Good low light lens for 20d

[dbarker]

I'm looking for a good lens to use in fairly dark conditions (clubs, gigs, etc) with my 20d. I use the 50mm 1.8 at the moment, but have found 1) it's too long, 2) the autofocus is terrible in dark conditions.

Can anyone recommend something from personal experience?

I'm looking at the Sigma 30mm 1.4 at the moment:

http://www.sigmaphoto.com/lenses/lenses_all_details.asp?id=3300&navigator=6

Thanks a lot for any input

[Brozyniak]

zoom or prime? What sort of ISO can you go to on your body?

[mr procter]

I would think that if F1.8 is no good for you, all zooms will be a waste of time at F2.8 granted the autofocus on the 50mm 1.8 is not very good -- but I have read good things about the Sigma 1.8 20mm

[dbarker]

as mr procter said, i'd much prefer a prime simply for the aperture. the body goes up to 3200 iso.

the sigma 20mm 1.8 looks great & so does the price. the results look pretty good in this review: http://etischer.com/300d/sigma20mm.html

I found this comparing the 30mm 1.4 with the canon 50mm 1.4 - very interesting: http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=3755990

does anyone have any experience of these? what's the focus like in dark conditions? any hunt issues, etc?

any other resources/info/suggestions are much appreciated!

Any further input/resources would be great!

[puddleduck]

I've got the Sigma 30mm f1/4 and I love it - focus is excellent, some hunting in very low light if you have low constrast but nothing major - its been my most used lens here in Tokyo.

A few samples here, all taken with the Sigma 30m... apart from the Street Decor shot, all were taken around f/1.4 or f/1.8 handheld.

http://odysseus-software.co.uk/photos/albums/Japan/asakusa_sweets_web.jpg

http://odysseus-software.co.uk/photos/albums/Japan/akasuka_streetdecor_web.jpg

This one was wide open at f/1.4 in VERY low light...

http://odysseus-software.co.uk/photos/albums/Japan/DSC6161_web.jpg

http://odysseus-software.co.uk/photos/albums/Japan/asakusa_worshippers.jpg

http://odysseus-software.co.uk/photos/albums/Japan/DSC6162_web.jpg

BTW you asked for lens for the 20D but I'm Nikon D70s... I've got loads more examples I've not got round to converting from RAW yet, so if you need more samples let me know!

[dbarker]

Thanks a lot for that, Andy, it's much appreciated.

Do you know - does the lens use visible light to focus, or can it focus in near-dark conditions?

[puddleduck]

Thanks a lot for that, Andy, it's much appreciated.

Do you know - does the lens use visible light to focus, or can it focus in near-dark conditions?

Depends what you mean by near dark I guess - as long as you have some areas of constrast ie grey against black it'll still focus, although depending on your cameras AF module it may hunt a bit.

You probably already know this, but just in case, its your camera that does the focusing, not the lens, so it depends on your camera body to a large extent.