I'm about to upgrade from my trusty old point-and-shoot with u/w housing to a Canon Rebel XT with Ikelite housing. But I am agonizing over which lens I should use. My current thoughts are either the Canon 17-40 mm f/4 L, or the Canon 10-22 mm f/3.5-4.5.

What lens do you use most often for underwater work?

Oh yeah. One more contender. The Tamron 17-35 mm f/2.8-4. Much cheaper than the Canon 17-40 L, gets good reviews, and brighter (f/2.8) at the wide end.

I recommend the Canon 10-22 or the Tokina 12-24. The others you mentioned are "mid ranged" zooms on the digital body, and you can do just as well with the Canon 17-85 or even the cheap kit 18-55

Cheers
James

I agree - go with the Canon 10-22mm. With the crop factor, the 17-40 (or 16-35 for that matter) is really "neither fish nor fowl" -- too narrow to get you true wide angle, and too wide for macro use. The 10-22mm gives you true wide angle, so all you'll need besides that is a good 1:1 macro lens, for which the Canon 60mm or 100mm are good choices. The advantage of the 60mm is that it can also be used as a decent fish lens, whereas the 100mm (with your crop factor) is exclusively for macro. HTH.

Yes, 17mm is really not very wide on a crop camera. Would much recommend one of the UWA zooms like the 10-20 or 12-24. Or a 15mm fisheye.

My primary lens u/w is the Canon 10-22. 90% of what I shoot is wide angle, and this is a very sharp lens.

Doug

My contacts .... Sorry it was too easy.

Ontopic: my 10.5 and 60mm

My general use Lens UW and Topside is the Canon 16-35 2.8 L

I use the Canon EFS 10-22mm and EFS 60mm Macro lens. Both have proven great underwater and on land.