Cannon rebel t2i beginners tips on what lens to buy?

Hi im saving up money to buy a cannon rebel t2i what lens should i get with it? i dont know what lens to buy especially with the 1.6 times crop thing i want a lens thats a ef not ef-s so if i go to a full frame body i wont have to change lenses and i want a good wide angle and a decent zoom at the same time? any ideas on what lens to buy? or just give me some recomendations on lenses that you think a beginner should use to get to know how to work the camera first :) hopefully you can understand this


Thanks Caleb

Hi Caleb, and welcome to the TDP forums!


As you can imagine, this is a pretty common question, and one that really cannot be answered without more input from you. First off, your desire for, "...a lens thats a ef not ef-s so if i go to a full frame body i wont have to change lenses and i want a good wide angle and a decent zoom at the same time," cannot really be met. The 'standard' EF zooms (28-135mm, 24-105mm, 24-70mm) are not really wide angle on a T2i. The wide angle EF zooms (16-35mm, 17-40mm) are reasonably wide on the T2i, but not very long. That's one reason why there are EF-S lenses!


Some questions:


1. Is this your first dSLR?


2. Have you had a film SLR in the past?


3. What do you want to shoot? Family memories, sports, wildlife, landscapes, indoors vs. outdoors, etc.


4. What is your budget?


For example, if the answers to the first three are yes, no, and not sure/everything, then you may be best off just getting the EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS that is commonly bundled with the T2i. It adds relatively little to the cost, and will give you a chance learn about your camera and what you want to shoot.


But let's see what you have to say about those questions, and we'll go from there...


--John

1. YES


2. NO


3.Family ,sports ,wildlife


4. $1500 if cheaper thats great too! haha


Thanks Caleb

$1500 will get you the T2i with 18-55 kit and you can get the 70-200 f4L (non IS). That will put you right at your budget limit, but it will be a great combo to start with.


You

wow that sounds like a good bundle thanks John and Braden :)

im buying mine new off of amazon thanks

I know you say that you don't want to have to change lenses when you upgrade to a full-frame, but with how well lenses hold their value, you can easily get a few years worth of use out of a lens and sell it on eBay for 80%+ of what you paid for it. Unless you see yourself buying a full-frame camera in the next year (which new start at $2500 right now - 5DII, and the eventual 5DIII won't be any cheaper), I'd recommend considering EF-S lenses. As neuro said, you'll be hard pressed to find a wide-angle zoom that can reach moderate telephoto lengths on a crop camera out of an EF lens.


In this spirit, I'd like to recommend the EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM. It has great image quality and would fit in your budget of body (~$720) + lens (also ~$720). It's not quite up to L build-quality standards, but it's much, much better than the 18-55mm kit lens, and would help you get your feet wet in photography without being limited by equipment (at least in terms of image quality).


If you want to push your budget a little more, the EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM is an amazing lens. You'd be very happy with this lens. It also takes L-series quality images, and with the constant big 2.8 aperture, you'll be able to more easily capture images in low-light and stop-action if you do any sports photography. This lens also has a $70 rebate on it right now, so it's about $990 on Amazon right now. It might be a little short for you at only 55mm (88mm equivalent), but with the T2i's 18mp, you can do a little cropping if needed.

I see your logic wanting lens to use with a FF camera later on. But keep this in mind when you are choosing.


Unless you go used the cheapest FF camera is the 5D Mark II for about $2,500.00. While the 70-200L Non IS is a good lens, I am not sure if I would lay out $2,500 for a camera before I would upgrade the lens to IS. When you get to the 5D Mark II level if your like most of us, your looking at the 24-70mm 2.8L, 24-105mm 4L or 16-35mm L to go with it. The $$$ jump to FF can be big, you know your budget and if you really want to head toward FF look at what you would want if you were buying the 5D MarkII.......Getting the best EF S lens for your crop frame will last you all the way to the 7D.





Trowski is right...lens hold there value. Cameras don't though. A good EF-S you will be able to sell later on...(my opinion)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Caleb

Hi im saving up money to buy a cannon rebel t2i what lens should i get with it? i dont know what lens to buy especially with the 1.6 times crop thing i want a lens thats a ef not ef-s so if i go to a full frame body i wont have to change lenses and i want a good wide angle and a decent zoom at the same time? any ideas on what lens to buy? or just give me some recomendations on lenses that you think a beginner should use to get to know how to work the camera first :) hopefully you can understand this

---

Read this first: http://www.lensrentals.com/news/2010.07.18/lenses-don-t-collect-the-whole-set


You're buying your first SLR and you're already worried about upgrading to your second camera? Are you worried about your tenth lens yet?


In my personal opinion, anyone who sells their first camera before they've bought their third camera is crazy and brave. Cameras aren't medical equipment: they aren't made to work 100% of the time. They will have occasional problems (both of our older cameras have), so having a backup is a good thing. Therefore, until you're ready to buy two full-frame cameras (i.e. what would likely be your third and fourth cameras, in my estimation), you will be fine with EF-S lenses.


My wife and I have four cameras: three are 1.6 crop, one is 1.3 crop. Our next lens purchase will be EF-S; our next camera purchase (though after five more lenses, I suspect) will be 1.3 crop. Only after we add a few more lenses do I see us adding a FF camera.


As a first lens, go with the kit 18-55 or perhaps the 18-200 (on Roger's suggestion). Add a tripod and medium flash, then do a 50/1.8 or 85/1.8 prime. Then decide what you need next.

Offtopic: Sorry Salazar but out of all the pictures you uploaded only the last one (old camera) and the one with the fruit look "sharp". If you really think some of the others are exeptionally sharp, there's a problem somewhere and I would recommend to look close for it. This way you're not really promoting Ebay [:(]


ON TOPIC!


Hi Caleb, welcome.


I would like to recommend some things for you. I would like to say start with the 18-55 kit lens ONLY. Use it for a while and see what your needs are. That's the best way you can decide what you really want. At least I think so and I do for a few reasons:


1 - You chose the T2i specifically. I guess you're also interested in shooting some video then. Else there would be other choices for that budget. When shooting video, you might want a specific lens or perhaps even some specific equipment. A tripod for instance could be nice...and a good one is not cheap.


2 - The "I'm going full-frame at some point" is not a good argument if you ask me. If it's in real close future I understand this argument, but not if you're just starting out. If you have to ask what lens is a good second lens....well let me point this out: the lens will behave totally different on a full frame camera. And since you're not really sure what you want now, how could you say what you'd like then?


3 - Perhaps you'll find yourself discovering a whole different kind of photography and you're not happy with your second lens. Perhaps you might be getting very interested in strobism, where you don't really need that second lens and you might have been better of by saving the cash for a flash, lightingmodifiers etc etc.


This is what I can think of in this short time. Don't get me wrong, the adviced 70-200 is a really really nice lens and I would recommend it to you if you were looking more specific. But for now, I say start easy and small. See what you like, see what your style is. Discover everything and then do this quest again. This could take some time, but it could also take less than a month...


That's my advice. For what it's worth, I wish you good luck and have fun whooting!


Jan

Quote:

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Originally Posted by peety3

As a first lens, go with the kit 18-55 or perhaps the 18-200 (on Roger's suggestion). Add a tripod and medium flash, then do a 50/1.8 or 85/1.8 prime. Then decide what you need next.

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I can't agree more. the 85mm 1.8 will let you understand what is fast, sharp, DOF, bokeh..... for less than $400, don't forget hood and filter!


since you mentioned you will buy your T2i from Amazon, I believe they sell T2i with kit lens for $850, so why not get a refurbished 50D with or without kit lens for less than $900 from Adorama instead?

I

wow i didnt think that this many people would respond good golly, kit lens it is then and then see what i want from there cool thanks for the advice helped a ton! :)

oh and any suggestions on good tri pods? yes i want to take video too

okay thats sweet your right i wont be buying a diffrent camera/full frame for the next 3-5 years thanks

:) thanks jan

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Caleb

oh and any suggestions on good tri pods? yes i want to take video too

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Tripods are very important for still photography, but they exponentially more important for video. A lot of people make do with a $200 tripod for still photography because once they setup the shot, they don't have to move it. (Though I recommend spending at least a grand on your still photo tripod+ball head.) But when it comes to video, you can't just setup the shot and leave it -- many of the shots involve panning, tilting, zooming, and focusing. To accommodate this, the tripod has to be much better mechanically, which means more expensive.


At a bare minimum, I would suggest the Manfrotto 503HDV head (~$400) and at least that much for the sticks to go with it, like the 536 ($550) or a compatible 75mm ball Gitzo (~$900).


Of course, the best tripods are more in the $10,000 - $20,000 range, but that should be able to give you really good results.



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