advice required for upgrading kit lens for canon 550D

[nishant.bharathan]

Hi everybody,

I want to upgrade my kit lens(18-55) for canon550D. I normally shoot portrait,landscape and street photography. In short need a good walk around lens with good IQ.

I am very much confused between two lenses :

1) Tamron 17-50 2.8 ( cheap, good quality pictures but AF focus problem)

2) Canon 15-85 (excellent focal length, good quality pictures almost 'L', but very costly)

I think i can afford canon but is it really worth it ?

Please anybody having experience with above lenses please share & give me advice.

Thanks in Advance.

[Preet]

Nishant, Let me try to answer this...

Landscape
- Daytime landscape (15mm canon / 17mm Tamron), Tamron is much sharper when stopped down to (f4 onwards). Assuming good day light.  Canon starts @ f3.5
 - Poor day light / Evening / Night, Tamron @ 2.8 will help a lot. But using f2.8 for landscape is a matter of personal preference and photography style.

Potrait
 - Indoor, single person / outdoor 'poor' light: Tamron @ f2.8 beats Canon @ f3.5, assuming you are not using flash.
 - Indoor, groups: You will have to stop down, where both of them will produce similar results. I personally felt Tamron is sharper @ all ranges compared to Canon 15-85mm, given enough light is available.
 - Outdoor 'good' light - Both of them are good. But Canon @ 85mm is a lovely focal range for potrait. Not from a reach perspective only, but also from qualitative aspects of picture @ FL.

Street photography
Again when light conditions are poor, Tamron has advantage. However Canon additional 35mm is also very helpful for street photography.

Overall I felt Tamron's fixed apperture is more important to me, than additional 35mm.
From a reach perspective, I can take three large steps to cover the additional 35mm (FOV) with Tamron f2.8, but I can't crank up ISO to 1600 (in 550D) or above to shoot potrait @ 50mm. I personally felt @ ISO 1600 on 550D, does not render 'clean' pictures.

Autofocus in Tamron @ low light is slow but atleast you can take 'clean' pictures in low light, without flash. Apart from 'poorly lit indoors', focusing speed is 'decent' in Tamron. I'm comparing against Canon 85 f1.8 and similar. I dont think Canon 15-85mm focuses 'drastically' faster than the Tamron, in good light.

Moolah : A new lens of both these are quite different in price points. Thats very subjective.

Hope this helps 

[nishant.bharathan]

wow thanks for the advice ..appreciate it !!

[suchi]

nishant.bharathan

you wrote:

Hi everybody,
I want to upgrade my kit lens(18-55) for canon550D. I normally shoot portrait,landscape and street photography. In short need a good walk around lens with good IQ.
I am very much confused between two lenses :
1) Tamron 17-50 2.8 ( cheap, good quality pictures but AF focus problem)
2) Canon 15-85 (excellent focal length, good quality pictures almost 'L', but very costly)
I think i can afford canon but is it really worth it ?
Please anybody having experience with above lenses please share & give me advice.
Thanks in Advance.

your choice is perfect with regard to the emboldened line above where i have quoted you. the ef-s 15~85 is not just "almost", it IS an undesignated L lens, with ring-usm, and full-time manual focus. just go for it without even thinking, its an excellent choice for an aps-c body, and the only worthwhile lens in the entire ef-s line-up of canon.

on the suitability of this lens for portraits, landscapes, street photography, some thoughts:
primes are ideal for portraits. so if i were in your shoes, i would get myself a fast prime, either a 85mm or a 100mm. but the 15~85 can do this job.
the canon is wider by 2mm, and for landscapes/architecture that could mean quite a bit, though if money were available, a ts lens would be better. however 15~85 + pp can cover this as well.
for street photography, you are better off with something like the fuji xpro1 or the nex or an omd-em5 for unobtrusiveness, but here too, 550D + 15~85 will do a good job.

caveat: but then, if you have any intention at all of going full-frame in the near future, then i would suggest you also consider a combo like the ef 17~40/f4 L, the ef 28~70/f2.8 L, and the 70~200/f2.8 L or the f/4 L version of the same. the ef 24~105/f4 L is also a worthwhile contender (and i see quite a few of these being offered here on the forum for reasonable prices). 

just my $ 0.02
suchindran

[nishant.bharathan]

thanks suchi for your advice.

Yes i am also thinking for 15-85 (heard good reviews), I have no plan for full frame in near future..may be i will upgrade for 7D. thats it.

[clickbaby]

Thinks like this -
Option I
Canon 15-85 - Good, sharp lens. Negligible Bokeh on portraits, tack sharp on Landscapes. Advantage on Street Photography because of the reach and IS.
Total Cost 47,000.

Option II
Canon 50mm 1.4 - Fabulous lens for portraits, fantastic bokeh.
Tammy 2.8(nonVC) - Decently sharp lens, good for Landscapes and Street Photography.
Total Cost 24,000 + 23000 = 47000

If you plan to do portraits more often go for option 2.
Else buy the 15-85.