Beginner Zoom lens advice.

wheresthetorch?

wheresthetorch?

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Good afternoon. I've recently inherited a Canon eos100d with 18-55 kit lens, and have really enjoyed using it. I've decided to sell my bridge camera to fund the purchase of a secondhand zoom lens.

I'm thinking of something like a 70-300, which I understand would equate to 480mm with the Canon's crop factor. I like to photograph birds, but am realistic that this wouldn't get me photographing songbirds at 50 yards. Attached are a couple of pictures taken with the bridge camera, to give an idea of what I mean.

So, what I'm really asking is which zoom lens I should consider around the £80 - £100 mark? Secondhand obviously, and I'm not expecting amazing quality at that price - I understand softness at the longest focal length is to be expected, etc. But then the bridge camera also has that issue. I'd also like the lens to autofocus, like the kit lens does.

All help and suggestions gratefully received.

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The best one I had (and still have, I kept it) is a Tamron with stabilisation, can't remember the model at the moment.

It is better than the Canon lens, it is full frame, so that may help.
 
Sangoma said:
The best one I had (and still have, I kept it) is a Tamron with stabilisation, can't remember the model at the moment.

It is better than the Canon lens, it is full frame, so that may help.
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I've also got a Tamron and it's a cracker. The stablising makes a big difference, even in quite poor light I can hand old, and I'm getting on now.
Your budget might be an issue though. Something I learned a long time ago was buy good, buy once. I bought a cheap lens and it was ok, than I replaced it with a better one and got better results, then finally I bought a top quality one, miles better quality. But I'd bought three lens to get there. I should have bought a good one in the first place.
After that i've done just that
 
Sangoma said:
The best one I had (and still have, I kept it) is a Tamron with stabilisation, can't remember the model at the moment.

It is better than the Canon lens, it is full frame, so that may help.
Click to expand...
Thank you - do let me know when you remember which model it is, as I've seen a few Tamrons available at my budget.
 
swanseamale47 said:
I've also got a Tamron and it's a cracker. The stablising makes a big difference, even in quite poor light I can hand old, and I'm getting on now.
Your budget might be an issue though. Something I learned a long time ago was buy good, buy once. I bought a cheap lens and it was ok, than I replaced it with a better one and got better results, then finally I bought a top quality one, miles better quality. But I'd bought three lens to get there. I should have bought a good one in the first place.
After that i've done just that
Click to expand...
Thank you for this advice. So if I upped my budget to say £200 for a used lens, would that stretch to something reasonable? If so, any recommendations?
 
wheresthetorch? said:
Thank you for this advice. So if I upped my budget to say £200 for a used lens, would that stretch to something reasonable? If so, any recommendations?
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Have a look for a Tamron SP series 70-300 DI VC USD I think thats the one with "silent" focusing, low dispersion glass and stabilization (you can see it work if you have a shaky hand)
 
As the EOS 100D is an APS-C crop sensor it will accept EF-S lenses. Consider the 55-250mm ISmkii. Slightly less reach but likely more affordable in the second hand market.
 
The Sigma 70-300 APO was considered to be a lot better than the non APO version which was pretty poor. I'd echo comments about considering the Canon 55-250 IS as being quite a good lens for not a lot of money.

If birds are your thing, then there are good lenses to save up for - but meanwhile the techniques learned with a shorter lens will still apply.

£ 200 starts getting into the Canon 70-200 f/4 L territory which is an excellent lens, if a little short for birds, unless its Big Bird from Sesame Street, or emu. That could be used with a x1.4 teleconverter to get a little more reach. These Canon L series lenses are well constructed and hold their value well.
 
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Worth pointing out that the EF-S lenses can not be used with many teleconverters, as the rear elements of the lens protrude to far and this prevents the lens from fitting onto the teleconverter.

I have a non-Canon 2X teleconverter that gives excellent results with the Tamron, and it was not the same price as the lens :)
 
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