T1i lense options post girlfriend

[bvanant]

Thanks for the kind words. Getting to the Solomon's is not too hard from LA. LA to Fiji direct on Pacific Air then onward to Honiara ($250 or so for this leg roundtrip). They probably don't run every day but you can have a bit of time in fiji to play. Don't spend too much time in Honiara, there isn't too much to do there.

I have the sigma 10 mm fisheye that I use on my 5D (the old one, not the Mark II) but I think that for me the Tokina has a nicer IQ. In my case it is probably 98% macro to 2% wide angle so I take the 60 and the 100 macro plus a sigma 150 macro plus some add on lenses and some teleadapters. I love the IQ of the 100 but for beginners, I think the 60 makes more sense since you can do some fish portraits with it.

 

[Mel Moncrieff]

If you are only going to use 1 lens, the Sigma 17-70mm macro is a pretty good compromise. Not as good as the two lenses (Tokina 10-17 and Canon 60 mm macro) that I use most of the time, but a good in between lens that lets you get to 1/2 life size with a diopter and allows you to do great fish portraits. I have mine in the Ikelite housing with their dome port, and I use it for fish portraits and if I'm not sure on a dive whether I want to do macro or wide-angle. It's also a nice topside lens and a good back-up if something happens to my main lenses. You could start out with this one, then get the others when you can afford them. Here's the B&H link:
Sigma | 17-70mm f/2.8-4.5 DC Macro Lens for Can | 669101 | B&H

Mel

 

[dhaas]

Amigos,

The two lenses I would recommend IF (likely more when I get another dSLR would be the Tokina 10-17mm and possibly the NEW Sigma 17-70mm lens but with OS (optical stabilization) and slightly faster f-stop range of f2.8 - 4.

For underwater I literally have done complete weeks (no macro shooting) with the Tokina 10-17mm in the smaller Ikelite 6" port if not doing over / under shots. This combo and dual Ikelite DS125 or DS160 / 161 makes great images easy

YMMV

David Haas