should i trade in or keep 18-55mm kit lens

[mercy81]

Hi everyone , i am planning to get the eos450D kit lens set. It comes with a 18-55mm kit lens. However i want a telephoto lens such as the 55-250mm lens for zooming portrait pics and such. Should i trade in the 18-55mm lens for $100 bucks and buy the 55-250mm lens?

Anyone owns a 55-250mm lens?
Is the 55-250mm ok to work as a general purpose lens like taking group pics and portrait pics? or i need to stand very far back as the min dist is 55mm.

Hope someone can clarify my doubts.
Thank you.

 

[calebk]

Do you understand focal length, first of all?

 

[patch17]

i'd suggest you keep the 18-55. you might find the 55-200 a bit long for group shots. (with your cameras crop factor of 1.5 times, at 55mm you effectively have an 80mm lens.)

personally, i find the 18-55 kit lenses great all rounder. (e.g. landscape, group, portrait, etc.) obviously if you're into wildlife and macro, there are other lenses for those type of photography.

start easy and get more familiar with your camera and the basics of photography.

 

[mercy81]

Thanks all,
focal length is the distance between the camera and the object? Guess i will keep the kit lens and explore first, i am going china during the december so i thought a telephoto lens will come in handy if i need to take scenery shots or people from far.

Thank you.

 

[dafansu]

how about keeping the 18-55 and in addition get the 55-250mm ? any significant

 

[calebk]

I meant whether you understood how different focal lengths will affect your perspective when using a certain focal length to shoot.

It's really quite simple if you want to know if 55mm is enough for general purpose usage. Take your kit lens, turn it to 55mm and keep it there and try to take photos of anything and everything. Do not allow yourself to go any wider. I guarantee you will come back realising that you cannot get by with just a 55-250.

 

[patch17]

Thanks all,
focal length is the distance between the camera and the object? Guess i will keep the kit lens and explore first, i am going china during the december so i thought a telephoto lens will come in handy if i need to take scenery shots or people from far.

Thank you.

ummm.... no. it is the distance between the lense and your camera's sensor (or film).

to put it in very simple terms, focal length means how much your camera can see.

the shorter the focal length (i.e. 15mm, 18mm, 24mm, etc.) the wider the field of vision your camera can cover (more suited for landscapes to capture the entire scene). but because you've got this very wide field of vision, objects appear a lot further away.

The longer your focal length (i.e. 100mm, 200mm, 300mm) the narrower your field of vision. because of this narrower view, this brings objects a lot closer.

to give you some idea... make a small frame with both your thumb and forefinger. now pick a scene, any thing will do. close one eye and hold your 'frame' at arms length. you can only see part of the scene in your frame. it's focusing on a small section only, that's long focal length. now move your frame back towards your eye. see how the scene in the frame starts to enlarge? you're shortening the focal length and increasing the field of view.

 

[mercy81]

Wow thanks everyone ,
Enlightened by all of you, the method of forming a frame and extending outwards and inwards makes have a better understanding of focal length, thanks dude.

I think calebk suggestion is great, i will set the my kit lens to 55mm and see how it works first.

Great tips, thanks guys.

 

[wiLLy-LucifeR]

imo, the 18-55 is more versatile than the 55-250, simply becos of its field of view. for a start, the wide end of the 18-55 is quite ideal for taking group shots and landscapes. so dun be too quick in disregarding it, u nv know when it may come in handy for u.

 

[pisces25]

There's another option :

GIVE !

;p

 

[Octarine]

ummm.... no. it is the distance between the lense and your camera's sensor (or film).

Also not. Then how come you can have 20mm lens and 200mm lens on the same body?
Please guys, read up before you post any half-knowledge.
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focal_length

 

[patch17]

Also not. Then how come you can have 20mm lens and 200mm lens on the same body?
Please guys, read up before you post any half-knowledge.
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focal_length

maybe this'll make it easier to understand...

ever watch those old sea movies where they've got those extendable telescopes? just imagine your eye as the sensor. the shorter the tube (lens closer to your eye) the wider the field of view. extend the tube (lens further away from your eye) the narrower the field of view.

why do you think a 200mm lens is much longer than a 20mm lens?

 

[calebk]

maybe this'll make it easier to understand...

ever watch those old sea movies where they've got those extendable telescopes? just imagine your eye as the sensor. the shorter the tube (lens closer to your eye) the wider the field of view. extend the tube (lens further away from your eye) the narrower the field of view.

why do you think a 200mm lens is much longer than a 20mm lens?

It's not a matter of understanding. We all understand that part, but what Octarine is driving at is that the science behind it is really not as simple as you initially made it out to be.

 

[Octarine]

maybe this'll make it easier to understand...[...] why do you think a 200mm lens is much longer than a 20mm lens?

I do understand what you want to say .. but please don't simplify too much. Focal length is the optical strength of the single lens to bend the light. In result it affects the necessary distance between lens and image plane to get the image in focus. When we are talking about 'lenses' we refer to a whole system which is actually called objective or object lens. They consist of more than one lens (single piece of glass) and the physics become more complex.
In terms of length (in cm): my 50mm f/1.8 actually is the shortest lens I have, it is shorter than my 16mm f/2.8 fisheye. The 18-55 kit lens has the same length than the fisheye. The Sigma 10-20 is the longest lens. How does this fit into your simple theory?

 

[tanandrew]

Keep the 18-55mm kit lens

 

[night86mare]

aiyo.. of course we want to be pedantic, but as a photographer we don't really give a damn about the physics.

what i care about is getting the pictures i want

and 18-55 gives different pictures from 55-200, end of story!

i would keep both. and sell 18-55 when you get something in that range, like 18-50 sigma f/2.8 or 17-50 sigma f/2.8.. or if you find that you don't need certain perspectives, or can't work well with them, dump them.