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Quality wides on Canon FF

convexferret

New member
Hi All
As a longtime lurker I thought I'd get my first post in just to see if the assembled experience of the GetDpi crowd might be able to help, or possibly just confirm a decision I've got to make. I use a 5D III and tend towards the tele end. My standard walk-around kit being a 70-200 f4 IS and and 35 f1.4. Just occasionally I find myself needing something wider and stitching isn't an option. This happens rarely enough that it's only now starting to bother me. I already have the 17-40 f4 but the quality of my other lenses leaves me wholly unsatisfied with this zoom at any aperture, particularly in the corners. It's also a little too large to be carrying with me to be used for one shot in 100, if that. So I thought that I'd try to find a small prime in the 20-24mm range that I could hide in the corner of my bag. I've been looking through the options and here they are:

Sigma/Tamron/Tokina: Have various 17/20/24mm primes available but none review very well, certainly nothing that would completely outclass my 17-40. The one lens that does get a lot of attention is the Tokina 16-28 but that is far too large and heavy.

Zeiss 21mm: Too heavy, too expensive

Voigtlander 20mm f3,5: When I first heard about this I thought it would be perfect but again reviews are mediocre.

Canon 20mm f2.8: Poor reviews, no better than the 17-40

Canon 24mm f2.8 IS: The favourite so far. Good quality, not too large and IS is a bonus.

So the result is that the new Canon 24mm IS is the favourite by quite a way. Could others with some experience with any of these lenses confirm or dispute my findings? I realize that they're mostly based on a few select review sites.
 

Paratom

Well-known member
I opted for the Zeiss 21mm.
I wanted wider than 24 because I have a good 24 included in my 24-70II. I like 21mm for ultra wide. From what I saw in the net the Canon 20mm is not so convincing.
Question is how good is the 24mm/IS? I cant tell you.
 

convexferret

New member
How good is the 24 IS? By reviews, better that the alternatives, except perhaps the Zeiss 21. I'd love the 21 but its quite a bit heavier and quite large for a lens I expect to use rarely. I don't know anybody that has any of the primes I mention here, the 17-40 and 16-35 seem ubiquitous.
 

Paratom

Well-known member
How good is the 24 IS? By reviews, better that the alternatives, except perhaps the Zeiss 21. I'd love the 21 but its quite a bit heavier and quite large for a lens I expect to use rarely. I don't know anybody that has any of the primes I mention here, the 17-40 and 16-35 seem ubiquitous.
Sounds good if 24mm is the focal length you like to get.
 

heymatthew

Member
I know this thread is pretty old by now, but one you didn't consider (or maybe you did, but didn't list) is the Canon 28mm f/1.8. I have this lens and it's an EXCELLENT lens. It's fairly compact (smaller than the 50/1.4 and dwarfed by the 35/1.4) and is incredibly sharp and has surprisingly low distortion. You don't get IS, but you do get f/1.8 (and it's usable at 1.8, but I found the sweet spot on mine is 2.2) and you still get USM.

Fast, silent, small. Everything a wide prime should be, in my opinion. It's leaps and bounds better than my 17-40 which I only pull out for architecture and wedding receptions.

You can usually find it on the used market for ~400USD or less. A significant savings over the ungodly amount Canon is asking for on their new 24 and 28 IS lenses. Definitely worth looking at for sure.
 
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