Dumb newbie question about lenses

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ep82

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Hello everyone

Sorry for another dumb q.

I am looking in getting some new lens for my 400D. I thought it's prob the best time to ask now as the sale is on.

Just a few quick questions. I know it may seem long but please bare with me.

1. I went to my local camera shop today and seen that there was a sigma 70-300mm for £180ish BUT noticed there was a 70-200mm for about £240. I have always wondered how come the 200 is always cheaper than the 300mm?? I know the lens is smaller and prob abit easier to carry around but is it worth that £60?? Plus you get more of a zoom with the 300, right?

2. Can anyone advice me which lens to get? I have the stock lens (18-55) but I want something with a Zoom so I can take some close up pics in the zoo. I know there is alot to choose from but I just want something that isnt too expensive and does the job. I am only using it for casual snapping :) . The other lens I want is more of a wide angle lens. can I pick one of those cheap-ish?? Like I said. I dont want top of the range. I just want something that I can mess about with esp the wide angle lens.

3. I dont know weather to get the lenses here while they are on a sale (esp the canon because I can get even more off from cash back) OR wait till march when I am going back over to hong kong. I know it's alot cheaper over there but will it be as cheap as the sale price over here?? plus I will get garantee here. Iv asked my uncle but about the prices over there but he doesnt know as he dont often go to the camera shops over there.

Sorry for the newb questions.
Thanks in advance
Chi
 
like cars and camera bodies, there are different tiers of quality and performance as well as focal length.

The shorter zoom may well have more features, or built to higher standards or carries the brand name of Canon or Nikon.

I'd look at the Sigma 70-300 APO version myself, or if you can afford it, the Canon 70-200 f4 L

Canon offer a worldwide guarantee on lenses. Sigma is a bit sniffy about grey imports.
 
The sigma 70-300 APO is a crackin lens. I had one with my old 350D which i did take to the zoo and got some great results.




The focus is a little slow and it get abit soft beyond 200mm but for general snappin is ideal. As for the wide angle, the 18-50 is fairly wide in itself how ever sigme do a 10-20 theres also a can 10-22 not sure on prices the sigma is in the £220-£250 range i believe. Hope this helps your decision
 
If you're casual snapping, and want something flexible, especially for zoo shooting, then maybe consider one of the hyperzooms, such as the Sigma 18-200mm OS, or the Tamron 18-200mm (or the newer 18-250mm). I can vouch for the Tamron 18-200mm as it was my main walkaround last year - optically, it has its compromises, but it can still produce some good shots.

As for the wide angle, the 10-20mm Sigma is a cracker, and great value too. Plenty of folks here have them, and so it might be worth a 'Wanted' ad in case anyone is upgrading.
 
ep82 said:
Plus you get more of a zoom with the 300, right?i
Click to expand...

You original lens is a zoom lens. It 'zooms' from 18 to 55 mm focal length. The 70-300mm lens is also a zoom as it zooms from 70 to 300 mm. The 18-55 would be classed as a normal lens. The 70-300 would be classed as a telephoto lens. What you are looking for is a telephoto lens to magnify the image and bring it closer.

I made the similar mistake to you only a few months ago and I too misunderstood what a zoom is! The benefit of a zoom over a fixed focal length lens is the ability to change focal lengths without having to cart around loads of seperate lenses. The downside is the quality trade off (which is very minor to my newbie eyes!!!) in the image and minimum aperature. I'm learning slowly :)
 
Ah thanks for the info guys.

Yeah I might be getting a sigma 70-300 then :). sounds good to me.

Umm Do you think it will work out cheaper if I get the lens in the sale say, jessops?? or should I wait till I go back to hong kong?

Also. how much are the sigma 10-20mm?? I want something wider than the stock lens. if it's not too expensive then I might add it to my collection :)
 
from www.camerapricebuster.com

Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM
Cameras2u (use Discount Code cam2u06) Free Delivery Available £278.00

Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 APO DG MACRO
Purely Gadgets £134.95
Jessops.com Free Delivery Available Collect At Store Service £139.99
Cameras2u Free Delivery Available £139.99
 
Cool thanks for the info guys.

I have just looked on jessops website and now I am not sure which one to get.

Would you guys recommend the

Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 APO Macro DG (Canon AF) for £139.99 was £159.99 save £20
Or
Tamron 55-200mm f/4-5.6 Di II LD Macro (Canon AF) for £99.99 was £199.99 save £100

I dont know what all those Letters means too :thinking:

Not too sure about the Sigma now as Roody262 said it gets abit sofe after 200

any ideas?
 
Sigma - better range.

The bit between kit lens and 70mm can easily be done by moving yourself. Yes, any cheap lens will become soft towards both ends of the spectrum, but this can be cured somewhat with good technique.
 
andrewc said:
Sigma - better range.

The bit between kit lens and 70mm can easily be done by moving yourself. Yes, any cheap lens will become soft towards both ends of the spectrum, but this can be cured somewhat with good technique.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the response. It may seem like a stupid question but what exactley do you mean about 'the bit between kit lens'?.
How you do correct the softness with good technique? Do you mean when I am taking the photo or editing it afterwards?
I read the review for the sigma lens (http://www.photozone.de/8Reviews/lenses/sigma_70300_456/index.htm) and it said that the higher end of the range (300mm) the edging was pretty dismal. I know it's budget lens but I only have about £200 to spend. so is there any other lens which is good and will fit in that price range.
 
Kit lens covers the 18mm to 55mm range.
Sigma lens would cover the 70 to 300mm range.

There is the bit between 55 and 70mm that wouldn't be covered, but normally its easy to walk forwards or backwards to suit - zoom with your fit -55 to 70mm will be about 4 or 5 steps forward or back, whereas the gap between 200mm and 300mm will be substantially more.

The Sigma 70-300 APO normally wins all magazine tests of budget telephoto zooms as offering good image quality with a competitive price.

The next tier up of lenses which cover this range would be the Canon 70-200 f4 L and the Sigma 100-300 f4 and both will blow the socks of images produced with the cheaper Sigma, but the cost of a new lens is in the £ 400 to £ 600 tier. Likewise the next tier up (£ 1000 - £ 1500) will also offer significant improvements. These lenses are bigger and heavier than the lenses in the next tier down.

There is a huge danger of pixel peeping and looking for problems. All consumer lenses will show evidence of image distortion or softness somewhere.

You could look at the secondhand market, but the Canon holds its value well and the Sigma quite well (Edit by Moomike: No trading outside of the classifieds)

Technique - good technique would be to make the initial image as good as possible by reducing camera shake - steady hands, auxiliary support and correct shutter speed. Softness can be countered to some extent by careful sharpening of the final image - either by USM (unsharp mask) or a desaturated high pass filter on a seperate layer.

I take it your another Toyota Starlet fan, from your EP82 tag. I had a Sera with a Starlet turbo engine in for a few years.
 
I've also got the Sigma 70-300 (£109 from onestop-digital), for whats considered a budget lens I think its cracking. A few of shots I took at the zoo a while back:-

ColchesterZooSigma70-300_01.jpg


ColchesterZooSigma70-300_02.jpg


ColchesterZooSigma70-300_03.jpg
 
Have a free lens for a few months then buy an "L" in Hong Kong.

What do I mean free, well sort of.

Get, as suggested, the Sigma 70-300 it MUST be the DG APO version, secondhand. It's probably the best tele-zoom pound for pound out there.
Pay no more than £80-£100.
Use it for several months.
1 Week before your trip to HK, sell it. It will still sell for £80-100. Ebay they go in an instant (sensibly priced) I sold mine 2 weeks ago there for £95 and it sold in the first 3 hours (Buy it now)

Then when in HK (after doing some research in the UK) find your Camera shop and buy a 70-200mm L f4. Probably for half UK price, I would imagine. (UK price £400 ish new)

There we are, best of both. A good lens for a few months at no real cost, followed by a great L glass lens at a fraction of the UK cost.

Jobs a "goodun" :)
 
:agree: A post that makes perfect sense from Matty there(y)
 
Thanks for sharing the photos you guys. all these info have been very helpful and I just went and got myself one in jessops this evening. Havent tested it yet as it's dark when I got the lens so will have a play and do it tomorrow.

Andrewc Yeah I have a starlet GT. What happened with your sera? I have seen a few people who have done this mod :) what kinda power are/were you running? I am running 210bhp ATM.
Sorry but I have bought the lens before I checked here. what kinda lens are you selling?

I am looking for a wide angle lens now however :) but I only want a wide angle/fish eye to take pics of cars. What do people think about the wide angle/fish eye filters?? (the ones where they are screwed on the end of your stock lens?) As I said. I am only messin and taking pics od cars..... so I was thinking of something cheap like that.
 
Fish....
Grab yourself about £140 and get a Peleng. They are absolutely insane :)

No Af or Auto settings, back to the good old days, but they are fun bits of kit!
 
I put the 4E-FTE engine into my Sera but kept it standard. Left TGTT.com when it became a playground for children.

Edit by Moomike: No trading outside of the classifieds please mate (y)

As for wide angle, the Sigma 10-20 is a good usable lens.
 
Matty777 said:
Fish....
Grab yourself about £140 and get a Peleng. They are absolutely insane :)

No Af or Auto settings, back to the good old days, but they are fun bits of kit!
Click to expand...


Where can I get one of those??

I have been looking at these.....

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/WIDE-ANGLE-LENS-Fisheye-FOR-CANON-EOS-XT-XTi-350D-400D_W0QQitemZ200189082288QQihZ010QQcategoryZ106845QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/WIDE-ANGLE-MACRO-LENS-CANON-EOS-DIGITAL-REBEL-XTi-400D_W0QQitemZ200189393210QQihZ010QQcategoryZ106845QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Should I?? or stay away?? Like I said, I only want to use these on car photography. I thought something cheap like that is ideal.

Andrew, you still got the car?? I used to be on tgtt too but it's alot different to what it used to be. like you said childs playground. I have had my GT for 8 years :)
 
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