I am thinking of buying an adapter mainly to gain wider angles. If I use my 17-40 Lusm lens how would this affect the focal distances, would it still be a pretty good wide angle lens?

sorry if this is a daft question, I am very new to all this.

TIA

Look up the documentation for the adapter. Using to go wide is not possible. Even the very widest Canon EF lenses won't go as wide as the wide end of a 20X. This is because the XL2's sensor is WAY smaller than a 35mm sensor. I think the focal length multiplier is something like 9X. You're better off investing in the Canon 3X wide angle (about $800 or so used) or a wide adapter (cost varies with quality).

I think the EF adapter is more useful to go long than go short.

Reas, to get approx that wide (equiv of your 17-40mm SLR lens), I use the XL 3X zoom lens (for approx 24mm wide) then add a Red Eye .7X FX HD adapter to change it to ultra-wide.

thanx for the replies, I dont think I need a powerful zoom at the mo so I might wait until I can afford the xl's wide angle :)


Thanx again

Reas,

Adding adapters for wide angle or multiplexing the lenses are never, never better than a proper lens. It would be smart to wait for the 3x wide if you do not need it right now.
I can also appreciate the difficulty of rounding up the cash for some of the lenses!!! I had a whole bag of lenses stollen in europe and I have never fully replaced them!!!