Lenses

[RobDickinson]

For my new 350d...

Currently borrowing the 'kit' lense and a 70-200 f4L.

Will be used primarily for landscape & sport (snowboarding/surfing etc) + general all round stuff. Weight and size are issues, no 70-200f2.8L IS's... Hiking the kepler pass with 10kg's of glass isnt what I fancy...

Dont have a mountain of cash ganging round atm either (new ipod, 350d, surfboard, santa's been nice this year...)

Currently thinking :

Sigma 10-20mm - about 300quid , cracking quality wide angle for a decent price, downside is its EF-S so not full frame, but then neither is the canon equive, and anything that is is to expensive and not as wide.

Canon 50mm f1.8 - cracking lens for peanuts, borrowed one and like it, good 'portrait' lens on 1.6

Canon 28-105 USMII - 130 or so med range walk round lense, seems well liked, sharp, 2nd best deal after the 50mm1.8 apparently. Not awfully wide, leaves me with a gap 20-28 but I think I can live with that. Oher possibilities? canon 17-85? (lots more money, 50/50 reviews), sigma/tamron's??

Zoom - hmm either the 70-200 f4L or the 70-300 IS. Both about the same price.
The L is nice, comes with a hood, but no IS or 200-300, pin sharp, bit heavy/bulky but OK
70-300 seems to get good reviews, decent sharp pics, bit plasticky and end rotates on focus so makes filters difficult. IS would be helpfull as a lot of shots will be hand held but typicaly with plenty of light, hood is extra. Prolly buy this one last anyhow.

[Andy M]

RobDickinson said:

For my new 350d... Currently borrowing the 'kit' lense and a 70-200 f4L. Will be used primarily for landscape & sport (snowboarding/surfing etc) + general all round stuff. Weight and size are issues, no 70-200f2.8L IS's... Hiking the kepler pass with 10kg's of glass isnt what I fancy... Dont have a mountain of cash ganging round atm either (new ipod, 350d, surfboard, santa's been nice this year...) Currently thinking : Sigma 10-20mm - about 300quid , cracking quality wide angle for a decent price, downside is its EF-S so not full frame, but then neither is the canon equive, and anything that is is to expensive and not as wide. Canon 50mm f1.8 - cracking lens for peanuts, borrowed one and like it, good 'portrait' lens on 1.6 Canon 28-105 USMII - 130 or so med range walk round lense, seems well liked, sharp, 2nd best deal after the 50mm1.8 apparently. Not awfully wide, leaves me with a gap 20-28 but I think I can live with that. Oher possibilities? canon 17-85? (lots more money, 50/50 reviews), sigma/tamron's?? Zoom - hmm either the 70-200 f4L or the 70-300 IS. Both about the same price. The L is nice, comes with a hood, but no IS or 200-300, pin sharp, bit heavy/bulky but OK 70-300 seems to get good reviews, decent sharp pics, bit plasticky and end rotates on focus so makes filters difficult. IS would be helpfull as a lot of shots will be hand held but typicaly with plenty of light, hood is extra. Prolly buy this one last anyhow.

What's your budget for the lenses?

A word of warning: I think if you buy too many lenses at once you may not learn to use their full capability quite as quickly as if you chose to take a more stepped path.

If I were in your situation I would DEFINITELY buy the 50mm 1.8 prime. Lenses costing five times as much cannot match it's image quality, and your learning curve will steepen considerably if you do choose to purchase it.

Depending on the type of photography you want to do, I would then probably go for the 70-200 F4 L. This lens gets great reviews and can produce excellent results.

Personally I'd leave it at that for now until you know more clearly which types of photograph you prefer to take. You can then choose future purchases accordingly.

Hope this helps

[RobDickinson]

Oh I'm not going to go out and buy em all tomorrow... Its a bit more of a long term plan to cover what ranges I need

I have access to the 70-200f4L and the 50mm prime(which I may pick up anyhow soon - to good to miss).

I'll get the wide angle first and stick with my borrowed 18-55 & 70-200.

Bizzarly I'm not sure I'll use the 'walk round' 28-105 as much as either the wide or zoom... and I'm not sure how much more it'll give me over the 50mm+70-200. this is the lens I'm strugling with the most, without going for an expensive L or something like the 18-200's.

I'll have 3 'modes' , hiking which I'll want the wide and either mid or zoom, sport = zoom, or walk around, which tbh I'll prob be happy with the wide and 50mm...