Want to buy a lens

I have recently bought a Canon DSLR. I want a wide angle lens for my camera. My knowledge is very limited. Can any one suggest a moderate wide angle lens which won't introduce any distortion? The camera has Canon's EF series lens. I am told that Canon lenses may be pretty expensive so I should explore other makes like Vivitar.
What do you think/suggest?
Thanks.

Yes, wide angle lenses are quite expensive. Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM lens cost around 39K on JJ Mehta.

Other options are Tamron SP AF 10-24mm Di-II & Sigma 10-20mm F3.5 EX DC HSM lens which will cost around 29K & 26.5K respectively.

so expensive is it?
I don't know what those figures 10-24mm really means. My purpose is to take pictures of statues, art works which are quite big and inside a room or temple where there isn't that much of distance that I can move away to have the whole image on my normal lens.

I guess with your cam you must have got kit lens like 18-55 mm . To just give you an idea 50 mm lens is called normal lens - as picture taken at 50 mm is equivalent to what we see through our eyes,so anything more than 50 mm will be a zoom & anything below 50mm will be a wide angle. Your 18-55mm kit lens should be sufficient for most purpose you've mentioned (as at 18 mm you already have much wider angle).But if this is still not working for you then you can consider about wide angle lenses.

What DSLR have you bought ? it is full frame , APS H or APS C format ?

You can learn more about Lens type here

Beware that Canon EF-S series lenses only fit on APC-C cameras and not on Full Frame bodies. EF series lens however fit on all Canon Bodies.

As Swapnil pointed out you may already have a kit lens with the DSLR that should be "wide" enough for your purposes.

Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM is an excellent wide angle lens and a favourite of many landscape photographers.

A general all purpose lens from Canon that would be sufficently wide is the Canon EF-S 18-200 mm F3.5-5.6 IS Lens .

In the Grey Market prices will be somewhat cheaper.

No wonder you find the lens costly ,some L series lenses from Canon are many times costlier that their top of the line full frame DSLR bodies.

I surmise that you have a APS-C DSLR that has a crop factor of 1.6, you aslo need to consider this while buying your lens.

Check what it does to the Focal length here

The model I have bought is D1000.

That's a EOS Rebel XS. The Canon Rebel series

Rebel series? Wow!!! That suits me fine

Jyotida,

I am afraid that all wide angle lenses with give you distortion, more or less.

For excellent picture quality..Canon 10-20 will be the choice...but it comes with a price.

I will go for the Sigma 10-20...for very good picture quality and value for money.

Do NOT consider the Tamron 10-24

Thanks dear Bhaswaran bhai, how much would that Sigma 10-20 cost in the grey market of Kolkata, any idea? Possible to locate an used lens?

I last heard the Sigma 10-20 at Rs. 25,500. Prices might be a little up now. I am not sure. I would not recommend an used lens. I am looking for this lens for quite some time and is trying to raise some fund for it....ha ha

try tokina 11-16mm, it seems to be as good as canon 10-22mm but much chearper.
check out.. thephotographer.in or bangalorephotographyclub

you may try smartshoppers.in as well to compare prices

http://photo.net/canon-eos-digital-camera-forum/00UjGy

http://photo.net/canon-eos-digital-camera-forum/00UhmZ

Yes..the Tokina is also very good