Camera Lenses

[apduk]

Hi all

Can someone please post a link to a good guide on what the hell each one does. Ive spent not too long looking but its so confusing when you dont know what each one does. Im must point out the lense isnt for me its for a gift for a relative who had a Canon 400D. Hes already got the lense that came with it but like a new one.

Thanks in advance.

[social_lurker]

It's often easier to think what you want a LENS to do or what you want to take pictures of and then find the best fit lens for that purpose.

Typically they split into wide angle lenses (usually under 20mm) which are good for landscapes, architecture etc.; portrait lenses which are in the 50-100mm range; macro lenses which allow very close focusing and/or large scaling of the image onto the sensor 1:1 or greater; telephoto lenses (200mm+) for zooming in on far away objects (eg sports or nature).

Once you know what you want to take pictures of, you can narrow the range of lenses available (because you could either buy zoom or prime lenses; faster aperture, image stabilised lenses etc.)

The forums at Talk Photography™ are a great resource once you know the sort of thing you're looking for
Also fredmiranda.com: Specialized in Canon - Nikon SLR Cameras, Forum, Photoshop Plugins, Actions, Reviews, Hosting and Digital Darkroom
www.photozine.de
and Digital Camera Reviews and News: Digital Photography Review: Forums, Glossary, FAQ
have lens reviews


EDIT: Actually, you don't specify a budget but alot of people would recommend the Canon 50mm f1.8 "nifty fifty" lens for about £65 as a great second lens. It's a prime lens, so no zooming, but is very sharp and fast aperture means you can shoot in lower light conditions or throw the background out of focus so is great for portraits too.

[RobDickinson]

Originally Posted by apduk

Hi all

Can someone please post a link to a good guide on what the hell each one does. Ive spent not too long looking but its so confusing when you dont know what each one does. Im must point out the lense isnt for me its for a gift for a relative who had a Canon 400D. Hes already got the lense that came with it but like a new one.

Thanks in advance.

Hard to pick one when you dont know what they want, and what the budget is.


Major points:

[b]Focal length.[b/]
This dictates field of view. Expressed in terms of 35mm film, you have to 'add on' the digital multiplier of 1.6 for the canon, so 100mm is in effect 160mm.

Either 'wide' like 10-30mm for buildings, landscapes typicaly etc.
'Standard' ~50mm ish - standard as in basic human field of view (for the 400D this would need a 30mm lens tho!, multuiply by 1.6!!)

short telephoto - 60-100mm

Longer telephoto = 100+

Some lenses only have 1 focal length (called primes) like the 50mmf1.8, others can zoom (as your likely more familiar with) a good standard walkabout like the 400D kit lens range is 18-50mm.


Speed:
How much light a lens lets in.

Its a ratio of diameter (or the aperture realy) to the focal length. An F2.8 lens lets in the same amount of light if its 10mm or 200mm, the 200mm will just be a lot bigger.

Speed = good, but expensive and heavy.

A good replacement for the 400D kit lens (which isnt all that good) would be the tamron 17-50f2.8

Focusing
Some lenses use basic motors which are slowh and noisy.

Some use piezo effect ring style silent wave motors. Called HSM by sigma, AF-S by nikon and USM by canon. This is quick and quiet. And also allows full time manual override.

Beware though canon has something halfway, micro USM, which is better than nothing but way cheaper and poorer than proper ring/full time USM.

Image stabalisation
Is a good thing most times. But adds cost and weight.

Effectivly can double to quadruple the shutter length you can get away with. Not as much use for sport etc.

The IS version of canons 70-200f4L (pro glass) costs (almost) as much as a whole 70-300IS (consumer glass).!!

Canon do a new cheap kit lens with IS thats actualy pretty good.

Other stuff
'L' on canons stands for luxury. These lenses are built well, come with hoods & tripod mounts (some) weathersealing (most) and a red ring round the end for identification. There the rolls royce of lenses, just about ANY are worth owning. Cheapest are the 70-200f4L and the 17-40f4L. Any of these will make a girl happy. Or even me if your feeling flush....

Various other markings
EF-S - 'short back focus, lenses that will only work on the crop sensor cameras (i.e. xxxD, xxD), not an issue unless your going to seriously move up.

EX - simas 'L' equivelant.

Lots of letters for coatings and digital crap , mostly meaningless.

'Macro' - ability to shoot close up large pics of smal things. Some zooms will have 'macro' abilities but wont get as up close as a proepr one, which gets You '1:1' , i.e. a 10mm object apears 10mm on the film, or 1/3rd of a whole shot.

If there intrested in macro a tamron 90f2.8 is a good bet.



And then...

Given they have a 400D and kit lens and you may not want to spend £1000's ...

Either replace the old kit lens with the new IS one, or the tamron 17-50f2.8

Add a cheap tele zoom, sigma 70-300 APO

Add a cheap prime for some shallow depth of field and sharpness - canon 50mmf1.8

Add an ultra wide angle, sigma 10-20 or something.


But be prepaird for a shock, lens's arnt cheap...

[Yandros]

Originally Posted by RobDickinson

But be prepaird for a shock, lens's arnt cheap...

Yes, with a few very rare exceptions (Canon 50mm f1.8), there's not much worth considering for less than 100 quid. With a budget of about £150-£250 there are some interesting options - superwides, macro, long zooms, replacements for the kit lens etc. Fact is though, you need to know what your relative likes shooting, or wants to try next. Best options for opening up a new range of shooting possibilities will be a macro lens for extreme closeups, a long zoom for wildlife etc, or a superwide for landscapes and architecture.

[Sorj]

Originally Posted by Yandros

Yes, with a few very rare exceptions (Canon 50mm f1.8), there's not much worth considering for less than 100 quid. With a budget of about £150-£250 there are some interesting options - superwides, macro, long zooms, replacements for the kit lens etc. Fact is though, you need to know what your relative likes shooting, or wants to try next. Best options for opening up a new range of shooting possibilities will be a macro lens for extreme closeups, a long zoom for wildlife etc, or a superwide for landscapes and architecture.

I have to agree. I look as lenses the first time i got my 400D and splashed out on 3 new lenses over the 3months and it was £1K or there abouts. Sorry if i scared you there but its the truth.
either a Prime lens for portraits or a good walk around lens is good too.

[kavtek]

I settled on the Canon 17-55 f2.8 eventually for about £600 which I imagine is a bit too expensive.

The Sigma 30mm F1.4 is a great prime lens at about £250 second hand.

The Nifty Fifty at £80 is a great performer.

However the Tamron 17-50 F2.8 is a great lens and a lot cheaper at about £200 second hand.

IMO the Canon 17-55 at over twice the price of the Tamron is fully justified by the excellent contrast, saturation, IS. I may have had a poor copy however as I found a lot of images didn't focus very well.

The Tamron is a solid lens despite it being plastic. It's also a lot lighter than the 17-55.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/3665448...35706/sizes/o/

Unfortunately mine never really seemed as sharp as other peoples at f2.8

[maclove]

try Kenrockwell*com.
My first lense was a 50mm 1.4, superior to a 1.8, why go for 3rd place, when you can have 1st for a reasonable investment? If you plan to move forward, get a few great lenses over 10 crappy ones otherwise you'll definitely have to rebuy in the future. If you have the time, try older manual focus off ebay, very cheap. I have older manual Pentax that I shot great photos with for a fraction of the 85mm 1.4 Nikon i have. So, to get better was very cheap at first although a percentage of shots werent in perfect focus. I mean old primes btw, prime lenses are great optically. I don't know how well your camera supports older lenses though. Since I now have a D700 - I can only buy high-priced lenses, which sucks - but again, why go for 3rd place? Excellent camera + excellent lenses = excellent results. You may not have an excellent camera now, but figure out if that's what you want for the future and buy lenses accordingly.

[RobDickinson]

[Fozzybear]

Originally Posted by RobDickinson

And seconded! Don't go near Krock well unless you are looking purely for 'entertainment'.

[apduk]

Well thanx for the info guys. Sorry I didnt go into that much detail but what youve said really helped although I'll never truely understand it all. I had a chat with him the other day and he said he'd like a longer zoom lense. So I had a look around and couldnt believe how much some of them are.... some lenses would require a mortgage lol Jessops sell one for just short of 16k??? who the hell is gonna pay that

In the end I went with the Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 APO from jessops for £146, its just been delivered now which I didnt think was bad for the money. I know its not the best in the world, but it'll do for him

Thanx again eveyrone I really appreciate your input