New/replacement lens for stock 18-55mm

[Daryl]

<span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black; font-size: 9pt;"]Hi, <o></o>


<span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black; font-size: 9pt;"]I am new to this forum and pretty much a beginner with photography. Ibought a Canon 400D (is this called the &ldquo;rebel&rdquo; in <st1lace w:st="on"]<st1:country-region w:st="on"]America</st1:country-region></st1lace>?) about a year ago and I have really enjoyed using it and would like to get a bit more serious with photography. Ipurchased the 400D in a bundle with the UK stock 18-55mm lens (no IS)and a Tameron 70-300mm but I am heading away on my honeymoon soon and would like to swap out my 18-55mm for something with a better IQ and possibly better focal length range so I would only need to bring 1 lens with me on short trips. Although I might also be tempted to purchase a type of lens that I do not have andwould find useful when we are away i.e.wide-angle or portrait lens. <o></o>


<span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black; font-size: 9pt;"]Asour wedding is fast approaching I don'thave a bigbudget but if I am going to invest in a new lens I would like to get something decent that will last as my future plans would be to upgrade my camera body as well. I was thinking of what is probably a fairly low budget compared to some of the other discussions on this forum, probably about &pound;250 - &pound;500 ($350 - $750). With regards to use,the lenswill be for typical holiday photography i.e. indoor/outdoor, portrait,architecture, landscape etc. but basically general use.<o></o>


<span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black; font-size: 9pt;"]In terms of a replacement lens I was initially looking at the EF-S 18-135mm IS lens untilI read the reviewsin thisforum andnow believeI should rule it out. I wasalso looking at the EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM, EF-S 17-85mm f4-5.6 IS USM, 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS or the EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM. I would love something from the L series e.g. EF 24-70mm IS USM or EF 28-135mm IS USM, but unfortunately they are a fair bit beyond my budget at the minute, however does anyone think this would be a wiser long term investment?<o></o>


<span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black; font-size: 9pt;"]I would really like to invest in a wide angle lens and would love the canon 10-22mm but I think it's also just out of my budget at this stage however I was alsoquite interested inthe sigma 10-20mm. I was also looking at the EF50mm f1.8 II (am I right in saying these used to be called aportrait lens?) as I was using a friends and was surprised at how good the image quality was for a lens at about &pound;90!<o></o>


<span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black; font-size: 9pt;"]So to the point, firstlyis the x1.6FOVCF due to the EF-S lens or is it the EOS body? Secondly,does anyone have any opinions/recommendations on these lenses or have any additional/better suggestions? Finally, I feel the 15-85mm would probably cover a lot of my needs at the minute but it is at the high end of my budget and can't decided if I would be better off going for the EF-S 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 IS USM (would this be a big improvement in IQ over my stock 18-55) or EF-S 17-85 F4-5.6 IS USM and getting the sigma 10-22mm or canon 50mm as well for similar money to the 15-85mm lens on its own. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?<o></o>


<span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black; font-size: 9pt;"]Apologies for the long post and thanks very much in advance.<o></o>

[peety3]

1.6x FOVCF is due to the size of the sensor in the body. That said, 1.6 FOVCF is necessary (as is the white square on the lens mount) for EF-S lenses - the mirror of a 1.0 or 1.3 FOVCF body would hit an EF-S lens.


Back to your lens questions, if it's your honeymoon, rent! Don't worry about investing for the trip, rent to have good stuff with you, and use it as a learning experience to decide what to buy later. My fiance and I have a decent assortment of gear, but it's been a well-known fact that we're renting some more goodies for our trip in September. I don't know where to go for rentals in the UK though.


I have heard disappointing things about the 15-85. The 18-55 IS is a good little lens, but probably not much of a step up for you. 10-22 is incredibly fun.

[neuroanatomist]

Welcome to the TDP forums, Daryl!


The EF 50mm f/1.8 II lens (aka the 'nifty-fifty') - that's a great bargain lens, build quality is cheap but it's very sharp and fast. It's really the best bang for your buck of any lens!


As Pete said, the 1.6x FOVCF is due to the sensor, not the lens. The way it works is that your 1.6x crop body can use both EF-S and EF lenses, but FF bodies (and 1.3x crop bodies like the 1D series) can only use EF lenses.


If you're set on buying a lens, the EF-S 15-85mm is probably your best choice. It does have some issues typical of a wide zoom range (85/15 = 5.7x zoom) - distortion on both ends, and vignetting. It's also a variable aperture lens, meaning it quickly gets 'slower' as you zoom in (it hits f/5 by 38mm, f/5.6 at over 60mm) - that means you'll need a flash indoors. But, the image quality (IQ) is very good for a lens in that class and price range, and the focal length range is very useful. If you can swing both theEF-S 15-85mm and the EF 50mm f/1.8 II, the fast prime would help a lot in low-light.


I'd recommend against the other lenses you listed (theEF-S 18-135mm andEF-S 17-85mmhave poor IQ, theEF-S 18-200mm suffers from really significant distortion which you'd expect from an 11x zoom - forget pictures of architecture - and theEF 28-135mm is just not wide enough on a crop body). TheEF-S 18-55mm IS lens would be a slight improvement in IQ over your current lens, but not enough to make it worthwhile IMO, especially not at the retail price of that lens (since it's a Rebel kit lens, I see them selling lightly-used here for US$75-80, but retail is much more expensive).


I'll second Pete's recommendation to rent for the trip. If you really want to bring only one lens with you, I'd probably recommend the EF 24-105mm f/4L. It's definitely a compromise - 24mm is not very wide on a 1.6x crop (equivalent to 38mm if you've shot with film, you can set your kit lens to 24mm to see what that's like), and 105mm is decently long (168mm full frame equivalent), but still not really all that long. The f/4 aperture is ok, but not terribly fast. It's really intended as a general purpose zoom on a FF body, but I find it to be a good walkaround lens on my 7D.


Now, if your restriction to one lens is based on cost, renting for the trip takes care of that. If that's the case, I think a great 2-lens combination is the EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS and the 70-200mm f/4L IS. The 17-55mm is hands-down the best general purpose zoom for a 1.6x crop body (L-series optical quality - and price - but not L-series build quality), and the only downside is that it's not very long - thus, pairing it with a 70-200 zoom is great. I suggest the f/4 version of the 70-200mm for travel due to its significantly smaller size/weight, but the f/2.8L IS II is an amazing lens! You'll find that the IQ of that pair blows away what you've got with the kit lens and the Tamron telezoom.


Hope that helps - good luck with your decision. Congrats on your upcoming wedding, and have a great trip!


--John

[DavidEccleston]

While it won't increase your reach, consider the Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8... the non VC version. The VC version produced softer images, and costs more. Basically this would replace your kit lens with better optics, and the constant f/2.8 would mean it can be used in many indoor situations, and can give you a nicely blurred background. The Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 is better, yes, but the Tamron is quite good, and between a third and half the price of the Canon.


The 15-85mm isn't ideal of indoors, but should be a quite nice lens for outdoors, it will increase your reach a bit, and give you a bit more wide angle too, give you image stabilization, and better optics. This could be your general walk-around lens and a landscape lens, but it won't be good indoors.


I second the recommendation to look at the 50mm f/1.8. It's the cheapest lens you'll ever find, and you can take photographs in candle light with it, and they'll be sharp. If you weren't as budget limited you could look towards the 50mm f/1.4 from Canon, or Sigma (apparently Sigma's one is quite nice).


If went with both the 15-85 and the 50mm, you will have a nice walkaround lens, and the ability to take shots indoors, but not wide shots indoors. You can determine how limiting using only 50mm would be using your existing lens.


If you went with the Tamron 17-50, and the 50mm, you'd have a decent indoor/outdoor setup, sacrificing a bit a reach. This option would be well within your budget.

[Daryl]

<span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black; font-size: 9pt;"]Hi Everyone, <o></o>


<span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black; font-size: 9pt;"]Thanks for your quick and detailed replies. I had not thought of hiring a lens. Would you do this a lot yourself when you're taking a trip? Are there any issues I should be aware of if I do hire and can anyone recommend a good hire company in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"]<st1lace w:st="on"]UK</st1lace></st1:country-region>? Is it common to have to leave a deposit of the full cost of the lens when hiring?<o></o>


<span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black; font-size: 9pt;"]I am still not sure what lens(es) to go for! I think I would still like to invest in a lens rather than dishingout a fair bit of money fora couple of lenses thatI willhave to give back in justa few weeks but hiringdefinitely opens up some options for me. I was quite interested in the 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS simply due to itsvery smallsize inrelation to itslarge rangebut is there much of a compromise in IQ? I do not see many reviews onthis DO lensor am I just missing them?<o></o>


<span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black; font-size: 9pt;"]Thanks very much for all your help<o></o>

[peety3]

I rent several times per year. I don't know what you'll find for UK hire companies, but in the states I use LensRentals.com and they don't normally require a deposit. My local camera store rents old, beat-up gear, AND they charge full retail price as the deposit.


I know what it's like to want to invest in a lens instead of renting, but sometimes it's just worth taking the plunge. When I rent, it's usually either lenses that I don't have and feel would help my shoot (10-22, 100-400, 200/2, tilt-shift) or lenses that we don't have two of (my fiance also shoots, but we don't have two wide angle and two telephoto lenses yet). For my upcoming honeymoon, I'm planning to rent the 10-22, the 500/4, and maybe the 300/4 for our Alaska cruise.


I'd stay away from the 70-300 DO and go with a 70-200 instead. The zoom DO is heavy and has poor contrast, from what I've heard. The 70-200/4IS would be a great travel lens.

[Jarhead5811]

If you went with the Tamron 17-50, and the 50mm, you'd have a decent indoor/outdoor setup, sacrificing a bit a reach. This option would be well within your budget.

Istarted out by replacing my [url="http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Canon-EF-S-18-55mm-f-3.5-5.6-IS-Lens-Review.aspx][b]Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS[/b][/url] kit lens with the <span style="font-family: 'Arial', 'sans-serif'; color: #000000; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-themecolor: text1;"]Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 XR Di IIand a <span style="font-family: 'Arial', 'sans-serif'; color: #000000; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-themecolor: text1;"]Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II. I highly recommend the pair. I recently replaced my ancient Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 II USM (possibly not that different from your Tamron) with a<span style="font-family: 'Arial', 'sans-serif'; color: #000000; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-themecolor: text1;"]Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 <span style="color: #ff0000;"]L<span style="color: #000000; mso-themecolor: text1;"] USM Lens[/b]and love it. If I had it to do over, given the same budget I'd get them all again andin that exact order.


<span style="font-family: 'Arial', 'sans-serif'; color: #000000; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-themecolor: text1;"]<span style="font-family: 'Arial', 'sans-serif'; color: #000000; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-themecolor: text1;"]<span style="font-family: 'Arial', 'sans-serif'; color: #000000; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-themecolor: text1;"]You might keep in mind I got a small lighting setup before I got the <span style="font-family: 'Arial', 'sans-serif'; color: #000000; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-themecolor: text1;"]<span><span style="color: #000000; mso-themecolor: text1;"]<span style="font-family: 'Arial', 'sans-serif'; color: #000000; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-themecolor: text1;"]Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 <span style="color: #ff0000;"]L<span style="color: #000000; mso-themecolor: text1;"] USM[/b]. I highly recommend that as well.

[neuroanatomist]

Hey - you stole my <span style="color: red;"]L's!!


[:P]

[erno james]

give the 50mm f/1.4 a try...then give it a great write up because i think it'll be my next lens.

[Jordan]

Hi Daryl,


First, let me start off my saying I haven't read anyone else's response, only due to not a lot of time tonight on the site here... but I wanted to give you my opinion at least. The 50mm f/1.8 II (aka the Nifty Fifty) is a REALLY good lens for the price! If you have the 90 pounds to drop on it, I'd say GO FOR IT in addition to the main lens to replace your 18-55 no IS. You ruled out the EF-S 18-135mm. Why? I know it's not gotten the best praise, but neither has any of the other lenses you listed after it. All those lenses are in a price range that says, plain and simple, that they aren't as good as more expensive lenses. Having said that, you should do one of two things. A) If you think you'll be in photography for a while, don't buy a better low-end lens only to replace it again in a few months to a year. Just spring for something REALLY nice and take care of it. I'd recommend the EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 (NICE lens) or the EF 24-105mm f/4 (which is not as wide as I'd like on the wide end since it's made for full-frame cameras, but is a GREAT lens). Both lenses will run about $1,000 in the US or 900-something euros here in France where I'm living now.


B) Get the EF-S 18-135mm. 18mm is wide-enough to be nice, and 135 is quite long. I bought it for my girlfriend for use with her 500D, and she loves it! She takes amazing photos with it!


Also, please note that if you're looking for a wide-angle lens, the Canon 10-22 isn't bad (everyone says it's great, but it's so-so in my opinion) but costs a bit. The Sigma lens I've heard is BETTER and LESS EXPENSIVE... but only if you get a "good copy" - which is basically just luck. Sigma's quality control isn't the best.


Meet the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 ultra-wide angle. I love this lens. It's only got a 5mm focal length range (some call it a fixed lens, haha) but it's amazing. Do a search for it on Flickr or check out my website and see the stuff I've taken with it.


Also, if you want to make your honeymoon worth it, you should have a super-wide angle AND a 50mm prime. I would either get the Tokina 11-16 (about $500) and the 50 1.8 ($90) or the 50 1.4 ($350) and just keep your 18-55 for "middle-work". OR... better yet, buy the 18-135mm also. You could get be with ONLY the 18-135, as it's a versatile lens, but then those SUPER wide shots, and those nice night shots or sexy shots of your new wife with nice bokeh won't get taken


Just some things to think about! (Included is a photo I took in Vienna, Austria from a bridge with the 11-16mm. It's nice to get a wide shot!)


- Jordan


www.freshphotohawaii.com


www.freshphoto-du-sud.fr