Beginner Help Please in choosing a lens

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dphotography

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I currently have the Canon 600d with the kit lenses 18-55mm and the 75-200mm.

I was looking to invest in a new lens but after reading reviews and research most lenses I decide on have drawbacks on a cropped sensor. I was thinking of the 24-105mm but apparently you don't get the full function on the cropped sensor. Has anyone tried this and would you still recommend it?

I was also thinking of getting a 50mm lens
Canon ef 50mm f/1.8 stm or the Canon ef 50mm f/1.8 ii

Would it be worth getting the STM over the ii or would I not see the benefit?

Any other recommendations of lens would also be a great help

Thanks
 
What do you actually want the lens for? What can't you do with your current lenses? Don't just buy a lens to buy a lens.

Keep shooting with your current lens, and when you cant do something, buy a lens then.
 
I first considered the 24-105mm for a holiday i'm going on and didn't want to take both my lenses with me. Also I am needing a new one for a friends wedding they have asked me photograph at. I am know where near experienced enough to do this professionally they know this but its only a low key wedding and want to help out where I can.
 
You would probably want something faster and wider for a wedding, but the 24 -105 works perfectly on a crop sensor. Many people will say it isn't wide enough on a crop, but that depends on your style and I have no problems at all with losing wide capability. I use it on both crop and full frame.
 
Its a 38-168mm on a cropped body. May need to find a store where I can have a play around with one, so is it a slow lens?
I have they same problem with the 50mm also as that comes out a 80mm
 
with a limited budget I find it a hard choice as Im not sure if I should go the newer stm lens or not
 
Do Canon do a 35mm equivalent to the nifty fifty? My 35mm is ideal on my D7100 (also a crop sensor).
 
15-85mm EF-s is a great walkabout lens IMHO.
 
Iv read good reviews of the new tamron 18-200mm if you want a single lens for your holiday :)
 
The Canon 24-105 is a very good lens, but it is designed for full-frame cameras. It will work just fine on your 600D, but you'll be wasting its design potential for which you've paid, and losing out on the wide end. The nearest equivalent for APS-C crop-format cameras is the Canon 15-85 EF-S - an excellent general purpose lens designed for your camera. Maybe you've been reading about the 17-85.

The Canon 50/1.8 II has an army of fans, mainly because of its low cost, but IMHO it's built like a cheap toy with unreliable focusing. The new STM version is only a little more money and 10x better. These lenses are also designed for full-frame, but the usual drawbacks of extra size/weight/cost aren't much of a problem here. On your camera, 50mm is good for portraits and a few other things, but is a bit of a one-trick pony on crop-format. 35mm would be more versatile, though (unlike Nikon) Canon doesn't have a budget version. Maybe look at the Canon 40/2.8 which is close, also cheap and very sharp, and has the advantage of fitting in a shirt pocket.

Your 75-300 is not one of Canon's greatest, a very old design now and basically only sold in budget bundles. The newer 55-250 EF-S telezooms are much better with the STM version being outstanding value. Also consider the Tamron 70-300 VC in this category.
 
I have just come across the Sigma 17-70 f2 8-4 dc macro os hsm as its designed for a cropped camera.
I think when reading all these reviews i'm always going to find someone who has different opinions on the 15-85mm
 
dphotography said:
I have just come across the Sigma 17-70 f2 8-4 dc macro os hsm as its designed for a cropped camera.
I think when reading all these reviews i'm always going to find someone who has different opinions on the 15-85mm
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I have this lens and love it, while I have only had it a few months it does come out with me every time I go out somewhere either as a walkabout lens or for a shoot.


IMG_2704-2-35 by JWAR1976, on Flickr
 
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GeeJay57 said:
15-85mm EF-s is a great walkabout lens IMHO.
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This. I have the lens and am very happy with it. I think if there are bad reviews for image quality, they must be reviewing a dud, or talking out of their rear aperture.
 
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dphotography said:
I first considered the 24-105mm for a holiday i'm going on and didn't want to take both my lenses with me. Also I am needing a new one for a friends wedding they have asked me photograph at. I am know where near experienced enough to do this professionally they know this but its only a low key wedding and want to help out where I can.
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I'd be a bit wary about this to be honest - several years ago I did something similar (but only backing up the official photographer at a friend's wedding) when I had a Nikon D7000 with kit lenses, outside it was fine, but in the dark reception rooms (especially during the first dance) it wasn't possible to get anything usable as I couldn't get a fast enough shutter speed and couldn't go beyond 1000ISO or the images would look terrible, and the D7000 apparently has better high ISO performance than the EOS 600D.

Fast lenses are a must as well as a flashgun if you can use it, but depending on lighting at the location a full frame camera could well be in order too. I shoot events for work now and even in some environments (dark conference rooms/cathedral) it's a struggle with a Nikon D810 and fast lenses, ISO 12800 having to be used at times, usually a minimum of 1000 ISO. You mentioned buying a new lens for the wedding but do you really want to fork out for equipment that isn't necessarily for your benefit?
 
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