What was the first lens you bought, and why?!!

Trixster

Trixster

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Hi!

What was the first lens you bought, other than any kit lens that came with your camera? What convinced you that was the lens for you?

In my case, it was a Sigma 17-70 to replace my kit 18-55 IS. :)
 
Mine was my 55-250IS, simply because i wanted something with more reach to photograph birds and it was at a price i could afford :)
 
50mm 1.8 - reason... It was cheap and I wanted to experiment with shallow DOF. Have since upgraded to the 1.4 but dont use it much I must admit.
 
Mine was the 55-200VR simply because I needed the extra reach and Andysnap had it for sale on here at a time when I could afford to splash out! :)
 
Nikon 70-300 VR - I wanted the extra reach and the VR. It overlapped a touch with the kit lens that came with my D80, the 18-135mm, which gave me an excuse to sell that and get a Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8, which made me realise that a longer f/2.8 lens would be nice to have too, meaning the 70-300 went on it's way pretty quickly and was replaced by the 80-200 f/2.8............ it's a slippy slope :lol:
 
same as the OP, sigma 17-70mm no OS or HSM . Bough to prelace my door stop of a kit lens on my 400D.
 
The Sigma 17-70 is a bargainous jewel of a little lens. Dead sharp, nice colours and cheap! Good walkabout range as well. I miss it.
 
Tamron 55-200. Because it was cheap and I had Amazon vouchers!
Upgraded (so I thought) to a Siggy 70-300, hated it, so bought a canon 55-250mm IS and love it!
 
The Sigma 105mm f2.8 macro which I still have today and would cry for days if something happened to it. The images it produces are stunning, and I use it for macro butterfly shots.
 
wontolla said:
Tamron 55-200. Because it was cheap and I had Amazon vouchers!
Upgraded (so I thought) to a Siggy 70-300, hated it, so bought a canon 55-250mm IS and love it!
Click to expand...

Snap! Tamron 55-200 here also, because it was cheap and I thought I needed it - turned out to be more luck than judgement that it is actually a very sharp lens for the price.
 
The Canon nifty fifty (50mm f/1.8) because it was cheap, and rather sharp!
 
heyho said:
Snap! Tamron 55-200 here also, because it was cheap and I thought I needed it - turned out to be more luck than judgement that it is actually a very sharp lens for the price.
Click to expand...

Yeh, spot on, good lens for the price! Only reason I got the Siggy was for reach, but after 230mm/250mm, the loss of IQ was awful!
 
I started with a second hand 40D and a Canon 18-200mm IS lens. This lens is an ideal companion for the 40D, but it never got very good reviews when tested on the 50D because of the higher megapixels. The lens I bought after that was the Canon 70-300mm IS USM, because I wanted extra length and this lens has great reviews.
 
Mine was an FD 50mm f/1.8 that came with my Canon AE-1 in 1980. I happily used that one lens for over a year before adding to it. Next came a Vivitar 28mm f/2 and Vivitar 75-205mm f/3.8 because they were cheap.
 
First extra lens for my D50 (way back in 06!) apart from the 18-55 was...I think a Tamron 70-300 di. Nice lens, got plenty of good shots with it. I was luck to already have 2 awesome Nikkors - 85 1.8 and 600 AIS
 
An M42 mount 135mm for my Praktica Nova SLR circa 1981/2. I wanted a bit of extra reach and 135mm was about right.

I can't remember many other details. :)
 
First standalone lens for me was the Nikon 24-120 VR. Thought it was amazing at the time! Wanted wide angle and more zoom than the kit lens I had plus was also kinda sold on the VR thing as it wasn't in many lenses still at the time, and I was young and impressionable lol
 
My first lens was my Sigma 18-50mm. Cost £100 from my local camera shop, sharp copy and worth the money, still have it now.
 
The canon 17-85mm EF-S lens (relatively new and lacked any worth while reviews at the time of purchase) when I got the 20D in 2006, thought it would be a great walkaround lens and better than the kit lens offered at the time, but didn't really come up to the mark or the price tag and wasn't significantly any better than the kit lens.
 
Mine was a Sigma 24-70 f2.8 EX DG

Jessops for £275 just before the prices went silly so when I sold it on I didn't lose anything!
 
I only had one lens for my Nikon SLR, a 28-70mm, and I sometimes wanted just a little more reach so when I bought my first DSLR I got a Sigma 28-300mm which I thought would be a wonderful day out and holiday lens. I foolishly hadn't realised that the the crop factor meant that this lens wouldn't be very wide...at all.

It was a good holiday and day out lens and I wish that I hadn't sold it, so much so I might just treat myself to another one day.
 
I bought two lenses when I started. Nifty fifty because it was fast and cheap and a Sigma 18-125 f3.5-5.6. I wanted a nice wide to medium telephoto zoom lens that I could use in a number of scenarios but I quickly realised it was too slow for what I wanted to shoot.

Sold that and went on the spending spree!!! I've now spent a lot more than I initially envisaged!
 
other than the one that came with the camera.... Hmmm....

Well first camera was a Practika POS which fell off a mountain (and good riddance, if it hadn't had a irreplaceable roll of film in it), Second was a Canon AE-1 Prog with 50/1.8, and the first add-on lens I bought was....

A Canon FD f2.8/28mm which i've still got, and which is doing sterling service on my recently acquired A-1...



bought because at the time I was shooting mainly landscapes/climbing pictures and needed something with a bit of width about it.

If you're talking about modern stuff though, it was a Nifty 50. Bought because I had always been used to fast glass before going digital, and it was the cheapest way I could get some and still retain AF. Unfortunately, I forgot about the crop factor, and to be honest, it rarely gets used now, apart from the odd occasions when I agree to take some photo's for my mates band, or on the EOS-3 film body. Good job it was cheap. I'd quite like a 35mm f/1.4L, to do the job I'd originally fancied, but not at the price they go for!
 
Sigma 70-300 APO - wanted to try out telephoto
Canon 50mm 1.8 - because you're told to buy one because it's amazing
Sold the Sigma 70-300 APO - never used it
Sigma 10-20 - wanted wide angle
Sigma 24-60 - was £44, last in stock in Jessops when I used to work there
Canon 55-250 - wanted telephoto again
 
70-200/2.8L IS, for sports and rallies - still got it 4 years laters, superb lens

drew
 
I bought my Sigma 10-20mm when I bought my 450D because I love wide landscapes and I had seen results from other people using that lens.
 
I've been very lucky in that I've inherited a huge amount of lenses and really I shouldn't have needed to buy any, but...

Ujjwal had a gorgeous 85mm f2.0 Jupiter 9 Leica mount lens available, it makes a fantastic portrait lens and is a great compliment to my Bessa R2a.
 
The wonderful 24-70 2.8L along with the 5Dmk1, (my first dslr), it is a match made in heaven bettered only by L primes...
 
Mine was a Canon 28-135 IS USM and loved it. Just sold it today :'(

Still onward and upward, replaced it with a Canon 24-105L :D
 
Nikon 28-80mm f/3.3-5.6G with a Nikon N90s (F90x outside the USA).

Within a month or so, I traded it in for the 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-D lens that the above model replaced in Nikon's lens lineup due to the fact that the G wasn't quite as sharp as the D, and I wanted an aperture ring (the N90s doesn't support aperture priority or manual modes on lenses without aperture rings - which is most of Nikon's current line-up).

Both pretty mediocre lenses in the grand scheme of things, but I still have the D version of this lens, and my D300s is actually currently sitting in the back garden with it shooting some timelapse. :)
 
I do believe it was the kaleidoscope I spent all of my first week's pocket money on when I was four; it was far out! Even for a tartan flare-wearing nipper in 1978.
 
Sigma 10-20 - loved it, cracking glass. Sold it for only a few pounds less than I bought it because I found the FL didn't suit me.

BigYin - get a 35mm f/2!
 
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