My first DSLR (canon 550d), What lenses?

CaveDweller

CaveDweller

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I have a very generous sister who has donated her old canon 550D to me after buying herself a new 6D. I'm just after some advice for what lenses I should get for it as I only have the 550D body because she kept her lenses.

I'm wanting a wide angle lens like the 18-55mm one that comes as standard, a 50mm prime (I am using one on my m4/3 camera and I just love it), and a good telephoto lens. I was looking towards these lenses, mainly because of my budget.

50mm prime: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Canon-EF-50...&qid=1369542118&sr=8-1&keywords=canon+ef+lens

Telephoto: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Canon-75-30...&qid=1369542118&sr=8-3&keywords=canon+ef+lens

18-55: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Canon-EF-S-...qid=1369542858&sr=8-26&keywords=canon+ef+lens

If anyone has any advice it would be much appreciated. I'm not 100% sure on what to look out for and these lenses I have picked out seem a lot cheaper than all the others, so if they are not any good can someone please enlighten as to why. I'm only an amateur photographer, I mainly do it as a hobbie so I'm not after top of the range lenses but as good as I can get on a low budget.

Cheers
 
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Nifty 50 is a cracking lens. Great in low light. Cheap build but quality glass.

Canon 55-250 is a great telephoto lens. Superb revues. I am sure it is a better one than what you have linked to.

Look on MPB website. Cheaper 2nd hand nod a good company to deal with.
 
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All depends which lenses you will use the most so where to put most of the money.

A Tamron 17 - 50 is better than the kit 18 - 55 and would almost remove the need for a separate 50 prime but is around £200 used instead of £40 used (don't buy a new kit lens for £99 as there are literally hundreds of them for sale used, most as new)

The 55 - 250 would appear to be a better lens than the 75 - 300 and as they are around £100 used you can't really get much better value.
 
That's the one. For telephoto, I swear by that one for my 550D.

I also have a 50mm 1.8 - perfect for low-light or portrait shots and the kit 18-55mm.

I'm finding that the kit lens is slightly limiting so that's the next upgrade for me.
 
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I have a 550d too, with a 50mm 1.8, 15-85, & 70-200L, & used to own a 55-250. The best lens out of the lot is the 15-85, wide enough for landscape with a decent reach and as sharp as the L lens. I'm actually thinking of selling all mine to buy a 5d with 24-105, but if I don't go ahead with that I will be selling the 50mm & the 70-200 as the 15-85 is that good. It all depends what reach you need. Just my opinion.
 
I borrowed a friend's old 75-300mm EF lens for an Airshow after I had just bought my 650d and I wasn't expecting much since I had to clean the crap off the UV filter on the end (it had been sat in a bag for ages) but the shots were decent enough.

Since then I've purchased myself a 70-200m F4L without IS and the shots from that are superb! Very very sharp and the only real drawback is the lack of reach when you're trying to shoot wildlife.

The 55-250 gets good reviews so that's definitely worth considering too.
 
Remember too that the crop-factor of the Canon is 1.6 but on the M4/3 system it is 2 - so your 50mm on your M4/3 will behave more like a '62mm' on the Canon.
 
I have a 550D as well I do have a nifty fifty but I'm selling it and buying the 35 f2 as the camera is a crop sensor and i found the real life length of 80mm just way to long for me to use very often. The 35mm is around 56mm.
I replaced the kit lens with the 15-85mm USM which I really really like and im well happy with.
 
I would suggest the EFS 55-250mm IS II over the 70-300, it really does shoot above its station. But if you can afford it go for the 70-200 f4L.
 
Start off by sourcing kit lens with IS, 55-250IS and the 50mm prime and then see where your photographic journey takes you and go from there. Could probably get all three for £ 200 or less with some canny buying.
 
Cheers for the help everyone. I'm going to order some tonight, the 55-250mm lens and the kit lens 18-55mm. I will see where I go from there once my skills progress a bit more.

Got to find another camera bag as well because I have no plans of getting rid of my M4/3 Olympus set up. It may not be the greatest but it will make a brilliant spare lol.
 
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