Canon Xti Rebel - 1st DSLR

[neon_81]

Hello All,

I am new to this forum. I am very fond of photography and so far I've been using my PS camera. I am ready to buy my 1st DSLR and need some suggestions here. I am looking at Canon Xti Rebel, but I am not sure what type of lens shall I buy?

I haven't bought a DSLR, so I am confused with the lenses purchase? Any suggestions??

Thank for any help!
Neon_81

[Frog]

Welcome to the forums; a great place for sharing and learning.
What lens(s) you'll want depends on what your main photo subjects will be.
Landscape, portrait, macro, sports?
Let us know and you'll get many options.

[Anbesol]

The lens are a more important investment than the camera body, you will most likely be replacing the camera body well before you replace the lens. A fast lens is always good, they offer the best performance, fastest autofocus, and the brightest viewfinder. A "fast" lens is something in the range of f2.8 to f4 on a zoom, and f1.4 to f2.8 on a fixed lens. The prime (fixed) 50mm f1.8 is always a good investment, its cheap, fast, and performs great. But as frog said, it also depends on what you plan on shooting that determines what range of lens you'd like. On the XTI's crop sensor, 10-30mm is a good range for landscape shots, 25-100 is good for portraits, 70-200/300 is good for sports and wildlife, and 200-400 is good for bird photography, for example.

Another important thing to consider is what kind of, if any, macro photography you'd like to do. Macro is close-up photography, and various lenses offer various distances for macro, and the relative closeness is measured by the 'magnification'. A 1:4 magnification ratio is a mild macro, 1:2 is closer, and 1:1 is a seriously close macro (you can shoot grains of rice, get real close on insects, etc). A 1:1 magnification simply means that the image is exactly identical in size to the sensor, say you are shooting a grain of rice - the grain of rice will be the same size on the sensor as it is in the field. Also keep in mind, when you see say a 70-200 lens that has a 1:2 magnification, that magnification can only be achieved at the telephoto end of the lens, as focus distance is the same across the entire zoom range.

Some popular ones that are always worth a look is the 24-105 L, the 70-200 L (f4 or f2.8, and/or IS, depending on budget), and the 50mm (f1.8 or f1.4, again depending on budget). However, if you want a lens more specialized for a particular type of shooting, you may want to also consider other options. Let us know what kind of shooting you would like to do, and what kind of budget you are alloting for lens - and we can show you some good lens options.

[JamesV]

Well both Frog and Anbesol both have answered at least the main questions to you in order to get some helpful tips. I guess the only thing left to do is say, Welcome to the forum.

I too shot with a P&S then switched to the XTi and I am still learning. Good luck and enjoy.

James

[neon_81]

I want a lens for portrait and landscape photography..any suggestions willbe helpful..

thanks!

[JamesV]

I want a lens for portrait and landscape photography..any suggestions willbe helpful..

thanks!

As mentioned above, what is your budget?

James

[Anbesol]

24-105 would have a great range in a single lens, for those two particular types of shooting, you would rarely (if ever) need anything more telephoto than 105 (particularly on the XTi's 1.6x crop sensor). For landscape alone, you may occasionally want something wider than 24 - in which case another portrait/landscape combo lens you may want to look at is the 17-55 f2.8/L. Those are both excellent performing lens, fast autofocus, bright viewfinder, excellent distortion control, contrast, color presentation, and sharp.

Both of those hang at around $1000, I would put those as top reccomendations. Difference of course being one stop faster on the 17-55 at f2.8, and 7mm wider (which is quite a bit and gives you quite a bit of range on the wide end), drawback of course is also a little bit less performance quality - the 17-55 f2.8 is also an EF-S lens, so its an APS crop - making it a bit wider but lessening the sweet spot. Also making it incompatible with full frame canon digital bodies (if thats a route you'll ever want to take).

Of course, I am not suggesting to get both, both of those are sort of an either or reccomendation. If those exceed your allotted budget, Sigma has a 24-70 f2.8 that is supposed to perform very well as well - not quite the range but you gain a stop and pay about half as much, its around $500...

For portraits, and just a good walkaround lens, the 50mm f1.8 is a *MUST* and only about $90.

[neon_81]

Hi James,

I can spent about $800. I am confused about the lenses. I am really interested in nature photography, portraits.... This is the first time purchase, so I really don't want to put that much money....

Thanks for the suggestions,
Neon

[brmill26]

It's been mentioned a bunch of times above, but I can't recommend the 50mm F/1.8 enough. Neon, all I had for 5 months was an XTi and the 50mm. I primarily shot (and still shoot) naturescapes, as well as a fair number of portrait type work as well. That lens is absolutely wonderful. It isn't very wide angle, so it may seem a bit tight for broader landscapes, but I don't think that will hurt you too much just starting out. The reason why is because it teaches you to look for a subject - if you can't rely on the broad expanse of a panorama to be the impact, you must find a subject somewhere within it. I think it helps you make better photos. And on the other hand, if you do need to take a big panorama, you can take several photos in a row and use Canon's Photostitch to make a huge photo.

But if you can drop a bit more money, I would agree with Anbesol's recommendation for the 17-55mm F/2.8. That would give you some wider angles, a good portrait length, and a pretty wide aperture as well.

[Anbesol]

Tamron also has a 17-50 f2.8 for only about $400, if you got that paired with the 50mm f1.8, that still puts you at about $500, then you could have an extra $300 which could get you a nice speedlite or a telephoto prime, great to enhance your portrait shooting capabilities. The Canon 17-55 is well worth its asking price though - if you could stretch the budget to fit that in, you won't be disappointed.

Echoing brmill - the prime 50 belongs in every photographers arsenal, the most universally applicable lens.

[Loupey]

Hi James,

I can spent about $800. I am confused about the lenses. I am really interested in nature photography, portraits.... This is the first time purchase, so I really don't want to put that much money....

Thanks for the suggestions,
Neon

I know what portrait means, but what does "nature" mean to you? Bugs, flowers, landscapes, birds, animals, underwater, astronomical, nocturnal?

I would suggest not using up your entire budget until you have a clear subject matter in mind. Perhaps you already do.

[JamesV]

All are great ideals but Loupey does make a great point. It really depends on what he is looking to shoot. He might need a macro or zoom or something in between.

The more questions you can answer the better advise you will get. Also remember there are no dumb questions, so ask any and everything that you might like to.

James

[straightarm]

Hello All,


I haven't bought a DSLR, so I am confused with the lenses purchase? Any suggestions??

Thank for any help!
Neon_81

look at this post

15 Truths about Photography

and adapting point 7 slightly, buy the camera with the kit lens, they are cheap as chips.
When you've found the limitations of that lens for your photography, buy other lens(es) to overcome these limitations

[neon_81]

Thank you everybody for there response!

I am planning to buy this camera: http://www.amazon.com/Canon-Digital-...6224592&sr=8-1

with the basic lens that it comes with. I am thinking of using this for some time and then decide which lenses I need to buy. But this will be my first DSLR, so I am kind of worried putting $600 down....Is there anything I will need to buy with this camera. I see that 12.2 MP is out too, but I think 10Mp is good enough..

THANKS AGAIN!

[Frog]

I'm a Nikon guy so I don't know if the xsi is worth the extra 80 bucks but I do know that 10.1 is plenty of megapixels.
You'll need some memory cards and eventually you'll find a zillion other things you want such as tripods/monopd, head for same, filters, bags, editing programs, and a cool hat but don't worry about that stuff until you've had fun with what you got and know how you want to expand.

[neon_81]

I'm a Nikon guy so I don't know if the xsi is worth the extra 80 bucks but I do know that 10.1 is plenty of megapixels.
You'll need some memory cards and eventually you'll find a zillion other things you want such as tripods/monopd, head for same, filters, bags, editing programs, and a cool hat but don't worry about that stuff until you've had fun with what you got and know how you want to expand.

Hi Frog,

What model in Nikon will you recommend and lens for beginners?

Thanks!

[Anbesol]

D80, Nikkor 50mm f1.8. Great way to start...

[Frog]

D80, Nikkor 50mm f1.8. Great way to start...

That's what I started with except I got the 18-135 but now have the 50 and some other lenses.
The d80 is way cheaper than when I bought it and its still a better camera than I am a photographer as there are several functions I haven't even tried yet.

[nikonshopping]

Another choice great way to start try nikon d60 with nikkor lense 18-138mm.