Beginner looking for new lens to replace 18 - 55mm Canon kit lens

Meeplemaiden

Meeplemaiden

Messages
41
Name
Jules
Edit My Images
No
So, here is my 'problem' and I would be interested to know your opinion: when I bought my 500D a couple of years ago it came with the above mentioned lens. Although it isn't bad it has no IS and I don't seem to be able to get a really sharp picture when hand held. I know it is probably due to technique but I have sought much advice and followed it but to very little improvement. So, do I just buy the IS version of the same lens or should I go for one of the other 'Walkabout' lenses available. As I will have to save for anything other than the IS version of my kit lens, I don't want to waste my time or money on something half-baked. I was looking at the full frame Tamron 24 - 70mm which got good reviews. I would like to know what you think about other alternatives, they don't necessarily have to be from Canon. Thanks.
 
Ignore that. Efs15-85, a great lens as a replacement for the kit lens. I bought one for my sone as a replacement walkabout lens for his kit lens on his 550D and I have to say I was really pleased with it. Ideally I'd like a little lower Iso but for the price itsa great lens.

Don't forget to check for second hand ones from people like MBP photographic to make the most of your money.
 
Tamron 17-50 gets a good following and comes recommended from plenty of people. The Canon 15-85IS as Byker says is a belter of a lens and certainly worth a look at, obviously the cheapest option is to get the IS version of the 18-55 lens...

Budget does come into it and also how quick you want a replacement lens V how much do you have / how long will it take to save up for...

Personally, I would be deciding on your maximum budget and then looking at what lens you can get for this...
 
I would also suggest you look at the Tamron 17-50. From personal experience it is a very sharp lens. There are two versions VC and non VC. The non VC is supposed to be the sharper and it is F2.8 through the range.

They often come up for sale on here. Non VC for about £170- £180 and VC for about £200. Significantly cheaper than the 15-85 if money is a factor.
 
Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 if you want to spend ~£200, Canon EF-S 15-85mm or 17-55mm if you're wanting to spend more (Around £4-500) would be my choices
 
Tamron 17-50VC in classifieds at present.
 
Thanks all for the suggestions. Still pondering. My reason for considering the full frame tamron was that it was 'only' £200 more expensive than the 15 - 85mm and if I am going to spend that kind of money at least the full frame gives me the option of upgrading my camera at a later date! The 15 - 85 lens would have been my second choice but as I already have the 10-20mm I don't necessarily need the wide 15mm. I'm not really in any hurry for the next lens (although I would like to have it yesterday, of course, wouldn't we all) I'm just kind of throwing the idea around at the moment.
 
Have you considered getting a fixed-focal length lens, such as a 50mm f/1.8 ? These are usually very sharp! :)
 
What type of photography do you mostly do? This will dictate if IS or a faster lens (e.g. fixed f2.8) is a better option.

All suggestions so far are great, but you really need to know which one will benefit you most in your type of photography.
 
Hi Jules,could you put some pics up that you say are not sharp, it could be you don't need a new lens just some technique help, cheers mike.
 
Meeplemaiden said:
... My reason for considering the full frame tamron was that it was 'only' £200 more expensive than the 15 - 85mm and if I am going to spend that kind of money at least the full frame gives me the option of upgrading my camera at a later date! The 15 - 85 lens would have been my second choice but as I already have the 10-20mm I don't necessarily need the wide 15mm.
Click to expand...

Whatever you do don't buy a lens because you think maybe perhaps possibly inshalla sometime in the future you may upgrade to full frame, that is just daft. Get a lens that suits your current body and I can confirm that the 15-85 is a great lens. I should know I've recently bought my second. Look after your gear and you will get a decent price for it when and if you eventually upgrade.

Re. the 10-20 you probably don't use it that much and if you get the 15-85 you will use it even less. I once had a Canon 10-22 and "full frame" 24-105 on a crop body (40D). I got p***ed off forever having to swap lenses as the short end of the 24-105 was too long so I sold the 24-105 and got a 15-85. I still have the 10-22 but it rarely got out of the bag after I got the 15-85, which was a good thing.
 
Before recommending a new lens, we really need to work out why you are struggling with your current lens. Ok the kit lens is very average, most of us have probably started in a similar situation, I've still got the 17-85mm that I started with when I bought my first DSLR, but in the right conditions your lens should be able to take a perfectly good image, so a couple of examples post on this thread and why you don't like them could help.
 
Another vote for the Canon 15-85, it is a superb lens with excellent range, only slight drawback is speed, but if you need fast pick up a nifty fifty.
 
Don't forget the 17-85 (predecessor to the aforementioned 15-85) can be had for around £150-£200 these days? Very similar specs to the 15-85 apart from the 2mm at the wide end, but there are reviews that suggest the 17-85 is slightly better in chromatic aberation and distortion control, especially at the wide end
 
dinorock said:
Hi Jules,could you put some pics up that you say are not sharp, it could be you don't need a new lens just some technique help, cheers mike.
Click to expand...
Oh dear, I've tried this before and I couldn't get the hang of it :(. I'm quite sure a lot of it is technique as I can get nice sharp pictures when I'm using my tripod but I don't always want to lug it around with me. Maybe a vodka or two beforehand would steady the shake, eh? I will look into the 17-85 and 15-85mm lenses again, they will probably be the best option if I can get them second hand. At the moment I tend to photograph everything that takes my fancy but gut feeling tells me that eventually landscapes is probably going to be my thing. Another question for you: what do you think of the 18-135mm? Thanks to you all for taking the time to answer my post :ty:
 
Another vote for the 15-85, a great lens but like anything it depends on your needs, I use mine for landscapes, the 10-20 hardly comes out of the bag.
To give you a bit of an idea the shots in this set were all taken with that lens and all hand held... https://www.flickr.com/photos/79426960@N02/sets/72157639523056006/
If you want to get some wildlife/birds etc you'll need something longer, like 300+.
Keep you shutter speeds up, that'll help to keep images sharper.
 
I've got the tamron 17-50 non vc for my 60d. No complaints from me. It was recommended on here and they said no BC is better. I started a thread about it because I was selling my 1000d as a kit and buying the 60d body only. Heres the thread
 
FlyingShrapnel said:
Don't forget the 17-85 (predecessor to the aforementioned 15-85) can be had for around £150-£200 these days? Very similar specs to the 15-85 apart from the 2mm at the wide end, but there are reviews that suggest the 17-85 is slightly better in chromatic aberation and distortion control, especially at the wide end
Click to expand...

Yeah but no, sorry but the 15-85 is miles ahead of the older 17-85 in image quality. I know because I tried this route as a cheap option for my son.
 
Meeplemaiden said:
I'll try to post some pics but could somebody tell me how to do it? Thanks
Click to expand...

If you have a online gallery like Flickr or photobucket just copy the image link which should like something like [img......]

Or post something in the TP Gallery and link to it.
 
Last edited:
Meeplemaiden said:
Oh dear, I've tried this before and I couldn't get the hang of it :(. I'm quite sure a lot of it is technique as I can get nice sharp pictures when I'm using my tripod but I don't always want to lug it around with me. Maybe a vodka or two beforehand would steady the shake, eh? I will look into the 17-85 and 15-85mm lenses again, they will probably be the best option if I can get them second hand. At the moment I tend to photograph everything that takes my fancy but gut feeling tells me that eventually landscapes is probably going to be my thing. Another question for you: what do you think of the 18-135mm? Thanks to you all for taking the time to answer my post :ty:
Click to expand...

If you can get sharp images with a tripod, but handheld they look a bit shaky, have a look at your shutter speed settings, then just up the shutter speed to try and reduce the camera shake
 
Byker28i said:
Yeah but no, sorry but the 15-85 is miles ahead of the older 17-85 in image quality. I know because I tried this route as a cheap option for my son.
Click to expand...
Yep you are right, the 15-85 is better at border sharpness, but the 17-85 is still very similar at centre sharpness

http://www.photozone.de/canon-eos/465-canon_1585_3556is
http://www.photozone.de/canon-eos/402-canon_1785_456is_50d

my point was that the 17-85 could potentially be had for half the price of the 15-85, but definitely more than half the performance of the 15-85, the savings in price is rather significant
 
It's more than that, and I've seen those articles written for the 50D. They are touted everytime this lens is discussed.

In the real word, the 17-85 is soft when wide open, it's ok when stopped down. It seemed ok on the 400D but the 600D really exposed its limitations both on chromatic aberration and edge focus. Sure it'll do if you've a low budget, but it's one of those lenses you sell for something better.
I've been there, done that and don't see the point anymore. I'd rather wait and get the better tool for the job.
 
i guess we have different standards of acceptable lens performance then, im happy with my 17-85 on my 500D. For me, the bargain price, fast USM and IS (admittedly not a very good IS system, its very hit and miss) seals the deal. but i guess i havent experienced the 15-85 so my views are one sided at best.

Sorry to digress OP
 
Meeplemaiden said:
I'm on flickr.
Click to expand...
ok in flickr hit the share button then click the pin change the dropdown to 1024 on the long edge copy/paste straight into your reply no need to use image quotes just copy and paste give it a go
 
Last edited:
Thanks dinorock, it worked :banana:. Right, I'm starting to think that maybe my monitor is the problem - I'm looking at this on a different one and it doesn't look too bad. If I remember rightly I focussed somewhere toward the end of the first bridge but to me the undergrowth doesn't look too sharp. Here is another one:
 
Last edited:
Aside from that, I think you guys have convinced me that the 15-85mm is the way to go. Thanks to everyone for taking the time
 
Bought a 15-85mm a couple of months ago for use on a trip down under. I also took a 10-20mm, 70-200mm, 1.4x and 2.0x. My guess is that 90% of the 4000+ images that took were using the 15-85mm. It's a great lens IMHO. Some camera stores are selling these at reduced prices out of 7D kits where people only wanted the body. That's what I did.

 
GeeJay57 said:
Bought a 15-85mm a couple of months ago for use on a trip down under. I also took a 10-20mm, 70-200mm, 1.4x and 2.0x. My guess is that 90% of the 4000+ images that took were using the 15-85mm. It's a great lens IMHO. Some camera stores are selling these at reduced prices out of 7D kits where people only wanted the body. That's what I did.
Click to expand...
I've seen that on Amazon, what's the position when it comes to the guarantee?
 
As far as I know it's the same. Possibly hurts the resale value a little (no box), but other than that it's still a legit Canon lens. Bought mine from local high street store after phoning around for the best 'walk in' deal.
 
The 2nd shot definitely looks handheld and with settings of f16 1/25 sec I can see why your not impressed, you really need to keep an eye on shutter speeds or use a tripod and perhaps think about your focus point.

To get the best out of your landscape photographs, a tripod is required. A shutter release cord helps as well, to ensure my camera is absolutely as still as possible. Even with your camera on a tripod, pushing the shutter button can cause a slight vibration, which will make your image less sharp.

In situations where you may not have a tripod and need a steady shot, you can use the mirror lockup feature, which moves the viewfinder mirror out of the way. Then, a few seconds later you can take the photo. This ensures that even the movement of the mirror does not create any vibration that could cause loss in sharpness of the image.

http://www.digitalcameraworld.com/2012/09/26/how-to-take-sharp-landscape-photos/
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top