I've always suspected and now I know that lenses designed for crop perform much better than those for FF. My Sigma 17-50/2.8 OS is nearly identical in sharpness to my EF 24-70/2.8 II on my 70D. On my 6D, the 24-70/2.8 has much higher resolution. In fact, this lens, or the Tamron 17-50/2.8 VC would be excellent as well.

a 10-20 or thereabouts is a true UWA for crop. 17 is not wide enough, but this lens makes for a good compromise if you've only got 1 lens to choose. 10-20 can come close to walk-around, but not quite.

I have a Sigma 10-20/4-5.6 for crop and love it. I could highly recommend this lens in used versions, even though the other poster here wasn't impressed. I had a 3.5 for a while I didn't think was as good, but I may have had a duff copy. I shoot interiors for my company, and I never traded that lens in as nothing was that much better. Not until I went to FF could I make a noticeable improvement.

So really, bottom line - not the Tamron 17-35. It wasn't even that good of a lens when new.

Above examples of the Sigma 10-20 on XTi or 60D.

Above Sigma 17-50/2.8 OS on 60D or 70D.

24-70 performance on 70D

Sigma 17-50 performance on 70D - $600 vs $2200

The advantage you'd have with a lens like the 17-50 is an aperture of 2.8. This is pretty important if shooting inside without flash. For wide angle there's the Tokina 11-16/2.8, which might be getting lower in price now that they've replaced it with the 11-20. A true wide angle is very handy when you're in cramped spaces. My 10-20 can make a bathroom look big enough to roller skate in!