Renting a Canon 10-22 lens - Any advice?

[KCmike]

I will be renting a Canon Ultra Wide Angle 10-22 lens here in a few weeks as our family is getting ready to travel back to California this summer. We plan on hitting the beach, Catalina, and of course Disneyland (our new summer place).
Any advice on the lens for a newbie?

 

[deletedpenguin]

My advice: Don't rent it unless you are prepared to buy it.

This lens, along with the Sigma equivalent will likely become your new favourite and you won't be able to live without it. I used this, then bought the Sigma (due to price, but quality is similar) and it quickly became my favourite lens. Wide angle is really fun, and allows for breathtaking landscapes and fun portraits.

I've seen your work, so I'm sure you don't need any tips/advice. Enjoy!

 

[zackiedawg]

I don't mean to be too self-promotional...but I wrote an article about using ultra-wide angle lenses that might be interesting or useful for you...rather than try to rewrite the entire thing here, I'll just link to one of the places where the article is posted...feel free to read and see if it gives you any ideas or advice:

http://www.themagicinpixels.com/content/photography-101/114-tips-for-using-an-ultra-wide-angle-lens

It pretty much applies to any UWA lens. Hope you find something worthwhile in it!

 

[mom2rtk]

Have a great trip neighbor! You're gonna drive all that way, right???? Nah.... you'd have to be crazy.....

I can't wait to see what you bring back with the lens!

 

[WDWFigment]

1) don't ever rent a cheap lens (cheap is relative to other photo equipment--and this is fairly cheap by comparison); 2) don't ever rent a lens with a steep learning curve (UWA lenses squarely fit the bill there).

Conclusion: find a good price and buy as soon as possible, and start practicing. If you don't like/can't afford/want to try an alternative, resell it. If you do things right, you will never lose money buying and reselling lenses.

 

[KCmike]

My advice: Don't rent it unless you are prepared to buy it.

This lens, along with the Sigma equivalent will likely become your new favourite and you won't be able to live without it. I used this, then bought the Sigma (due to price, but quality is similar) and it quickly became my favourite lens. Wide angle is really fun, and allows for breathtaking landscapes and fun portraits.

I've seen your work, so I'm sure you don't need any tips/advice. Enjoy!

I wish I could afford it. I can't see myself using it too much here in KC, only my once a year vacation. I really thought about shelling out half the asking price of the canon 10-22 but have read some bad reviews on the sigma. I can't wait to shoot. Thanks for the nice comments. I really love your work by the way. I always enjoy your posts.

 

[KCmike]

Have a great trip neighbor! You're gonna drive all that way, right???? Nah.... you'd have to be crazy.....

I can't wait to see what you bring back with the lens!

3 1/2 hours of flight thank goodness. We are planning on buying a new van next year for Yellowstone NP with a follow up return to DL/San Diego in 2012 when Carsland is done. Loving your trip report and pictures. The country is so beautiful.

 

[KCmike]

1) don't ever rent a cheap lens (cheap is relative to other photo equipment--and this is fairly cheap by comparison); 2) don't ever rent a lens with a steep learning curve (UWA lenses squarely fit the bill there).

Conclusion: find a good price and buy as soon as possible, and start practicing. If you don't like/can't afford/want to try an alternative, resell it. If you do things right, you will never lose money buying and reselling lenses.

Your not there yet....meaning that you just got married and kids will soon follow....but with three kids and all the costs involved I have to be picky about my expenses. Gettinng each year's vacation off the ground is my main goal. Then I start adding the extras. I would like to trade in my 50mm 1.8 towards the wide angle but its hard to find places here in KC. I've seen a couple of different places to rent. The best deal right now is $30 a week this lens. Seems reasonable to me.

Love your shots as well WDWFigment. Someday I will get to your level I hope.

 

[KCmike]

I don't mean to be too self-promotional...but I wrote an article about using ultra-wide angle lenses that might be interesting or useful for you...rather than try to rewrite the entire thing here, I'll just link to one of the places where the article is posted...feel free to read and see if it gives you any ideas or advice:

http://www.themagicinpixels.com/content/photography-101/114-tips-for-using-an-ultra-wide-angle-lens

It pretty much applies to any UWA lens. Hope you find something worthwhile in it!

I'm off to your post. Thanks in advance!

 

[mom2rtk]

I wish I could afford it. I can't see myself using it too much here in KC, only my once a year vacation. I really thought about shelling out half the asking price of the canon 10-22 but have read some bad reviews on the sigma. I can't wait to shoot. Thanks for the nice comments. I really love your work by the way. I always enjoy your posts.

3 1/2 hours of flight thank goodness. We are planning on buying a new van next year for Yellowstone NP with a follow up return to DL/San Diego in 2012 when Carsland is done. Loving your trip report and pictures. The country is so beautiful.

Thanks KCMike! I guess you understand more than most why I am so enthralled so much with that scenery. It's the same reason you don't think you'd use that nice lens much here around town.....

Just make sure you're well equipped for that trip to Yellowstone (camera wise!). It's every bit as amazing as the Southwest.

You're gonna love the Grand Californian. Just be prepared to never want to stay farther away every again!

 

[WDWFigment]

Your not there yet....meaning that you just got married and kids will soon follow....but with three kids and all the costs involved I have to be picky about my expenses. Gettinng each year's vacation off the ground is my main goal. Then I start adding the extras. I would like to trade in my 50mm 1.8 towards the wide angle but its hard to find places here in KC. I've seen a couple of different places to rent. The best deal right now is $30 a week this lens. Seems reasonable to me.

Love your shots as well WDWFigment. Someday I will get to your level I hope.

I'm not quite there, you're right, but if you've ever read my trip reports, I think one thing that (is/should be) clear is that family moments are far more important than static shots we all seem to take. Thirty dollars for a week of memories? That is chump change. Rent the lens (don't tell anyone I said that, though!).

As for suggestions - when you take pictures of your wife, DO NOT obey the rule of thirds. CENTER HER in the frame. Trust me on this one...

 

[mom2rtk]

As for suggestions - when you take pictures of your wife, DO NOT obey the rule of thirds. CENTER HER in the frame. Trust me on this one...

I think we can safely assume you also meant to add.... But NOT with the wide angle!!!

Hey... KCMike... are you renting that lens somewhere here in town? Or is it an online thing?

 

[deletedpenguin]

I wish I could afford it. I can't see myself using it too much here in KC, only my once a year vacation. I really thought about shelling out half the asking price of the canon 10-22 but have read some bad reviews on the sigma. I can't wait to shoot. Thanks for the nice comments. I really love your work by the way. I always enjoy your posts.

Thanks mate, much appreciated.

(And don't underestimate this lens - it's value for money for sure.)

 

[pjacobi]

It takes YEARS to learn how to best use an ultra wide angle lens. You are unlikely to master it in a 2 week rental period.

Here is a few lessons that I have learned:

1) Landscape shots need to have a strong foreground element, otherwise everything else will be far, far away with little detail.

2) The photographer needs to closely control forced perspective distortion. Most people do not like a portrait where the nose appears 6 inches long. The same type of distortion can be used creatively on other body parts or other objects, such as making a small child appear 10 ft tall, or a child holding out what appears to be a huge basket of toys.

I refer to my 10-22 as my "cartoon" lens because of its ability to exaggerate objects like in cartoons.



-Paul

 

[mom2rtk]

You now, I took my fairly new and not well tested UWA on our family vacation this summer. I just didn't have the time to get out working with it before leaving. As KCMike pointed out, life just gets in the way sometimes. But I learned as I went. Were all the shots great? Heavens NO! Did I get a handful of shots that made good use of the UWA? Yes! And I was happy I had it along.

I think KCMike will have a ball with the fisheye and bring back some memorable shots. And for $30, sounds like a bargain to me!

 

[KCmike]

I think we can safely assume you also meant to add.... But NOT with the wide angle!!!

Hey... KCMike... are you renting that lens somewhere here in town? Or is it an online thing?

Tried to rent from rentglass.com which just moved to KC but they are out of the lens I want. They had the best price too!

I am now looking for a deal between prophotorental.com and lensrentals.com. Both are kind of pricey. The rentglass.com was only $30 for a week.

There is also a place called digitallabrador that is on southwest blvd but they are extremely expensive. I noticed that there is a community of photographers on flickr. I feel more comfortable here though for now. I consider myself a novice who likes to have fun. I see something and think that would make a good shot. I don't take the time to frame it, look for the best lighting, etc. My wife can come up right behind me and take the most fabulous shots...even things I would never think of. Must be a female thing. Seriously she has a great eye for picture taking.

 

[mom2rtk]

Tried to rent from rentglass.com which just moved to KC but they are out of the lens I want. They had the best price too!

I am now looking for a deal between prophotorental.com and lensrentals.com. Both are kind of pricey. The rentglass.com was only $30 for a week.

There is also a place called digitallabrador that is on southwest blvd but they are extremely expensive. I noticed that there is a community of photographers on flickr. I feel more comfortable here though for now. I consider myself a novice who likes to have fun. I see something and think that would make a good shot. I don't take the time to frame it, look for the best lighting, etc. My wife can come up right behind me and take the most fabulous shots...even things I would never think of. Must be a female thing. Seriously she has a great eye for picture taking.

Well, that's a bummer. $30 sounded like a steal, especially if they were here in town and you didn't have to pay all that shipping. Thanks for the info though. I'll file that away in my brain for future trips. And I'm thinking I might have to rent a longer lens for my son's high school graduation next year. That might be a good option.

What are you going to do? I do think that after photographing a park for so many trips, it must be fun to think of trying something new like the fisheye.

Our trip to DL was such a whirlwind this summer, with only 2 1/2 park days, that I'm really looking forward to slowing down a bit at the World in December. Maybe I won't come home from that trip continually going "How did I miss that shot???"

Does your wife post her shots here or on Flickr?

 

[bentos]

I've always wanted to try out a wide angle lens. I would still prefer having a full frame camera. to really get the real mm of the lenses

 

[KCmike]

I've rented the lens and will get a few "early days" to practice with it. Bring it on.

 

[mom2rtk]

I've rented the lens and will get a few "early days" to practice with it. Bring it on.

Good luck and have fun! I can't wait to hear your review and see what you bring back with it!