Deciding on a new lens...help me?

  • Thread starter CDailey
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CDailey

CDailey

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Alabama
Hey everyone. I'm taking a trip in a few weeks and I'm looking for a new lens. I've got a Canon dRebel (300D) with a kit lens. Would you guys recommend a fixed 50mm lens or wide angle/telephoto combo lens? There's a few that I'm looking at. Most, if not all of my photography will be in an urban, downtown setting.

Here are the lenses I'm looking at. Also, if anyone has any other lens suggestings at similar prices of the ones I'm already looking at, it would be greatly appreciated :)

Here's the 50mm:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...142&is=USA&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation

and here's the wide anngle/telephoto lenses I'm looking at:
Canon Zoom Wide Angle-Telephoto EF 28-90mm f/4-5.6 III Autofocus Lens - Black

Sigma Zoom Wide Angle-Telephoto 28-70mm f/2.8-4 DG Compact High Speed Zoom Autofocus Lens for Canon EOS

Tamron Zoom Telephoto AF 75-300mm f/4.0-5.6 LD Macro Autofocus Lens for Canon EOS

Canon Zoom Wide Angle-Telephoto EF 28-105mm f/4-5.6 Autofocus Lens

Sigma Zoom Telephoto 70-300mm f/4-5.6 DG Macro Autofocus Lens for Canon EOS

Canon Zoom Telephoto EF 75-300mm f/4.0-5.6 III Autofocus Lens


Which one of these do you think would suit me best? Or if none of these, which lens? (similar price please)
 
For the r\price, the 28-70mm Sigma looks to be your best bet for low light situations. It's not going to give you the same grade of out of focus backgrounds for portraits like the 50mm will, but it'll easily replace your kit lens just because of it's high speed.

For the telephoto lenses, it's a tough choice. I'd consider the Canon only because they probably tend to have better glass than the alternative brands when it comes to entry level lenses.
 
i agree in terms of telephoto on waht emad said. those long range sigma and tamrons are pretty cheap and get super soft in the long range. personally, i'd try and find something a bit wider if you're looking for a midrange zoom, something like an 18-##. i'd be more help if i knew canon lenses well.
 
Well, without you telling us what you're going to be doing on your trip...

The lenses with the wide end at 28mm will not be wide enough for walk-around-tourist shots using a 1.6 crop camera. If you're shooting in towns and cities, it's unlikely that you'll need more than 200mm of focal length.

I would recommend the Canon EF-S 17-85 IS USM. It's equivalent to 28-135 on a full-frame camera, and the F/4-F/5.6 maximum aperture is usable. Don't forget that if you're shooting indoors in low-light, wide aperture is not always your friend because of the limited depth of field. This would make F/2.0 in a church unworkable, for example. You need the 3-Stop Image Stabilisation. Optically, it's a useful improvement over the kit lens, albeit still some way off 'L' quality, and in handling terms it's a world better than the kit.

A friend of mine has the Tamron 75-300, and I haven't seen a decent shot from it yet. It's super soft everywhere in the range, and it suffers horribly from CA. I would recommend the Canon EF75-300 F/4-F/5.6 USM. This gives you a 35mm-equivalent of 120-480mm, which is enough for anyone, although it does get soft at the 300mm end, and you'll need to stop it down to F/8 to get anything sharp at that range. This means you're going to need to be shooting in bright sunlight if you want to handhold.

Get yourself a desktop tripod as well. They cost buttons, weigh nothing, and can really save you in low-light. Mine cost £7.
 
I have the Tamron Zoom Telephoto AF 75-300mm f/4.0-5.6 LD Macro Autofocus Lens for Canon EOS.

I haven't used it much lately (been using an AF zoom, non-SLR digital lately for fun), but the results (print film) have been nice. I used it a lot for my trip to Spain, mainly to get clear shots of the F1 cars from the stands.

If you want to see some results, I should mention first that I did zoom in on the pics with my scanner, as well as using (too-)fast film (ASA 1000). So make what you will of that first.
 
Thanks for the posts guys. I think I'm actually going to go for the fixed 50mm for two reasons. It's cheap, and that is very important right now, and I know that it's actually a very good lens.

Unfortunately Giles, the Canon EF-S 17-85 IS USM is way out of my price range right now.
 
Hi Integra, before you buy you should check out the reviews for lenses on this site, they also have links to rental so if you ddint want ot buy for your trip you could just rent one.

TDP.com
 
On a 1.6x crop body, 28mm won't be very wide for landscape photography in a downtown/urban setting. I'd suggest the Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 if your budget is below $450 USD. It has a constant f/2.8 aperture regardless of the focal length. The lens is sharp, good colors, okay autofocus, building quality is average. It's one of the best lenses in this price range. If you want something wider, the Tokina 12-24 or Canon 10-22 are also worth looking at.

The 50mm will be too long for what you plan on shooting.
 

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