Beginner Which lens?

micky1982

micky1982

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Name
Michael
Edit My Images
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Hi

As you'll see, this is my first post so hello to you all.

I've owned a Canon 700d for about 10 or so months now and after having a play around with it (this is my first DSLR), it's helped me produce some great pictures.

After trying different types of photography, I've decided sunrise/sunset/landscape photography, that involves long exposure-type shots is something I'd like to explore a bit more. I'm currently using the 18-55mm lens that come with the body, however I'm interested in maybe upgrading the lens to something which is a bit more specific for this type of photography. As I'm still relatively new to all this, and I don't really know what I should be looking for when it comes to selecting the correct lens, I was hoping for some advice or recommendations on what I should by looking for, or better yet, what lens I should consider purchasing?

Any advice or recommendations you can offer would be greatly appreciated. I do currently own a tripod to help keep the camera as still as possible.

Thanks
 
Easy. Canon EF-S 10-18 mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM Lens.

On Amazon £239.

437 reviews and 83% give it 5 stars and 12% 4 stars.

That is incredibly good reviews for such a cheap lens, I might get it myself hahaha......
 
GTG said:
Easy. Canon EF-S 10-18 mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM Lens.

On Amazon £239.

437 reviews and 83% give it 5 stars and 12% 4 stars.

That is incredibly good reviews for such a cheap lens, I might get it myself hahaha......
Click to expand...
Or a telezoom
 
It depends on what type of landscape is in front of you. If you want a big wide vista then you would be best off using a wide angle lens, but if you want to pick out a small piece of the wider landscape then you will want a short/medium telephoto lens. Take a look at Flickr and see what others are using, see what fits in with your style of landscape.
 
GENERALLY if you are using long exposure you probably want wide angle although I take nearly all of my landscapes with a telephoto lens so it really is up to you and your style.

Don't forget to factor in the cost of a decent ND filter and a good tripod too (cheap tripods generally suck for long exposure) :)
 
micky1982 said:
Hi

As you'll see, this is my first post so hello to you all.

I've owned a Canon 700d for about 10 or so months now and after having a play around with it (this is my first DSLR), it's helped me produce some great pictures.

After trying different types of photography, I've decided sunrise/sunset/landscape photography, that involves long exposure-type shots is something I'd like to explore a bit more. I'm currently using the 18-55mm lens that come with the body, however I'm interested in maybe upgrading the lens to something which is a bit more specific for this type of photography. As I'm still relatively new to all this, and I don't really know what I should be looking for when it comes to selecting the correct lens, I was hoping for some advice or recommendations on what I should by looking for, or better yet, what lens I should consider purchasing?

Any advice or recommendations you can offer would be greatly appreciated. I do currently own a tripod to help keep the camera as still as possible.

Thanks
Click to expand...
What do you find limiting about your current lens? Do you find yourslef opening up the aperture to max and wanting an even bigger aperture? Do you find yourself shooting a lot of photos at its longest focal length? Or more at its shortest focal length? Wherever you find yourself most often annoyingly hitting the stop on your current lens and wanting more will give you a big clue as to what kind of lens you should get next.
 
Thanks for all of your replies.

Ironically, the Canon EF-S 10-18 mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM is one I'm very interested in, and will probably buy as I like the look of the review videos I've seen.

The lens I use at present is good, but just not as wide as I'd like it to be. Having looked at some example images using the 10-18 mm lens, it seems to allow more into the picture, no matter how much I'm zoomed in/out. Here's an example image I took in New York using my current 18-55mm lens (unfortunately resizing the image to allow me to post it on here has affected the quality). I've found a good set of ND filters which I interned to purchase when I purchase a new lens.

ISO 100
20mm
ƒ/11
1/125

I had also considered a telephoto lens, however they do look quite pricey.

rsz_img_6376.jpg
 
Wide angle for landscapes might seem an obvious choice, to make it interesting I think it’s best with some good foreground and lots of layers. There’s a danger that subjects that look impressive when you’re there look pushed back and less impressive in the image. Tele lens compress so have the opposite effect on what you see and can work well for landscapes. Stitching a panorama from images taken with a tele can give the best of both.
 
Nostromo said:
It depends on what type of landscape is in front of you. If you want a big wide vista then you would be best off using a wide angle lens, but if you want to pick out a small piece of the wider landscape then you will want a short/medium telephoto lens. Take a look at Flickr and see what others are using, see what fits in with your style of landscape.
Click to expand...

Have a look at Thomas Heaton’s latest video. It discusses exactly this.
 
micky1982 said:
ISO 100
20mm
ƒ/11
1/125
Click to expand...

Just a quickie. Lovely picture but personally I may have shot a little wider than f11, the theory being that a wider aperture would probably give easily enough depth of field whist enabling a faster shutter speed and maybe putting diffraction further from my mind.

PS.
If you do get a wide angle lens remember that they're not only useful for getting more of the scene in, have a play with the different perspective that the wider angle brings. Get close to things, experiment with angles etc.
 
Last edited:
Thank you for the feedback on the settings I used for my picture. I'll be honest, I took that in automatic mode as I didn't feel confident enough to change or play around with it. However if you think changing this would help, I'll certainly give it a go and try to experiment a bit more :)

woof woof said:
Just a quickie. Lovely picture but personally I may have shot a little wider than f11, the theory being that a wider aperture would probably give easily enough depth of field whist enabling a faster shutter speed and maybe putting diffraction further from my mind.

PS.
If you do get a wide angle lens remember that they're not only useful for getting more of the scene in, have a play with the different perspective that the wider angle brings. Get close to things, experiment with angles etc.
Click to expand...
 
micky1982 said:
Thank you for the feedback on the settings I used for my picture. I'll be honest, I took that in automatic mode as I didn't feel confident enough to change or play around with it. However if you think changing this would help, I'll certainly give it a go and try to experiment a bit more :)
Click to expand...

I'm sure you'll gain confidence pretty quickly and one good thing about digital photography is that you can experiment at little cost and see the results immediately which should help with the learning and the confidence too.

And it is a lovely picture regardless of any nit picking over settings :D
 
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