Best Canon Lens
January 27, 2008 by Norman · 34 Comments
If you are interested in Nikon lenses, please read best Nikon lenses.
The following recommendations are based on optical quality and budgets.
Canon offers instant rebates on lenses and speedlites from Oct.22, 2009 to Jan. 16, 2010
Best walk around lenses / standard lenses for Canon APS-C digital SLRs:
For all these cameras, the best walk around lens is Canon EF-S 17-55 mm f/2.8 IS USM.
With IS and f2.8, I was able to get good pictures at speed of ¼ s in dark!. The color, contrast, resolution of this lens are excellent. With 1.6 factor, it is corresponding to 27-88 mm in a 35 mm camera.
Buy Canon EF-S 17-55mm at the best price
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The best telephoto lenses:
The telephoto lens that you need is Canon EF 70-200 mm f/4L IS USM. It is relative light at 700 g with 4 stop IS, this is one of the best lens available on the market.
Another cheaper alternative is Canon 70-200 f4L USM($539).
For the comparison of Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS, Canon 70-200mm f/4L, Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS and Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L, read here. However, if money is not an issue, the best telephoto lens is Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 IS USM. This lens is sharp, with large aperture, and three stop image stabilization. It is a great walk around lens, a great portrait lens and a great indoor sports lens as well. This lens has great building quality and image quality. A new Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM will be available in Feb 2010. The new Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM features one fluorite and five UD elements for increased optical quality and reduced chromatic aberration. It has a minimum focusing distance of 1.2m/3.9 ft. at all zoom settings. The most significant improvement over the 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM is the 4 stops of image stabilization instead of three.
If you feel these lenses are too expensive, an one lens solution is Canon EF 24-105 mm f/4 IS USM ($979). If you still feel this one is expensive, then the kit lens with Canon 40D: canon EF 28-135 mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM is your choice. For the best value of non canon lens, Tamera 17-50 mm f/2.8 and Tamera AF 18-250 mm f/3.5-6.3 are good choices. In summary:
- Favorite higher end lens: Canon EF-S 17-55 mm f/2.8 ISUSM($1030) and Canon EF 70-200 mm f/4L IS USM
- Favorite lower end lens: Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS ($183, or ca $100 sold with XSi) and Canon EF 70-200mm f4L USM or Canon EF70-300mm f/ 4-5.6 IS USM ($556)
- For beginners, the most affordable options are the kit lens Canon 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS with Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4.0-5.6 IS ($289 on amazon). Both Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS and Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4.0-5.6 IS received great reviews at photozone.de.
Best Canon lenses
- Favorite higher end travel lens Canon EF 24-105 mm f4 IS USM ($979), lower end travel lens: Canon EF 28-135 mm f/3.5-5.6 ISUSM. details: Best Canon travel lenses, read here.
- Favorite wide angle for EF-S Camera Canon EF-S 10-22 f/3.5-4.5 USM
- Best low light lenses: Canon EF 50 mm f /1.4, on tight budget, Canon EF 50 mm f/1.8
- Best Macro lenses: Canon EF 100mm f /2.8 USM or Canon EF-S 60 mm f/2.8 Macro USM, for best macro lenses, read here
- Best Portrait lenses: Canon EF 85 mm f /1.8 USM or the best Canon EF 85mm f/1.2 if you are really serious on portrait photography. For detailed information on portrait lenses, read here.
- Best Outdoor sports lenses: Canon EF 400 mm f/2.8L IS USM, Canon EF 300 mm f/2.8L IS USM, Canon EF 70-200 mm f /2.8L IS USM
- Best In door sports lenses: Canon EF 135mm f/2.0 L USM Lens
- For more detailed information on Canon sports lenses, read here.
- Best affordable wildlife lenses: Canon EF 100-400 mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM; Best wild life lens:Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS USM, For more details on best wildlife lenses for Canon read here.
- Best Canon wedding lenses read here.
- For landscape lens read best canon landscape lenses
Best lenses need best filters. For the best polarizing filters, read here. For the best UV filters, read here.
Many discussions at dpreview.com and flickr suggest that there aren’t any “best” lenses, which is true. But the list above gives a good idea for beginners to build up their lenses collections. For most people, it is necessary to have at least a standard lens or walk around lens, such as the most affordable Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS, or Canon EF-S17-55 mm f/2.8 IS USM and a telephoto lens, such as affordable Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS or Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L ISUSM, or Canon 70-200mm f4L USM. For people who bought entry level Canon XSi or Canon 450D, might be it is good idea to buy the affordable sets Canon EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS and Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS. For people who bought Canon 40D, it might be good to buy Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 ISUSM and Canon EF 70-200mm f/4LIS USM.
Best lenses for Canon full frame DSLRs such as Canon 5D Mark II:
Best walk around lenses:
Canon EF 24-70mm f2.8 L USM is one of the best walk around lenses available. It is very sharp with top building quality. This lens focuses quite and very fast, with full time manual focus. Canon 24-70mm is also weather sealed. However, this lens does not have IS, which makes it not so great at low light conditions such as in door. This is why I prefer Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM for small sensor Canon DSLRs.
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM is the kit lens of Canon 5D Mark II. It is one of the most popular and best walk around lenses for both small sensor and full frame Canon digital SLRs. The lens has very quite and fast focus with full time manual focus. Canon 24-105mm f/4L IS features a 3-stop image stabilization. This makes it a great travel lens which is especially handy when no tripod is available. The only downsides are pronounced barrel distortions and higher than expected CAs at the wide-end of the zoom range.
Best telephoto lens:
Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM is one of the most useful lenses and it is also a good portrait lens, sports lens, and walk around lens as well. It is a must-have for Canon 5D Mark II owners. Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM features excellent image quality, fast and quite focus, top building quality, large aperture, and 3-stop image stabilization.
Canon Digital SLR Resources:
Canon digital SLRs:
Nikon D90 and Canon Rebel T1i comparison
Canon 500D /rebel T1i and Canon 450D /rebel XSi comparison
Nikon D90 preview and comparison with Nikon D80, Canon 50D and Canon XSi, which is for you?
Canon XSi (Canon 450D) or Nikon D80, Nikon D40, Which one to buy?
Which Camera has the best video recording: Canon 5D Mark II, Nikon D90 or Canon 500D /T1i?
Canon 5D Mark II review and comparison with Nikon D700
The advantage of full-frame digital SLR
Canon EOS 450D (XSi) , Canon 40D and Canon 400D (XTi) comparison
Should you upgrade Canon 40D to 50D?
Nikon D300 and Canon EOS 40D Comparison
Canon lenses:
Best third party lenses for Canon DSLR
Best wildlife lenses for Canon DSLRs
Filters for digital SLR lenses
Do you need UV filters for your lenses, read here.
Best UV filters are B+W MRC UV filters, read more.
The most useful filters for digital SLRs
Best polarizer filters are B+W MRC polarizer, read more
Canon digital SLR accessories:
Canon EOS 50D accessories: lenses, battery grip, remote control, tripod
Canon 40D lenses and accessories
Canon XSi guide: lenses and accessories
Photography learning
How can you improve your photography skills and take photos like a pro
For the best reviews on Canon lens, see photozone.de, www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/
For additional information, please go to dpreview forum
Related posts:
- Canon T1i or 500D, XSi or 450D lens recommendations-good, better and best
- Best wide angle lens for Canon T2i (550D), Canon T1i (500D), XSi (450D), 50D and 40D
- Nikon D90 accessories: lens, battery grip, remote control, tripod
- Best canon telephoto lenses
- Best walk around lens for Canon XSi, 50D and 40D-Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM
Nice (to the point) analysis of the many options available.
This is one of the most controversal posts on dpreview.com. Many people disagree. Especially for people who are willing to spend over $5000 on one lens. Some say, there is no lens here for birds. Well, for beginners, who want to spend thousand on Canon EF600mm? Some said I like my Canon EF-S 17-85 mm. But many reviews said this is not a good lens and many users rank this lens very low.
This post was updated after many comments on dpreview.com. Thanks all for great inputs.
Thanks for this post. For a beginner like me it is a great start to lenses and accessories. Fantastic guide and recommendations. Cheers!