Lens for wide angle landscape photography

[RainbowDays]

I am a beginner photographer, not looking at going professional.
I have a Canon EOS 600D. I have the kit lenses and a Canon 50mm, I am wanting to take landscape photos and also wanting to take a photo of my rather large family at our next family reunion.
Can you suggest a good, not too expensive lens that might cover this.

Thanks.

[ricktas]

two different beasts. Landscapes and Portaiture

For Landscapes take a look at some of the great third party wide angle lenses from the likes of Sigma and Tokina. The sigma 10-20mm is a great wide angle lens for this purpose.

For portraiture, something in the 18-35 line might suit, preferably look for an f2.8 lens as getting a good fast lens will help out with faster shutter speeds to freeze all the moving family members.

PS. hope we actually get to see some of your photography soon.

[ameerat42]

OK, do you mean you want to take a shot of a large group of [family members]?
If you use too wide a lens for "people shots" like this, you may find the edges of
the picture are not as clear and sharp as the middle areas.

You could try the 18-50 by doing the following:
Position a few people approximately where you expect your family group to extend to.
That's like: 1 or 2 in the middle and a couple at the edges. Take your shot and change the
exposure settings to vary your aperture. Check the results for the best aperture that shows
the detail you would like. Alternatively, you may need to increase the zoom a bit and get a bit
farther away from the group.

If you're finding the angular width of the 18-55 kit lens too narrow for landscape use, The 10-20s
mentioned above will help in this case. Any linear distortion in wide-angle lenses is less noticeable
in landscapes than when used for people shots.

As Rick said, a few shots posted here will give you better responses.

[aussirose]

I use the 18-200. Good allrounder for landscape and also wide angle group shots. Love my nifty 50 for portrait photos.

[arthurking83]

.... The 10-20s
mentioned above will help in this case. Any linear distortion in wide-angle lenses is less noticeable
in landscapes than when used for people shots.

As Rick said, a few shots posted here will give you better responses.

If you got a lens like the 10-20mm, for the 'all inclusive' large family situations, what you would be best advised to do, is to NOT set the lens to 10mm!
Got to a middle of the road focal length(ie 13-17mm) where distortion would be at it's lowest level, keep the family framed within about 2/3rds or 3/4 of the frame(ie. keep some space at the edges of the frame), try very hard to maintain a level horizon.

From what I've seen, it's very common for people to angle the camera downwards for group shots, and what this does it it distorts the people at the edge of the frame so that they stand up 'inwards' and their heads can look a bit elongated(alien looking).

Wide angle and people photography can be done successfully, but like Rick alluded, you just need to be careful of how to go about it if it's an important shot.

If you get OK framing from your zoom kit lens at 18mm, an interesting lens to consider for both landscape and portraiture would be the Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8.
You get f/1.8 at 18-35mm .. can be good for people imaging, and then shoot at something like f4-f/8 for landscape.

For landscape shots, and for value for money you can't beat the Sigma 10-20/4-5.6 lens.
It's now very cheap and at 10mm can give very good results.

So if you had approx $1K to spoil yourself for Chrissy .. then I'd recommend both the Sigma 18-35/1.8 AND the Sigma 10-20/4-5.6 .... will give you some joy for next years photography related resolutions ;)

[RainbowDays]

Thank-you for that. I will look into both and see what suits better.

[Mark L]

Thank-you for that. I will look into both and see what suits better.
"and since I got such good advice I think I'd better start posting more regularly here" is me potential quote thought for RainbowDays:)

[crafty1tutu]

I used to us an 18-200 lens and found it to be a good all rounder lens. I used it for all my travel photos for a few years until I upgraded.

[achee]

x3 for the Sigma 10-20 if you want value-for-money and wide landscape shots. I used that a lot back in the days when I was shooting on a cropped sensor, and as far as I could tell it was as good as the Canon 10-22mm and a lot cheaper! (Yes, I did test the two lenses side by side once.)