good websites for lenses?

[0to60]

Hi guys, I am new to photography...just bought a canon 450d eos

I am not happy with the pics of the 18-55

I want to get one wide angle lens and one macro

anyone know any websites where they show examples of lenses and the kind of pictures you can take with them?

thanks

[AndWhy]

Try looking for groups on flickr.

I'm a Nikon man so I don't know all the lenses you'll be looking consider, but for wide angle you're probably starting with the Sigma 10-20 and the Canon 10-22 (which stops to f3.5 against the Sigma's f/4 and extends a little bit further too).

[Gold]

For lens reviews try http://www.fredmiranda.com/

Also if you're looking to buy lenses I would highly recommend Kerso (ebay seller but cheaper by email), better prices than anywhere else in this country.

[Overhaulin]

This site is fairly well recomended.
http://www.dpreview.com/lensreviews/

Out of interest what was it about the kit lens you didnt like?. I'm asking as I looking at buying a 450 myself.

[Stigmundfreud]

Overhaulin said:

This site is fairly well recomended.
http://www.dpreview.com/lensreviews/

Out of interest what was it about the kit lens you didnt like?. I'm asking as I looking at buying a 450 myself.

If I can be a bit rude you would be better looking for answers from people not new to photography when after advice for the lens. Kit lens is a nice capable lens, certaily an improvement over the original kit lens but even that I had no complaints with.

I'm guessing the complaint here is it isnt wide enough, doesn't zoom enough and doesn't do macro rather than the quality of the lens. Certainly the 18-55 is a great opening lens as it will cover most peoples out of the box needs.

to OP if looking for a good cheap Macro I'd recommend the sigma 24-135 dg with macro, cost was 99 quid 2 years back. As for wide you are never going to get much wider than the 18mm without other effect/cost to consider. the 1.6x crop means if you buy an EF not EF-s mount lens that you effectively are multiplying the zoom effect crop area of the image so 100mm gives a crop effect of 160mm etc. So if you want wide you need to make sure its a lens designed for EF-S mount only so it accounts for the cropped sensor. Again sigma do some nice cheap lenses in this area but from memory these are more your fisheye type.

A good place to search and buy from is www.warehouseexpress.co.uk as you can search by brand, zoom, fitment etc just take into account that unless you buy a lens that is designed for a cropped sensor you are never going to get the true effective focal length

[Overhaulin]

Fair point. But I wasnt asking for advice, just what the reasons for the OP's disklie, which you would appear to have covered.

I only asked as most magazine reviews I have read suggest it is a decent lens.

[0to60]

thanks for all the info guys...I will check all the links

Overhaulin...just as stigmund said...

the lens is good and it is great as a ready to go, out of the box lens..however for close up product shots I need a macro lens and for other shots like landscapes i would prefer to have a wide angle lens...with the 18-55, just get a bit blurry towards the edges as it is not wide enough angle for me for the type of pictures I want to take...so therefore, as lenses are a bit of money, I do not see the need to keep the 18-55 and will go for the other 2 meanwhile

before I bought the canon, I had the sony a100 and i found it a right pain in the a** for quality of pictures, but I also learnt from here it is all about the lenses

[Simpo Two]

0to60 said:

anyone know any websites where they show examples of lenses and the kind of pictures you can take with them?

Not cute butterflies I know but here are two from a Micro Nikkor 105mm:





You'll be able to fill the screen with a postage stamp, but your depth of field will be very shallow. Because of the magnification, you may need a tripod as well, depending on the available light.

If the Canon macro lenses are to many ££, the Tamron 90mm macro always gets good reviews.

[Thunderace]

Stigmundfreud said:

As for wide you are never going to get much wider than the 18mm without other effect/cost to consider. the 1.6x crop means if you buy an EF not EF-s mount lens that you effectively are multiplying the zoom effect crop area of the image so 100mm gives a crop effect of 160mm etc. So if you want wide you need to make sure its a lens designed for EF-S mount only so it accounts for the cropped sensor.

That's not correct. A 100mm lens has a focal length of 100mm and exactly the same angle of view whether it has an EF or EF-S mount. The crop factor is dependent on the camera\sensor only. On a 40D\450D both will have the angle of view of a 160mm on 35mm.

[0to60]

Simpo Two said:

0to60 said:

anyone know any websites where they show examples of lenses and the kind of pictures you can take with them?

You'll be able to fill the screen with a postage stamp, but your depth of field will be very shallow. Because of the magnification, you may need a tripod as well, depending on the available light.

If the Canon macro lenses are to many ££, the Tamron 90mm macro always gets good reviews.

Thanks Simpo...I will have a look at Tamron...good close ups

[Stigmundfreud]

Thunderace said:

Stigmundfreud said:

As for wide you are never going to get much wider than the 18mm without other effect/cost to consider. the 1.6x crop means if you buy an EF not EF-s mount lens that you effectively are multiplying the zoom effect crop area of the image so 100mm gives a crop effect of 160mm etc. So if you want wide you need to make sure its a lens designed for EF-S mount only so it accounts for the cropped sensor.

That's not correct. A 100mm lens has a focal length of 100mm and exactly the same angle of view whether it has an EF or EF-S mount. The crop factor is dependent on the camera\sensor only. On a 40D\450D both will have the angle of view of a 160mm on 35mm.

which is what I said

[Thunderace]

Stigmundfreud said:

Thunderace said:

Stigmundfreud said:

As for wide you are never going to get much wider than the 18mm without other effect/cost to consider. the 1.6x crop means if you buy an EF not EF-s mount lens that you effectively are multiplying the zoom effect crop area of the image so 100mm gives a crop effect of 160mm etc. So if you want wide you need to make sure its a lens designed for EF-S mount only so it accounts for the cropped sensor.

That's not correct. A 100mm lens has a focal length of 100mm and exactly the same angle of view whether it has an EF or EF-S mount. The crop factor is dependent on the camera\sensor only. On a 40D\450D both will have the angle of view of a 160mm on 35mm.

which is what I said

Eh, perhaps I speak a different version of English ? To me this says you don't get the crop effect with an EF-S lens but do with an EF. :-

"the 1.6x crop means if you buy an EF not EF-s mount lens that you effectively are multiplying the zoom effect crop area of the image so 100mm gives a crop effect of 160mm etc. So if you want wide you need to make sure its a lens designed for EF-S mount only so it accounts for the cropped sensor."

[Stigmundfreud]

ok buy an ef 100 lens

on an ff you will have 100mm same as on a 35mm film body

stick same lens on the 1.6 cropped sensor and you will get the crop so you end up with an equivilant view area of a 160mm lens on a 35mm film body

Buy an ef-S designed lens, one thats designed to work with the smaller sensor then a 100mm ef-s lens will give you the same view as 100mm on a 35mm film body.

[rustyspit]

Stigmundfreud said:

Buy an ef-S designed lens, one thats designed to work with the smaller sensor then a 100mm ef-s lens will give you the same view as 100mm on a 35mm film body.

I don't know much about Canon lenses, but I don't think that is true. A 100mm EF-S lens would have the same field of view on, say, an EOS 450D as a 100mm EF lens - i.e. _both_ lenses would give the same field of view on a 450D as a 160mm lens on a 35mm film camera.

[cirks]

Stigmundfreud said:

Buy an ef-S designed lens, one thats designed to work with the smaller sensor then a 100mm ef-s lens will give you the same view as 100mm on a 35mm film body.

might be a case of us misunderstanding you Sigmundfreud but a 10-22mm EFS lens is 16mm-35mm on any 1.6 crop sensor. All lenses are given in 35mm terms. 100mm EFS is 160mm on a 1.6 or 100mm on a FF sensor.

[Simpo Two]

cirks said:

a 10-22mm EFS lens is 16mm-35mm on any 1.6 crop sensor.

'a 10-22mm EFS lens gives the same angle of view as 16mm-35mm on any 1.6 crop sensor.

When you take a lens off an FF camera and put it on a cropped sensor camera, do the glass elements suddenly go 'sproing' and change shape, thus changing the focal length? No. All the cropped sensor camera does is chop the edges off. Hence you get a narrower angle of view which *makes it look like* you have a longer focal length.

I can prove this as I have both kinds of camera and it's a bloody nuisance!

[cirks]

Simpo Two said:

do the glass elements suddenly go 'sproing' and change shape, thus changing the focal length?

You have to buy the ESS (Extra Sproing System) versions of the lenses for that functionality

Ok - point taken - the "apparent" focal length of a 10mm is 16mm

[Stigmundfreud]

oh ok I must have completely misunderstood the canon literature about the ef-s mount system that enables them to lable a lens EF-s 18mm to give you the same look as if you had used an 18mm lens on a 35mm body, rather than giving you a cropped effect of 18x1.6 if you used an EF mount

EF-s

EF

Two completely different systems one based on FF and one based on cropped. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canon_EF-S_lens_mount

If I'm still wrong in the morning I'll lick my own ball sack

[Thunderace]

Stigmundfreud said:

oh ok I must have completely misunderstood the canon literature about the ef-s mount system that enables them to lable a lens EF-s 18mm to give you the same look as if you had used an 18mm lens on a 35mm body, rather than giving you a cropped effect of 18x1.6 if you used an EF mount

EF-s

EF

Two completely different systems one based on FF and one based on cropped. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canon_EF-S_lens_mount

If I'm still wrong in the morning I'll lick my own ball sack

Hope you've got a long tongue

"With its effective focal length range of approximately 16-35mm in 35mm format, the EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM is a remarkable lens with outstanding image quality that will take your photography into new dimensions and areas of dramatic expression."

http://www.canon.co.uk/For_Home/Product_Finder/Cam...

[flat-planedCrank]

Yup All lenses are multiplied by the crop factor...

Ie. An EF 100mm lens would be identical to an EF-S 100mm lens on a cropped body camera.



Cheers.