New lens purchase question

[joyjoy]

I am still quite new to photography, so please bear with me and my question, hopefully it will make sense. I have a Canon Eos Rebel XTi and I am using a Canon Zoom Lens EF 35mm - 80mm as my standard lens, I also have a great Canon EF 50mm Macro lens (best purchase besides the camera). I am looking to get something with a bit more range to add to my collection and have looked at the Canon zoom lens - 28 mm - 105 mm (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...206434&is=USA). I frequent at a lot of the local parks, so wild life, flowers and landscapes are what I am shooting. Would this lens be a decent addition, is there something else I should check out? Thank you so much for the feedback, I truly appreciate it.

[mjs1973]

I'm not so sure that the lens you mentioned is really going to add much to your kit. It's adding a little to the wide end, and to the long end, but not enough IMO for they type of photography you mention. If you're really interested in wildlife, you are going to have to get very close to your subjects, or your going to need a long lens or both. For wildlife, I would suggest at least a 300mm lens. Longer if you can afford it!

If landscapes are what your interested in, I would suggest something even wider than the 28mm lens that you have now.

[Anbesol]

"wild life, flowers and landscapes"

When it comes to flowers, and particularly wild life you will find a more telephoto lens to be much more fitting, I'm shooting them with a 70-210, crop factor making for 315, and even then I often wish I had just a bit more telephoto. I am afraid that out to 105 would not be the best suit for shooting wild life. Landscapes on the other hand are quite the opposite, once crop is factored, your 28-105 becomes a 44-168 - which will probably be more useful as a mild telephoto than a wide range lens, you will typically want something much wider than 44 (28) for a landscape. For the landscape I would look into something significantly wider like in the range of 17-24mm start (20mm is perfect), and something that telephoto's out to ~200 or so for wildlife. I believe Tamron makes a 19-200 lens, but its slow and has a lot of distortion, as is the nature of putting such a danged wide zoom on a single lens. conclusion - get 2 lens for those 2 applications. Flowers aren't that picky, but you'll probably want to end up something telephoto or something specifically designed for macros.

I don't know exactly how new to photography you are, but something that must be considered when looking into lens is the crop factor. Most SLR's, excluding the ultra high end canon's have it. with your canon, multiply the zoom range by 1.6, and thats the true 35mm equivalent.

Here are a few worth looking at - the f4 L series are incredible optics at relatively great prices. Telephoto and super wide, andwide zoom.

Whoops, MJS beat me to the punch ;)

[joyjoy]

Thanks for the feedback. I actually already have a great macro lens, so I am covered there. Based on what each of you have said I am probably going with a telephoto lens and will wait on the wide angle. My interest in landscapes isn't that heavy and honestly the lenses I have will still let me learn to properly compose my shots.

[Liz]

Thanks for the feedback. I actually already have a great macro lens, so I am covered there. Based on what each of you have said I am probably going with a telephoto lens and will wait on the wide angle. My interest in landscapes isn't that heavy and honestly the lenses I have will still let me learn to properly compose my shots.

If you're looking at telephoto lenses, you might check out the Canon 70-300IS lens. It's a great lens with IS. It's sharp, excellent color rendition and reasonably priced (for a telephoto). I owned this lens until I sold my longer/heavier equipment - it was very difficult for me to part with. Here are a few simple snapshots - straight out of camera.

Liz

70mm


300mm

[Liz]

I found 2 more - you can see how the colors pop.


70mm



300mm

[joyjoy]

Liz -- that is the lens my boyfriend has and the one I am looking at. Thank you for the sample pics, it just confirms that this would be a great option for me.

[Liz]

Liz -- that is the lens my boyfriend has and the one I am looking at. Thank you for the sample pics, it just confirms that this would be a great option for me.

It's a bit expensive - but really worth it IMO. You might want to check out the specs and features - here's a link to B&H as they always have complete information - just scroll down a bit to see the "features" and "specs" menu.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...5_6_EF_IS.html

Liz

[Anbesol]

actually, you should totally get this one, a bit expensive but well worth it... ;) lol, just kidding...

Keep in mind when making the purchase the differences between EF and EF-S series lens. The EF-S series may be smaller, more light weight and less costly, but the EF-S series will only work on Canon cameras with APS sized sensors. Getting an EF-S lens will limit your future upgrade ability to those cameras, meaning no 5D's and no 1D's or anything of the like, or even a future rebel, or 50D or the sorts may come out with full frame.

[joyjoy]

actually, you should totally get this one, a bit expensive but well worth it... ;) lol, just kidding...

Keep in mind when making the purchase the differences between EF and EF-S series lens. The EF-S series may be smaller, more light weight and less costly, but the EF-S series will only work on Canon cameras with APS sized sensors. Getting an EF-S lens will limit your future upgrade ability to those cameras, meaning no 5D's and no 1D's or anything of the like, or even a future rebel, or 50D or the sorts may come out with full frame.

Good gracious! I could take some serious night images with that thing. It would look like I was standing next to the moon. I don't think the boyfriend would approve If I ever hit the lottery though...

Thanks for the reminder on the EF vs EF-S. I am really pleased with my macro lens, and I think this one is comparable. If I upgrade the camera, I am going to go all out on lenses, but I am several years away from that.