Lenses for a beginner (have nifty... need to expand)

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puggie

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I have just bought myself my first digital slr, S/H Canon 20D after playing with a few and finding the XXD series canons to be my choice ergonomically (and a second hand 20D in my price bracket). So I have camera, nifty fifty, CF cards, a bag and I've borrowed a Slik easi-glide tripod from work. My plan is to learn how to shoot on the 50mm to start with to limit what I can play with. Once I have a decent grip on manual aperture control, shutter speed and ISO settings, I will be wanting a half decent zoom lens. My first major outing will be a trip to the Norwegian Fjords in a couple of months, I'm hoping to have learned to take a decent picture by then :)

So I'll be looking for a general purpose 'walk about' lens for my 20D, I have my untrained eye on a Canon 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 II UFM as a suitable candidate, hoping to spend around the £150 mark. I'll be wanting this one lens to do EVERYTHING, from landscapes through portraits and close up stuff.

Any advice, beyond that no lens is suitable for everything and I will have to compromise, I know this I just don't know where best to compromise.
 
Don't forget that your 20D is an APS-C and that it effectively has a x1.6 crop factor meaning that 28mm looks like 44.8mm meaning that a 28-105mm looks like 44.8-168mm. Great reach, but no wide end.

An APS-C equivalent of 28-105mm would be 18-65mm.

This is the mistake that I made when going digital, I bought a lens that started at 28mm and wondered why it wasn't wide. :thinking: ;)
 
If you want a cheap wide lens, look for a Canon 18-55mm "IS" kit lens (the non "IS" version is a bit poo!)......it'll be perfectly fine to get you started and they usually sell second hand for around the £60-£70 mark! :thumbs:

WELCOME TO THE FORUMS!!!! :D
 
There isn't really one lens that does everything well. If there was we'd all have one.

The (main) problem with the lens you're looking at is that it's isn't a particularly wide lens on a cropped sensor body like a xxD. 28mm on a crop is very nearly 'normal'. I would suggest that you'd be better off with a zoom that starts wider - the 17-85mm is fairly similar to the lens you mentioned but starts wider (but also doesn't go quite as long). It's nicely made, covers a decent range and is available fairly cheaply second hand or white box (you should be able to pick up a second hand one for £200-250 there's loads out there). Optically there's better lenses out there but they cost a lot more.
 
woof woof said:
Don't forget that your 20D is an APS-C and that it effectively has a x1.6 crop factor meaning that 28mm looks like 44.8mm meaning that a 28-105mm looks like 44.8-168mm. Great reach, but no wide end.

An APS-C equivalent of 28-105mm would be 18-65mm.

This is the mistake that I made when going digital, I bought a lens that started at 28mm and wondered why it wasn't wide. :thinking: ;)
Click to expand...

Yep I am aware of this, I guess my main problem is I don't know how wide a need, the 50mm is great for playing with portrait stuff, I'll take it out this week and see what it gets me outside. I guess I don't really know what lens I need to get the shots I want (not convinced I really know what shots I want yet even). I worry that looking for something like a cheap 18-alot, mm lens will leave me with a relatively poor lens withing my budget. I'm a newbie needing help.

EDIT: I'm really trying to avoid spending much more than £150, the Canon 18-55 IS is on my radar as a cheaper option, I looked at many unfavourable reviews and had written it off until finding an IS specific review and realised it may be worth punt.
 
With 18-55mm IS's going for around £60 and 55-250mm IS's going for £120 it would push your budget but give you a huge range.
They won't give you "L" glass quality but they fit a budget and you won't lose much when upgrading.
 
Barrysprout said:
With 18-55mm IS's going for around £60 and 55-250mm IS's going for £120 it would push your budget but give you a huge range.
They won't give you "L" glass quality but they fit a budget and you won't lose much when upgrading.
Click to expand...

I see what your saying, but I was hoping for a compromised single lens solution. What I want for the trip is to be able to fit one lens and leave most of my gear behind, just take the camera, not cart everything else round with me. I'm not looking for L glass quality but I am enough of a snob (for a beginner anyway :nuts:) to be looking at things with a little better build quality than my nifty fifty, you can tell by the build quality its at the bottom of Canon's range.

I might be looking for a single lens here to get 90% of the shots I want (what do landscapes look like through a 28mm on a crop body?) then look later for something specific for landscapes if I really get into it and the same with a tele for sports stuff. I know I cannot have one lens for everything so I want one lens for most things here and if I want to do more serious landscape I will probably be wanting to take a tripod and other bits so a specific lens is not such a big issue in that case.
 
Those two lenses, with the nifty, are serving me well.. and travel on hols with me... I guess you could look for something like the Sigma 18-250, which is a one size fits most things lens, but I don't honestly know how much you could get one for, nor if it's any good. I have been looking into them as I was thinking something similar, but it seems a bit like throwing money at a problem I don't really have... the 18-55 IS and the 55-250 IS aren't particularly heavy and both do a pretty good job for the money.
 
Puggie, I'm not far from you (near Basingstoke and I'm passing Guildford regularly). If you fancied meeting up you could try my Sigma 18-200mm. I was after a lens as a general allrounder for my 400d, and this suited the job perfectly. I've just upgraded to a 5d mk2, so this doesn't fit the new camera and I'm moving it on, but you'd be very welcome to have a try with it (and it'd be withing budget too).
 
Hmm, thanks for the offer, I may well take you up on that. PM will be fired your way in a sec with some proper contact details.
 
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