Need help with new lens

Our household has now got2 canon eos bodies -500D +450D (its a long story). My wife's the enthusiast. she wasplanning on selling the 450D but I've decided to keep it for me. I'dlike a new lens.I'vebeen sharing 'her' lenses so I knowwhat I like/don't like about what we'vealready got.


24-105 -I hate thisone -backgrounds areblurry and I like to see what's in the background.Yes I get that I could change this if I put in onapp. priority but Ireally just want to go with the auto modes at this point. (She's got two very 'precious' macro lenses she's told me not to bother with).


17-85 - EFS - this one is okay but I'd want more zoom to get into the distance and never use thev.wide end.


I like my photosreal sharp, so I steer clear ofthe 2 v. oldlens from our film slr 75-300 and 28-80.The shotsare always grainy.


100-400 - its a monster but I like the feel of it andgetting in close. Excellent for sport.


Iphotograph the family/teenagers - sports, birthdays, school events &holidays. We're about to take the kids on vacation to LA & I don't want to be chopping and changing lenses. I'm doing a beginners SLR course before I go. I'm not interested in something that takes great photos of flowers but nothing else.


the better half has suggested the 70-200 4 L IS. Its next on her list. The guy in the shop had a 55-250 v. cheap in comparison. Also showed me18-200 & 70-300.Hard to tell the difference between them just looking at the little display screen. A mate with a Nikon has a 18-200 he's pretty keen on. Price is relevant but not a big issue. I want to get the choice right - nice zoom, sharp photos, hand held, can fit in the kids group shot with a sharp background,action/on field sports shots and travel photos.


Got any advice...

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Originally Posted by Corindaguy

24-105 -I hate thisone -backgrounds areblurry and I like to see what's in the background.

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What? The 24-105 is one of the best lenses out there. If you want to see the background, use a narrower aperture, say f11. simple as that!

I mean this kindly, but learn to use your camera settings. Just use a smallerapertureand the lenses you have (very nice ones at that) will do what you want. "Landscape" mode tends to select a smaller aperture for depth of field. Buying a new lens won't really solve your problem.


The capability to get a nice out of focus background is generally considered a positive quality and a large part of the point of using an SLR.

thanks for that. Perhaps I should have added that the 24-105 is pretty much permanentlyon my wife's camera... I'm aftersome help trying to pick a new lens for me to use on the other body.

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Originally Posted by Corindaguy

24-105 -I hate thisone -backgrounds areblurry and I like to see what's in the background. I want to get the choice right - nice zoom, sharp photos, hand held, can fit in the kids group shot with a sharp background,action/on field sports shots and travel photos.


Got any advice...

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My advice would be to skip the lens, and instead trade the 450D for a top-quality point-and-shoot (e.g. Canon G11). The issues I've underlined above are all about depth of field - if you want the subject and the background in sharp focus, you need a deep depth of field. On a dSLR, than means using a very small aperture, which means either a slow shutter speed (in which case, moving subjects are blurry), high ISO (which means grainy pictures), or an ultrawide lens (like the 10-22mm, which means you won't get the framing you want). Barba mentions landscapes - one point there is that landscape photography which requires a deep depth of field (very narrow apertures) also usually means using a solid tripod, because exposures are long (1/10 - 5 seconds) - those won't work handheld, and certainly not with people as subjects.


The other main factor influencing depth of field is sensor size - the bigger the sensor, the shallower the depth of field (this is why pro portrait photogs use full frame sensors - the effect they want is exactly what you don't like - subject sharp, background as blurred as possible). A point-and-shoot has a significantly smaller sensor than a dSLR - that's an effective way to get more depth of field and maintain good image quality and ease of use (no changing lenses, etc.).

I almost suggested a point and shoot, as well. The S90 is a stellar little camera, for what it is worth.

My advice to you is take that SLR for Beginners Class as soon as possible.

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Originally Posted by Sinh Nhut Nguyen

My advice to you is take that SLR for Beginners Class as soon as possible.

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Nice, Nate! [:P] Corindaguy said, "Ireally just want to go with the auto modes at this point." You know as well as I do that the first thing they'll tell him in that class is to stop using the auto modes and start using Av and Tv...