Lens Advice

Manc Man

Manc Man

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Name
Darren
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Good evening Ladies and Gent.

I am after some advice on lenses. I have a canon 550d with 18 x 55 mm lens and i am looking to purchase 2 number lenses. Budget £500 - £600

I am looking to do landscape / seascapes / street photos and family pics.
please note a am a complete novice and only started photography within the last 2 weeks.

when i say street photos i mean pictures of people working and going about their daily buisness.

My job will help me with locations as i carry out works for the Environment Agency, cleaning rivers and culverts. Yep i get paid to drive around taking pictures of rivers and river structures, this is what gave me the bug.
 
How do you get along with the prime? do you want something wider? large appature? more tele?

£600 is pushing it to get 2 of the best Canon zoom lenses but you could get say the Sigma 10-20 as a ultrawide zoom for landscapes and the Tamron 17-50 2.8 for around that price.

If you were prepaired to go for just one lens the Canon 15-85 and 17-55 2.8 are both very well reguarded.
 
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Are you happy using the 18-55 IS? you could pickup the Canon 55-250 IS to add more reach to that for less than £150 then spend the rest on a used Canon 10-22 for around £450 to give you ultrawide reach.
 
Jackwow said:
What prime is that?
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Mis type, I ment kit.

Where does he say that he wants to get "2 of the best Canon zoom lenses"?
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"purchase 2 number lenses"

Not exactly sure what that ment but I took it to be two Canon lenses and I told him he wouldnt be able to afford 2 of the high end ones for his budget.
 
my understanding of a prime lens was it was a fixed focal length.
ie 50mm or 85mm without any zoom
where my 18 x 55 would be classed as a zoom lens, would i be right in say that my 18 x 55 would not be classed as a prime lens.
i class as my primes due to it being the only lens i have..........
 
Manc Man said:
i was thinking of wide and more telephoto. my prime being the 18 x 55mm, i find i struggle with shot that bit further away.
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That's not a prime, a prime lens is a lens with a fixed focal length.
 
Sounds like there could be some confusion here between a prime lens and primary lens? Not sure if the OP means the 18-55mm is his primary lens?
 
Manc Man said:
sure that is what i just said. :bonk:
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Yes but earlier you posted the 18-55 was your prime which I why I quoted it?

My reply was posted before you put your post above (at least before I could see it anyway...).
 
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Manc Man said:
No probs Jim.
I am a complete nood when i comes to photography, but i want to get better.

Just after some advice on lenses.

Do i sell my 18 x 55 and get something like an canon 17 x 85 or 18 x 200 or keep my 18 x 55 as go with something like sigma 70 x 300 and sigma 10 x 22
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Lol no worries!

If you want a better mid range zoom, I'd recommend the Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 non vc. Very good lens.

As for the rest of the lenses, it depends what you shoot. For what youve said a 10-20 might be a little too wide?

I have a Canon 18-135 IS which I use as a "do it all" and travel lens which I like very much, and has a very useful range.
 
For your budget you are probably looking at:
55-250 IS - can be had used for £150 mark (as noted in a previoud post)

For the other lens, I would get a decent walkabout lens - the Tamron 28-75 f2.8 is great value for money on the 2nd hand market. Or to get wider get the 17-55 as recommended by Jim (same focal length as your current main kit lens) but with a fixed aperature of f2.8 (better for low light situations).

If you really need wider than the current 17mm on your kit lens, then you could try a Sigma 10-20 or Tokina 12-14... and keep your kit lens for the mid range focal length.

These are all good mid-range lenses.
 
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Another option is the Sigma 17-70mm either OS or non OS. I've had both and been very impressed with the performance for the money that they cost.

I previously had the Tamron 28-75 and whilst it was a great lens I found it to be too long at 28mm on a 60D. That was after previously being used to having 18mm at the wide end on the kit lens.
 
If you're willing to go S/H you could get the 28-135mm IS USM and the 70-300mm IS USM lenses.

Otherwise I would say start with the 28-135mm if you don't feel happy buying S/H.

It's a very good walkabout lens which I've used on a crop camera (450D) and my FF camera (1Ds MkII) and gives good results on both.

.
 
petersmart said:
If you're willing to go S/H you could get the 28-135mm IS USM and the 70-300mm IS USM lenses.

Otherwise I would say start with the 28-135mm if you don't feel happy buying S/H.

It's a very good walkabout lens which I've used on a crop camera (450D) and my FF camera (1Ds MkII) and gives good results on both.

.
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I think the 28 - 135 could be a good starting place for me.
 
petersmart said:
If you're willing to go S/H you could get the 28-135mm IS USM and the 70-300mm IS USM lenses.

Otherwise I would say start with the 28-135mm if you don't feel happy buying S/H.

It's a very good walkabout lens which I've used on a crop camera (450D) and my FF camera (1Ds MkII) and gives good results on both.

.
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:plus1:

Hi Darren

I used to have the 28-135 IS lens and it was a belter, as has already been mentioned, the 55-250 IS lens is worth a look if you want that bit more reach (y)
 
andyred said:
:plus1:

Hi Darren

I used to have the 28-135 IS lens and it was a belter, as has already been mentioned, the 55-250 IS lens is worth a look if you want that bit more reach (y)
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28 x 135 looks like a great lens. Must admit I fancy the 55 x 250. But I have just been told it has an issue when using filters, focus turns at same time as the filter.
Darren. ;-)
 
The start of this thread has made me chuckle this morning. The two Ronnie couldn't have written it better, thanks all :)
 
i think you should get to grips with your 18-55 first. I think everyone when getting new camera wants tons of lenses, even me lol

I recently broke my kit lens and miss it now for my 550D, a lens i recently sold for £90 was the 55-250 IS canon, so it can be got cheap if you look, mine was a month old and mint condition. You can get a lot of good stuff second hand, especially if its me selling it :LOL::LOL:
 
hmm I know you have asked for more / different lenses but I would sugest you get a nifty 50. The 50mm 1.8 prime its cheap but will produce FANTASTIC images compared to anything else you are considering.
Being a 1.8 you can have a lot of fun with depth of field and your images will have more pop.
Give It a go
 
mountainpenguin said:
hmm I know you have asked for more / different lenses but I would sugest you get a nifty 50. The 50mm 1.8 prime its cheap but will produce FANTASTIC images compared to anything else you are considering.
Being a 1.8 you can have a lot of fun with depth of field and your images will have more pop.
Give It a go
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Yeh I have been looking at the infamous nifty 50 £95 from jessops.
 
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