Canon 70D Lenses
(EF-S Lenses)

You're wondering what lens is good for a Canon 70D. 

There are many good Canon 70D lenses available to choose from. The Canon EOS 70D has a APS-C sensor so you do not need to get one of the bigger, pricier Canon EF lenses.  

You can save money by getting one of the smaller EF-S lenses. I have both full-frame and APS-C Canon cameras so most of my lenses are EF so that I can use them on all of my DSLR bodies.

Some photographers use alternative lenses made by other lens makers but that is a topic for another day with other issues to consider regarding quality and price.

Canon Lens Compatibility

A common question is: Can you use an EF lens on a 70D.

Canon EF lenses do fit and are fully compatible with 70D camera bodies. Because of the crop sized sensor on the 70D, there is a multiplication factor of 1.6x which changes the effective angle of view on the 70D compared to that of an EF lens on a full frame cameras like the 5D Mark III.

See my post on Canon Lens Compatibility.

Canon General Purpose Lenses for The 70D

Canon 18-55mm Kit Lens

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II SLR Lens

The Canon EF-S 18-55 is the most popular lens for the 70D (mostly because of its price tag). It gives you a moderate wide-angle to moderate telephoto range.

It comes in as one of the most affordable zoom lenses you can get for this camera.

One of the reasons for it being a #1 Best Seller on Amazon is because it is less than $200 which is much lower than  the other Canon zoom lenses.

Another reason it is popular is that it has excellent optics. Here is my complete post on the Canon 70D Kit Lens.

The Best Lens for a 70D

Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM

My 18-135mm Lens
On My Canon 70D

The Canon 18-135mm lens is the best lens for the Canon 70D because of its versatile focal length. It has more than twice the zooming power of the 18-55 kit lens.  Instead of a zooming range of 3x, the 18-135 gives you a 7.5x zoom range.

That's the equivalent of a 28-216mm range on a full-sized sensor camera.

This lens earned an impressive 94% CanonGeek 4-5 rating. It is about triple the price of the 18-55 because of the extra "glass" and it's more powerful zooming ability.

I recommend the 18-135mm lens for the 70D over any other lens. See the detailed post on the 18-135 lens.

Canon Telephoto Lenses for the Canon 70D

Canon 55-250mm Lens

Canon EF-S 55-250mm F4-5.6 IS STM Lens

This Canon zoom has a nice power range for sports and wildlife photography.  It's impressive closest focusing distance is a little under 3 feet.

Although not particularly fast for super shallow depth of field or low-light photography, the 55-250mm can double as a portrait lens and a sports lens in many photographic situations.

As of today, at the time of this article's publication, the Canon 55-250  f4-5.6 IS STM lens earned a 100% Canon Canon Geek 4-5 rating.

This Canon 70D lens weighs less than a pound (only 13 ounces) and the image stabilizer has a 3.5x f-stop shake correction.  This is very valuable at full zoom (400mm equivalent)  in handheld shooting situations.

Canon EF 70-300mm Lens

Canon EF 70-300mm F4-5.6 IS USM Lens

The 70-300 is one of the most powerful Canon 70D zoom lenses and will fit EF and EF-S cameras. It has a 112-480mm equivalent zoom range on an APS-C camera like the Canon EOS 70D.

It has a zoom ring lock to prevents lens 'creeping' when you are moving or shooting. It's closest focusing distance is almost 5 feet.

It is long enough to use as a decent bird lens.

Specialty Canon 70D Lenses

Canon EF-S 10-22mm Lens

Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM SLR Lens

This super wide-angle lens has a lot of fun attached to it because of it angle of view and strong perspective you can achieve with it.

As one of the Canon 70D lenses, it has an equivalent to a 16-35mm lens on a full-sized sensor.

Great for landscapes and shooting in tight interiors where you want to fit a lot in your photo.

The alternative super wide lens is the Canon 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6. This is the lens I use. It's about $200 cheaper because of its' slightly lesser zoom range and it's slightly slower maximum aperture. 

Canon EF-S 60mm Macro Lens

Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM Lens 

This macro lens focuses down to about 3.5 inches and achieves a true 1:1 macro magnification. 

This is great for extreme close-ups except when photographing insects that get nervous at such close distances.

It earned a very impressive 95% CanonGeek 4-5 rating.  Macro lenses are one of the Canon eos 70 accessories that the beginning  photographer can have a lot of fun with.

Easy to use and made for a specific kind of photography.

Canon 50mm Prime Lens

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 USM Lens 

Although this is perhaps the best selling NON-zoom lens of all time because it is so affordable for everyone, I can't recommend it.

Biggest issue with this lens is not the quality of the images it takes but with the quality of construction.

Some buyers have had the lens fall apart after a very short time and others have had the plastic mount break, making it very difficult to remove from their camera body.

Both the 50mm f1.4 and the Canon 50mm f1.2 are higher quality lenses, have much better customer reviews, and are good choices as Canon 70D Lenses.

As an Amazon affiliate Canon Camera Geek receives a small commission from qualifying purchases, at NO added cost to you.

Alternative Canon Zoom Lens

Canon really doesn't have anything with this zoom ration so I am including this Tamron as a possible consideration for you. Tamron makes one too. If you'd like to get up close and personal to your favorite athlete, the Tamron 150-600 has some serious zooming power for an entry-level price. 

Tamron 150-600mm lens with a Canon lens mount will fit the Canon 70D.

On the EOS 70D, this lens gives you the same view as a 240-960 zoom lens and it's less than $1000. If you'd like to be able to shoot wildlife or birds from a distance, the Tamron is a good alternative to one of the $8,000-$12,000 Canons.

I hope this post was helpful. Realize that the 70D has the same sized sensor as the Canon Rebel t7i, t8i, and the Canon EOS 80D and 90D. You may also enjoy reading my post on the best lenses for the Canon 90D.

Stay inspired. Shoot your Canon.

Bruce Lovelace is the publisher of Canon Camera Geek. Read more about him on the About Page. He also publishes how to articles and camera gear reviews at the Photography Tips website.

View some of Bruce's photos on Instagram  and Flickr.   Join the tribe of followers on YouTube. Bruce also runs photo workshops and provides 1 on 1 digital photography coaching.

Canon Geek on Google My Business

This post contains affiliate links and the publisher may be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links, at no cost to you.


KEH: WHERE I BUY CANON GEAR
"I've found that the condition of the used equipment from KEH is excellent and a whole lot cheaper than buying new" - Bruce, the Canon Camera Geek

Canon EF Lenses FOR 70D:

Canon 24-105mm f4.0

Canon 70-200mm f4.0

Canon 85mm f1.8

Canon 400mm f5.6

You can use the EF lenses above on the Canon 70D.  The crop factor will be 1.6x to use to figure the comparable focal length on the 70D.

Canon 70D + 18-55mm Lens

Canon 70D + 18-135 Lens

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