The Best Canon Rebel SL3 Lenses for Photographers
The Canon Rebel SL3, known as the EOS 250D in some parts of the world, is a compact and highly capable DSLR camera lauded for its impressive image quality and ease of use. While the SL3 is an outstanding piece of equipment in its own right, the lenses you choose to pair with it are arguably just as vital to your photography as the camera itself.
Lenses are the eyes through which your camera sees the world, and their performance heavily influences the resulting images. This article will guide you through everything you need to know about Canon Rebel SL3 lenses, from understanding compatibility and basic lens parameters to exploring the top lens recommendations for your SL3.
Best Canon Rebel SL3 Lenses:
This is the list of the best lenses to get:
- Best All-Around Zoom: Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM
- Best Telephoto Zoom: Sigma 18-300mm f/3.5-6.3 DC OS
- Best Prime Lens: Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM
- Best Lens for Video: Canon EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM
- Best Lens for Portraits: Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM
- Best Lens for Sports & Wildlife: Tamron SP 150-600mm f/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2
- Best Lens for Landscapes: Canon EF 20mm f/2.8 USM
- Best Lens for Macro: Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM
Canon Rebel SL3 Lens Compatibility and Lens Mount
The Canon Rebel SL3 employs a Canon EF-S mount system. This mount system is compatible with a broad range of lenses, including all of Canon’s EF-S and EF lenses, offering you an expansive selection to choose from.
EF-S lenses are specifically designed for APS-C sensor cameras like the Rebel SL3. They are typically smaller, lighter, and more affordable than their EF counterparts. EF lenses, on the other hand, are made for full-frame Canon cameras, but they can also be used with APS-C sensor models. Bear in mind, though, that when an EF lens is used on an APS-C camera, there is a 1.6x crop factor to consider, which effectively increases the lens’s focal length.
In other words, your Rebel SL3 opens up a wide world of Canon lens possibilities, but you’ll need to consider your photography needs, budget, and the practical implications of crop factor when choosing the right lens.
Basics of Lenses for Canon Rebel SL3
Lenses are complex pieces of technology, but understanding a few key parameters can significantly simplify your choice. Here’s a quick primer on the basics for the Canon Rebel SL3 lenses.
Focal Length: This is essentially the ‘zoom’ of the lens, denoted in millimeters. Lenses with lower numbers like 18mm are wide-angle, capturing a large field of view. Those with larger numbers, such as 200mm, are telephoto lenses, allowing you to zoom in on distant objects.
Aperture: The aperture of a lens is denoted by the f-number, such as f/2.8. A lower f-number means a wider aperture, which allows more light into the camera. This is crucial in low-light situations and helps create a shallow depth of field for that blurry background effect, also known as ‘bokeh’.
Image Stabilization (IS): Lenses
with IS can compensate for small movements, such as handshaking, reducing blur in your photos. This feature is particularly useful when shooting without a tripod.
Ultrasonic Motor (USM): Lenses with a USM focus faster and quieter than those without. This feature is especially beneficial when shooting videos or fast-moving subjects.
Furthermore, you’ll encounter two main types of lenses: prime and zoom. Prime lenses have a fixed focal length, such as 50mm, offering superior image quality but less flexibility. Zoom lenses, on the other hand, offer a range of focal lengths, like 18-55mm, providing more versatility but typically compromising slightly on image quality.
Choosing the right lens depends on your specific needs and the type of photography you’re interested in, whether it’s landscapes, portraits, wildlife, or general-purpose shooting.
Best All-Around Zoom Lens - Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM
The Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM is a highly versatile, standard zoom lens designed exclusively for EOS cameras with an APS-C sensor like the Canon Rebel SL3. This lens provides a focal length range suitable for a wide variety of shooting scenarios, from landscapes and travel to portraits and events.
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Pros
- Versatile Zoom Range: The 17-55mm focal length range is perfect for a wide variety of situations, making this lens a good all-around option.
- Constant f/2.8 Aperture: The lens has a constant maximum aperture of f/2.8 throughout the zoom range, allowing for excellent low-light performance and consistent control over depth of field.
- Image Stabilization: This lens includes Canon’s Image Stabilization (IS) technology, helping to reduce camera shake and ensure sharp images, particularly in low light or at slower shutter speeds.
- USM Autofocus: The Ultrasonic Motor (USM) offers fast, accurate, and quiet autofocus, which is great for both photo and video shooting.
Cons
- Size and Weight: At approximately 645g (1.42 lbs), this lens is relatively heavy, and it’s also somewhat larger than other lenses in its category. This might make it less appealing for travel or for those who prefer a lightweight kit.
- Price: The EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM is significantly more expensive than many other lenses in the EF-S lineup, making it a considerable investment.
- Lack of Weather Sealing: Unlike some other lenses in this price range, the EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM lacks weather sealing. This means extra care is required when shooting in adverse weather conditions.
Overall, the Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM is a powerful and versatile lens that offers a lot to photographers. However, its size, weight, and cost might be a hurdle for some.
Sigma 17-50mm f/2.8 EX DC OS HSM FLD: By having built-in optical image stabilization, tack sharp pictures can be shot at shutter speeds up to 4 stops lower than without using stabilization. With the fast aperture and great zoom range, the lens is appropriate for all kinds of photography from landscapes to portraits.
Judging by the outstanding reviews, people love this lens. It could be your go to choice.
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Best Telephoto Zooms
Sigma 18-300mm f/3.5-6.3 DC OS: This is like having a bunch of zoom lenses packaged together. The 16.6x zoom ratio means all focal ranges from telephoto to wide angle are covered. Built with 17 elements in 13 groups, with four FLD and 1 SLD element, makes it possible to take high-quality, sharp crisp images, without having to be concerned with aberrations.
The huge zoom span will come at the cost of it being somewhat large and heavy. There are many lenses that may be more practical to dedicate a day carrying around in combination with the Canon EOS Rebel SL3.
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Canon EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS: This is a lightweight and portable lens that still includes a large zoom range. With 4 stops of stabilization it’s a solution that gives great performance at a cheap cost. This is an ideal solution to avoid unwanted weight and size.
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Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III: Lighter weight and smaller sized than the other recommendations above, than can be an important consideration if you would rather not carry around a bulky camera. The focal length is equal to 120-480mm on a Canon APS-C sensor.
It is quite competitively priced, because it doesn’t have built-in stabilization. This is one of the best lenses to use outdoors with lots of light.
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Best Prime Lenses
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM: Outstanding picture level of quality in a portable and lightweight package which is one of the very best lenses produced by Canon. The large f/1.8 aperture makes this standard focal length a terrific selection for low light shooting. The lens has a role in every kit and is invaluable for practically all photographers.
Don’t buy the previous version as the motor that powers the focusing system is laggy and noisy. You most likely will not like the outcome of seeking to save a lttle bit of money. This is doubly relevant if you plan to have the ability to capture video.
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Canon EF-S 24mm f/2.8 STM: Out of all the options produced for the EF-S mount, this is the thinnest and most compact. A true “pancake” wide angle lens that causes it to be the right solution for travel photography as the overall size is hard to beat. It can take pictures at a minimum of 6 inches (16 cm).
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Sigma 35mm F1.4 Art DG HSM: An outstanding creation demonstrating what contemporary optical engineering is able to produce. It captures razor sharp pictures across the entire image, even if shot wide open. The hyper-sonic motor (HSM) provides quiet, accurate, and fast autofocus.
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Best Video & Vlogging Lenses
Canon EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM: Among all the Canon lenses, this is the best option for shooting video. The ultra-wide-angle zoom range is ideally suited for creating videos and vlogging. A stepping motor (STM) allows smooth and precise autofocus that does not create any sounds which can ruin audio. Furthermore, it’s light and compact enough to not become burdensome when mounted on the Canon EOS Rebel SL3.
You can get it combined with the Canon 50mm f/1.8 STM in the Canon portrait and travel kit. The kit is an ideal solution if you want to end up with two of Canon’s best lenses, while also saving a bit of money.
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Tokina AT-X 116 PRO DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8: The one-touch focus clutch mechanism makes it simple to switch from auto to manual focus without taking your hand off the focusing ring. With a fast f/2.8 aperture this lens will be an effective way to try astrophotography.
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Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5 EX DC HSM ELD SLD: Here is another wide-angle zoom that is jam packed with optical engineering. The internal focusing system makes it possible to use a petal-type lens hood that typically does a superior job of preventing flare than a standard hood. Quiet operation is assured by a HSM (hyper sonic motor).
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Best Lenses for Portrait Photography
Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM: Quite possibly the most popular lens for portrait photography made by Canon. The fast f/1.8 aperture is a good option for shooting in low light and has the ability to create a shallow depth of field, with eye-catching bokeh, to draw attention to the subject of the photo. This should be a requirement for wedding photographers.
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Sigma 50mm F1.4 Art DG HSM: A real professional quality lens that definitely is well suited for portrait photography along with street, landscape, and studio work. There’s very little distortion or vignetting and it is especially sharp from corner to corner, even wide open.
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Canon EF 100mm f/2 USM: Very close to the Canon 85mm f/1.8, but boasts a marginally longer focal length. Compared to the other two lenses, it is terrific for low-light photography in a small body that’s comfortable to use.
Manufacture of this lens has ended, so finding one in stock could be difficult. You can still find plenty of used copies available. Make sure to check several sites to obtain the lowest price.
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Best Lenses for Sports & Wildlife
Tamron SP 150-600mm f/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2: Tamron created a big advancement with the release of this second gen lens. Photo quality has improved throughout the complete zoom range and also having a superior build quality. The AF system uses an ultrasonic silent drive motor that’s amazingly fast and precise. With this mounted on your camera, you’ll find you have no issues getting awesome action or wildlife shots.
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Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 Contemporary DG OS HSM: The Sigma offers a portable and light construction considering it is a hyper-telephoto zoom lens. Furthermore the hyper sonic motor and optical stabilization, there is an accelerometer that helps to improve images when panning. As added bonus, there’s often a promotional package that features additional accessories including free shipping if you buy the lens. That’s fantastic seeing as free camera gear is really hard to refuse.
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Canon EF 100-400mm F4.5-5.6L IS II USM: There’s no doubt, this lens has much better picture quality than the other two. With that said, quality goes along with a substantial price tag that dwarfs that of the camera. Among the fantastic features this lens has is a rotation-type zoom ring which has adjustable torque settings allowing the lens to be customized to personal liking.
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Best Lenses for Landscape Photography
Canon EF 20mm f/2.8 USM: This is a wide angle that remains small and light, weighing just 14.3oz (405g). Even when set to AF there is a manual focus override, which makes it much easier to obtain focus. If you are thinking about taking your Rebel SL3 on hikes, this is a great choice as it is going to fit in almost every camera bag.
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Samyang 14mm f/2.8 IF ED UMC: This is a lower cost ultra-wide-angle lens with a built-in petal-type hood. An excellent pick for not just solely landscapes but also for real estate and astrophotography. Pictures can be captured as close as 14 cm (10.8 inches), but the results will have exaggerated distortion effects.
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Sigma 20mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art: The widest lens in the Sigma Art series, the 20mm provides a pro build. Constructed with 11 groups having 15 elements with a 5 Special Low Disperson and a Low Dispersion glass element, field curvature, axial chromatic aberration, and spherical aberration are nearly gone.
It is a rather sizeable and heavy hunk of glass. You shouldn’t count on it being well balanced mounted on the camera.
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Best Canon Lenses for Macro
Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM: The first to be produced by Canon for the EF-S mount, it is a actual macro lens, with the capability to achieve 1:1 magnification. It has an internal focusing system, so the front element will not move. You will appreciate the sharp shots created by this lens. It’s an excellent option to use with the EOS Rebel SL3 on account of the value and small size being tough to outdo.
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Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM: A professional L-series lens featuring stabilization and internal focusing. It is weather sealed, and that makes it an ideal option to use out into the field in difficult conditions. Invest in this lens and you’ll not need to go looking for another option.
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Tamron AF 90mm f/2.8 Di SP A/M 1:1 Macro: With an excellent working distance and recessed front element, you’ll probably never want to attach the lens hood. Having said that, it does not have an internal focusing system, therefore the lens will extend when focusing on close subjects.
A further possible disadvantage if you desire to use it as a portrait lens is that it does not have integrated optical stabilization. However, if you use flash that will not be an issue.
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