Lens advice for a moron.

[TomN94]

Evening, I have just bought myself a 600D, and I am planning on selling the Tamron 18-200 I had with my 1000D, as I don't necessarily need that amount of zoom, which at its top end lacks quality anyway. I tend to shoot cars and landscapes/stars etc, never do portraiture, or birds as such, so a huge focal length isn't a massive priority, but would like an improvement on the 18-55 kit lens with the 600.

I am using the funds from the sale of the 1000D to buy a new lens, so will *hopefully* end up with about £200 to spend, maybe £250 at a push. I don't massively understand what all the letters etc mean with lenses, so when it comes to it, could you put it in stupid speak please?

Cheers.

[flat-planedCrank]

You can use any EF, EF-S or recent 'canon mount' lenses from other makers (Sigma, Tamron, etc.)

The lens will come with a f number as well - the lower the number, the more light it can let in and the narrower the depth-of-field can be (like when portraits have blurry backgrounds). Also, in general, the lower the f number the higher the price . E.g You can buy a 300mm f5.6 zoom for about £150, or a 300mm f2.8 prime for £5k...



IS (or OS in Sigma-speak) is a stabilised lens - it'll help reduce blurring of the image caused by camera shake.

USM (or HSM in sigma speak) is very fast, near silent focusing - useful for all sorts of photography especially sports, motorsports, etc.


Hope this helps

can post more when i'm not using an annoying touch-screen rather than a keyboard

[JulianHJ]

Sounds like the Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 non-VC might fit your requirements.

[g3org3y]

JulianHJ said:

Sounds like the Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 non-VC might fit your requirements.

From what you've said (and the budget quoted) I agree with this.

Decent enough lens, I've had mine for a number of years. Plenty sharp even fully open. My only criticism is that its low light performance is on the weak side with quite a bit of hunting (the awful sounding motor only adds to the annoyance).