Are 'better' lenses really noticeable

[karlosfandango]

I've had my Minolta 5d for almost a year and have been using the kit lens for that time. Now that I have a rough idea of what the camera is capable of and what some of the controls do I'm considering buying a proper lens.

I bought an ebay special sigma zoom lens just to see if I would have much use for it but it seems that the kit lens covers 90% of the uses I have for the camera. The kit lens is an 18-70, so something similar would be ideal. I've been looking at Sigma's like the 24-70 f2.4 (i think)

The question I have is, will spending £250 on a lens produce better quality pictures? Pictures I take at the minute seem pretty good to my eye but what will be improved with a better quality lens? Is a reasonable £150 lens just as good as a £250 lens. Are super expensive £750 three times better than a £250 lens?

[poah]

the more expensive lenses will have less chromatic aberation, less distortion, have larger apertures, and be more sharp wide open than cheaper lenses. when you step a lens down to f8-f11 your not really going to be able to tell the difference from a print IMHO

[Gemm]

I doubt you'll see much difference with the Sigma 24-70, but it does have f2.8 which the kit lens hasn't. But you will see a difference in quality with a super expensive lenses, as poah said. And these lenses also tend to have faster AF and are weather-sealed (but not much point if the camera isn't)

Edited by Gemm on Sunday 23 July 10:00

[Imperialism2024]

Gemm said:

I doubt you'll see much difference with the Sigma 24-70, but it does have f2.8 which the kit lens hasn't. But you will see a difference in quality with a super expensive lenses, as poah said. And these lenses also tend to have faster AF and are weather-sealed (but not much point if the camera isn't)

Edited by Gemm on Sunday 23 July 10:00

Adding to that, they also may have image stabilization.

[threeracers]

No need, the Minolta has anti-shake built into the camera.

[UKBob]

Imperialism2024 said:

Adding to that, they also may have image stabilization.

A very worthy additional benefit over the cheaper lenses. I wish my 24-70 had it

[robdickinson]

Having used a borrowed canon 75-300 and a 70-200f4L I can definatly say a quality lens makes a huge difference.

Sharper, quicker focus, better contrast etc.

[V6GTO]

YES!



Martin.