Canon XTi Lens Questions

Hi,
My name is Zell. I have recently bought my first DSLR. It is the Canon Rebel XTi. So far it seems like a nice enough camera. I bought it as an upgrade to my Kodak Easy Share DX 7590. This little camera has been wonderful. I hope the Canon proves to be as pleasing.
A couple of the really good things about the Kodak camera are it's simplicity and it's zooming capabilitiy. (10x optical/3x digital). Even it's menus and manual are in terms I understand.
My first project is to get to know my new Canon XTi. I can see that it has an amazing amount of possibilities but all of that requires lots of cash so I want to make the right choices when I buy accessories.
My first task is to understand the coorelation between focal length and the nX of zoom. I was reading the Dec. 2009 issue of Comsumer Reports and they had a ratings article on many different lenses. In their descriptions they also listed each lens's zoom capablity. But at the various Lens websites that isn't mentioned.
Can anyone please direct me to a forum here that might help me understand lens terminology and how to know what the coorelation is? Thanks a bunch

Welcome to PhotographyREVIEW.com, Zell! You found your way into our "Welcome" thread where people introduce themselves. It's a good place for that but not a great place to get specific equipment advice. So I moved your post into the Canon forum and made it into a new thread. Hope you don't mind :)

There's a pretty solid learning curve when moving from a compact camera like your Kodak to a digital SLR. The Canon XTi is a very good camera. I have one and it's been great for me. I have more expensive cameras as well, but I am always amazed at how powerful the entry-level digital SLRs are now.

I haven't seen the issue of Consumer Reports you refer to. But I can understand how SLR lenses might be confusing since they usually don't have a 3x, 5x, etc. designation. That nX is pretty easy to figure out though. The Canon EF-S 18-55mm kit lens is a 3x zoom lens because if you multiply 18 by 3 you get 54. So that's how it works. However - with an SLR it's not so important what the nX is. What you really need to know is how wide and long your lens is. The 18mm end of the Canon Rebel kit lens is the wide-angle end. And the 55mm end is slightly telephoto, or "long."

Your camera has a 1.6x multiplier because the sensor is a bit smaller than a 35mm film frame, on which all these lens measurements are based. The basic rule for your camera is that anything shorter (smaller number) than about 35mm is a wide angle. And anything longer than that is a telephoto. Since you're new to DSLRs, I'm sure this brings up as many questions as it answers. Please feel free to let us know what you don't understand and we'll explain it or point you to a page that does :)

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Originally Posted by Zell

Hi,
My name is Zell. I have recently bought my first DSLR. It is the Canon Rebel XTi. So far it seems like a nice enough camera. I bought it as an upgrade to my Kodak Easy Share DX 7590. This little camera has been wonderful. I hope the Canon proves to be as pleasing.
A couple of the really good things about the Kodak camera are it's simplicity and it's zooming capabilitiy. (10x optical/3x digital). Even it's menus and manual are in terms I understand.
My first project is to get to know my new Canon XTi. I can see that it has an amazing amount of possibilities but all of that requires lots of cash so I want to make the right choices when I buy accessories.
My first task is to understand the coorelation between focal length and the nX of zoom. I was reading the Dec. 2009 issue of Comsumer Reports and they had a ratings article on many different lenses. In their descriptions they also listed each lens's zoom capablity. But at the various Lens websites that isn't mentioned.
Can anyone please direct me to a forum here that might help me understand lens terminology and how to know what the coorelation is? Thanks a bunch

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The factor for you camera is only good to calculate the effective angle of view, in relationship to a full frame 35mm film camera lens. A 50mm lens on the model of camera you have is 1.6 * 50 = 80 mm, so with a 50mm lens on your camera you get the angle of view of an 80mm lens on a 35mm film camera (full frame). This just happens to fall into the angle of view that is good for portraits.