Down in the valley

[Hards80]

the tamron 17-35 and tamron 11-18 are exactly the same lenses as the km 17-35 and km 11-18.. tamron makes them both.. so just buy whichever one you can find cheapest..

the 11-18 is a great little lens too.. very sharp and handles distortion quite well.. but keep in mind its quite short focal range, and may not be as good as an all-around lens... but is definately useful for land/cityscapes..

cheers,

dustin

[gracie328]

Thanks LT7.

Now, I would be usingthis lens (11-18mm)ona digital... so it wouldactually be a 17-28mm... correct? Would you still recommend the 17-35mm considering it's being used on a digital which increases the magnification?

[LT7]

Gracie,

You know, that'sa good question. I'm not sure, but it has the DT (digital Technology) nomenclature added to it, which to my understanding was designed specifically for Digital Cameras, and won't work (I've heard/read) with their Film Cameras. Since you have a 7D, I don't know if you've seen the Dyxum forums which is dedicated specifically to KM Dslr users. It is a very informative site.

www.dyxum.com

Dustin,

Can you shed some light? Do you know?

LT

[Hards80]

ok let me address these seperately..

gracie, that is correct the 11-18 will become approximately 17-28 on a digital slr... which is a great landscape lens.. the 17-35 becomes approximately 28-55ish.. which isn't quite as good for landscapes but works out a little better for general use.. but since you already have a longer focal length lens if you need it, the 11-18 may add more flexibility to your kit...

LT- the 17-35 and 28-75 both fit digital and film cameras.. the 11-18 only fits digital cameras..

did i clear everything up?

[gracie328]

That's what I thought. If and when I do invest in a wide angle... I definitely want a wide angle. I have two lenses from my old Maxxum 5... the 28-100mm and a 75-300mm. Neither are the greatest, but at least I do have some focal length on the upper end with the 300mm. The only other really good lens I have is the 85mm, f/1.4. I hope to eventually have a few more of that sort of quality. Thanks for the clarification.

[Hards80]

i agree with your decision.. going superwide you have 2 options really..

the aforementioned tamron/km 11-18

and

the sigma 10-20 DC

both are excellent and offer very nearly identical optical quality.. the sigma is cheaper though, so i might recommend that one as its a little wider, and a little longer...

best of luck..
-dustin

[LT7]

Thanks Dustin, I knew the 11-18 would only fit the Dslrs, I guess what I didn't know was that since it was made specifically for Dslrs,that ittook the 1.5 crop factor out of it.Thanks for the clarification though, always appreciate your input.

LT

[cock3tail]

Congratulations on a great shot.

[gracie328]

Thanks. One more question... you say the Tamron is an f/2.8... so what would be the advantage of the wider aperture on a wide angle lens or would the Minolta 4.5-5.6 be just as reasonable? Pardon my ignorance on this issue, but I've never used a wide angle, and Inormally onlyassociate them with shooting landscape which is normally a smaller aperture... right? So, enlighten me and teach me something I don't know.:-)

[Hards80]

for landscape work.. having a wide aperture is not really that big of deal since you are rarely going to shoot wider than f8 anyways.. so in this instance it is not really a factor..

superwides are loads of fun, you will enjoy it very much!!