Best Lens Choice For 450d

[ether]

Originally Posted by chris-p

For my system it would be 14, 35, 50, 80, 105, 135, 200, 300, 400 etc....!

Thats interesting much like my list except 105 I dont think I would use one much I do portraits at about 135 and landscapes from 70mm
what would you use it for?

Ed

[ether]

Originally Posted by chris-p

Wouldn't bother with a fisheye TBH

I use mine at parties and functions great for those moments when some one says "lets have one with us altogether " and the party is in a phone box lol

Ed

[chris-p]

I'd use the 105 for macro work mainly - should have been clearer about that.

Like most people (I suspect) I have, in my head, a constantly changing list of things I'd like. A fish eye is always on that list but it's down near the bottom. At the top at the moment are a flash gun and a macro lens. After that, as I've got every focal length from 10mm to 300mm covered it's upgrading existing glass.

[ether]

Originally Posted by chris-p

I'd use the 105 for macro work mainly - should have been clearer about that.

Like most people (I suspect) I have, in my head, a constantly changing list of things I'd like. A fish eye is always on that list but it's down near the bottom. At the top at the moment are a flash gun and a macro lens. After that, as I've got every focal length from 10mm to 300mm covered it's upgrading existing glass.

not only ever changing but ever growing

top of my list at the moment is a Elinchrom Ranger Quadra kit
but I will have to sell a good few prints before I will get it past the misses lol

Ed

[chris-p]

I'm still a relative novice so I've no experience at all with flash kit. I quite fancy having a go at off camera flash stuff but it's difficult finding the time and the money when you're studying!

[ether]

Originally Posted by chris-p

I'm still a relative novice so I've no experience at all with flash kit. I quite fancy having a go at off camera flash stuff but it's difficult finding the time and the money when you're studying!

Personaly I find useing off camera flash to balance ambiant light one of the most satisfying things in photography

it need not be very expensive
all you need is

1 understand how to use your camera in manual
2 get remote trigger you can get quite cheap ones I use cactus
3 get a stand for your flash. you can use your tripod if you get a fitting for the top


because your not putting the flash directly on your camera you can buy any cheap flash and put it in manual mode

Ed

[PieEater]

Thanks for the replies, the relevent ones at least

Sorry if I didn't make it clear but I'm not after a single do-everything lens, just advice on what my next 2 lenses should be, the first for longer focal length and faster focusing than my 55-250 and the second for better quality portraits / landscapes than my 18-55 and possibly with macro.

I understand that the Bigma is a great lens for image quality and reach but the lack of image stabilisation would be a big drawback for me as I dont tend to shoot with a tripod. I'm leaning towards the Sigma 150-500 as a compromise between price / performance / image quality.

I probably wont be able to look at getting the second lens for a while so maybe this would be better addressed when I can afford it as new options might have been released by then.

[JeffCohen]

the way that i did it was to go for a older lens .i bought the sigma 135-400 f4.5-5.6 on e/bay ,got it for £180 inc p&p and then had it re-chipped by sigma for £33 ,so for just over 200 quid i have a excellent birding lens ,o.k i still want a bigmos 150-500 but the 700 + price tag is daunting .its not the perfect be all end all but i turn out some reasonable shots with it ,and if you take the average as our little group do that out of 2-300 shots your probably only going to get half a dozen good ones its about right .as someone else said with birding you really need a large apeture but that costs large money so you got to compromise

[flake]

Despite the IS system the Sigma 150 -500mm is not a well regarded lens for image quality, if you must have IS then go for the Canon 100 - 400mm. Alternatively if you don't mind buying second hand there's the 28-300mm IS L

If you do want to use the lens for birding (longer than and faster than the 55 - 250mm) then you're going to have to reach into your pockets, the Sigma 100 - 300mm f/4 is a well regarded lens, or there's the 120 - 300mm f/2.8 which will cost £2K new or around £1K + second hand It's also the cheapest way to a 600mm lens with Auto focus when used with a 2X Teleconverter.

[shank_ali]

The best lens Canon ever made and is why it is the kit lens on the new 5Dmark ll is the..EF 24-105 1:4 L USM.
I have had these great lens attached to a canon 400D/450D and now it's on a Canon 50D.
A camera only records what comes through the glass.The Canon L range aint cheap but the quality shines through...