Advice on lens for first time dSLR user

[digitalbuff]

Hi All

I need some advice on what lens to get (with a budget of abt 500-700)

I am keen to take portraits, weddings, street etc... I intend to get a 20D body and 1 or 2 lens.

Is a 85mm (one bro sellin here) versatile enough?

Thks in advance

[majere2sg]

Tamron 28-75 f2.8 ?

[Stoned]

Personally i feel certain primes are for rather specific uses due to the fixed focal length and unless u have several you may miss out on some shots. A zoom such as the tamron mentioned above is a pretty good choice for your budget.

[dkw]

Originally Posted by digitalbuff Hi All I need some advice on what lens to get (with a budget of abt 500-700) I am keen to take portraits, weddings, street etc... I intend to get a 20D body and 1 or 2 lens. Is a 85mm (one bro sellin here) versatile enough? Thks in advance

For starters, try to buy the 20D with the kit lens (18-55mm), which is decent optically though obviously not the best. It goes reasonably wide and cheap to boot. Next, the suggestion of the Tamron 28-75 XR Di is a good one. Good quality lens that is reasonably fast, and useful focal length and aperture for portraiture. Its between $550 to $600, I think. Primes (fixed focal length) lenses take some skill to use, and if you need to ask the question (to buy or not to buy), then I suggest you avoid for the time being.

Just my $0.02. Cheers,

[digitalbuff]

How about 28 -105mm. Got a brother selling here?

[Adam Goi]

Yeah ... getting a Tamron is a good choice, given your budget ...

[digitalbuff]

Originally Posted by dkw For starters, try to buy the 20D with the kit lens (18-55mm), which is decent optically though obviously not the best. It goes reasonably wide and cheap to boot. Next, the suggestion of the Tamron 28-75 XR Di is a good one. Good quality lens that is reasonably fast, and useful focal length and aperture for portraiture. Its between $550 to $600, I think. Primes (fixed focal length) lenses take some skill to use, and if you need to ask the question (to buy or not to buy), then I suggest you avoid for the time being. Just my $0.02. Cheers,

DKW, thks but won;t the kit overlap with the 28-75 or are you suggesting because of the lower range of the 18-55 for wide angles?

[sequitur]

i've always advised people to know what you like to shoot before buying a lens... but in this case if you only want to own 1 or 2 lenses and you are going to get a 20D kit and your budget for a lens is 500-700 bucks, then i would advise you to get a telephoto zoom lens, probably a 75-300 which more or less is within that range.

as much as i'm not a telephoto person, having a 70-xxx zoom on standby is a good thing for situations that call for it.

the 17-85 IS already covers a huge range.. (yes not available in singapore yet, i advise you to wait a while) in fact if you're not going to be shooting anything too telephoto, the 17-85 should suffice for most situations.

[dkw]

Originally Posted by digitalbuff DKW, thks but won;t the kit overlap with the 28-75 or are you suggesting because of the lower range of the 18-55 for wide angles?

On a 1.6X crop DSLR, 28mm is effectively 45mm. If you want to shoot weddings, as in indoor, that will almost certainly not be wide enough. In fact, 18mm is also only 29mm on DSLR, which is barely adequate for some group shots. Some overlap in focal length is sometimes unavoidable. If you want to be adventurous, you can skip the mid-range 28-75 and get a Sigma 70-200/2.8 EX HSM. Now, that is a great lens for portraits, but costs around $1200 new, but can get used for maybe $900-$1000. It can only be used for certain circumstances for a wedding, and if you are the primary shooter, you will not be able to use this much.
I actually buy most of my lenses used, gets me some savings but you need to know what to look out for.

As always, YMMV. Cheers,

[Ris Goh]

if you wanna learn photography the "hard" but sure way.... get a 28mm or 35mm prime lens.

shoot with it for 6 mths to a yr - u learn much more than using a zoom lens for 10yrs!!!

ch

[dkw]

Originally Posted by Ris Goh if you wanna learn photography the "hard" but sure way.... get a 28mm or 35mm prime lens. shoot with it for 6 mths to a yr - u learn much more than using a zoom lens for 10yrs!!! ch

Ris,
whilst I agree that using primes forces you to think more about composition and shooting intelligently, I think for somebody who is starting out and trying to determine what type of photography he likes best, a few good zooms at differing lengths will allow him to explore and educate himself much quicker. 70% of my shots are between 100-400mm now, I wouldn't have known that if I started out with a 28mm prime, would I?

Cheers,

[Ris Goh]

Originally Posted by dkw I wouldn't have known that if I started out with a 28mm prime, would I?

u would.... but after the first 6mths when you "graduate" and move on to the next focal length/zoom no pun intended hor

like i've said choose this "path" only if you wanna learn the "hard" way

one suggestion: kit lens (18-55mm) + cheap prime

[Zplus]

Originally Posted by digitalbuff Hi All I need some advice on what lens to get (with a budget of abt 500-700) I am keen to take portraits, weddings, street etc... I intend to get a 20D body and 1 or 2 lens. Is a 85mm (one bro sellin here) versatile enough? Thks in advance

Actually your choice is already quite good.
Kit lens - 18-55mm when stopped down to f8 is pretty good. Its not very fast glass but even when wide you can get away with decent prints. Esp since the 20D's noise is low.

The EF 85mm f1.8 is an excellant portrait lens. Its f1.8 so that can cover your low light situations. You may consider throwing in a EF 50mm f1.8 mkII since its dirt cheap and decent.

Its relatively in expensive to start with the kit lens and a prime. For your usage it seems sufficient for now. Start with the kit lens and build up your collection based on your needs as you grow.

[digitalbuff]

Hi All

After all your advice, this is what i narrow down to:

1) 20D Kit + 85mm

Next
a) Sigma 70-200/2.8 EX HSM
b) 10 -22

[digitalbuff]

Just saw in another thread that a couple people bought the 17 - 85 IS ($ abt 1250). How come u say not in Singapore ? But a bit out of my immediate budget.

Originally Posted by sequitur i've always advised people to know what you like to shoot before buying a lens... but in this case if you only want to own 1 or 2 lenses and you are going to get a 20D kit and your budget for a lens is 500-700 bucks, then i would advise you to get a telephoto zoom lens, probably a 75-300 which more or less is within that range. as much as i'm not a telephoto person, having a 70-xxx zoom on standby is a good thing for situations that call for it. the 17-85 IS already covers a huge range.. (yes not available in singapore yet, i advise you to wait a while) in fact if you're not going to be shooting anything too telephoto, the 17-85 should suffice for most situations.

[sequitur]

Originally Posted by digitalbuff Just saw in another thread that a couple people bought the 17 - 85 IS ($ abt 1250). How come u say not in Singapore ? But a bit out of my immediate budget.

if it is then so be it... i have no idea i dun keep up with these kind of things..

[Outlook]

Also has the similar question of DigitalBuff.

Like to take pics of flower, portrait .... Found 18-55mm came with 300D not enough. Wondering which to buy:

55-200mm or 75-300mm (Canon or Sigma).

Any body has suggestions ? Any drawbacks of the selections ?

ThanX!

[Stoned]

I have the 55-200 but i find its performance rather wanting. If you like to shoot both flowers and portraits might want to try the Sigma 70-300 APO Macro. Cheap and i think it should perform much better than the 55-200.

[Snowcrash]

Originally Posted by digitalbuff Hi All I need some advice on what lens to get (with a budget of abt 500-700) I am keen to take portraits, weddings, street etc... I intend to get a 20D body and 1 or 2 lens. Is a 85mm (one bro sellin here) versatile enough? Thks in advance

IMHO, stick with your kit lens and shoot for the 1st 3 months.

Then you find out which end of the zoom you prefer (18 or 55), then decide what lens to add on.

For weddings, a flash will come in handy.

[dbcs]

You could get a 10D at really good prices nowadays and use the additional cash to get better glass. Otherwise, if you must get the 20D, I would recommend the Tokina 24-200mm abt 600+ if you can find it.

Whether it's the Tokina or something else, you might want to start with a wide range to have a feel of which focal lengths suits your style. Then narrow it down to a good fast zoom or prime that will subsequently stay with you for the long-haul.

As pointed out, the kit lens (I would prefer the sigma equivalent one which is not EF-S) and 50mm 1.8 are cheap but decent additional lenses that you might want to go for indoor/low-light options respectively.