Lens for a Starter SLR system

Hi

I have been waiting really long on finalizing a SLR system , and after weeks on

the net specially photo.net and a couple of books I have narrowed down on this

configuration

 

Camera Body

Rebel XSi

 

Lens

Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM Medium Telephoto Lens for Canon SLR Cameras � I plan to

use this as a standard lens and for indoor.

 

Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM Telephoto Lens for Canon SLR Cameras � For travel

Nature and wildlife. (I am also deliberating about on Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6

IS USM Lens for Canon EOS SLR Cameras but a lower f number and a non L factor is

holding me back.)

 

On the other hand with the Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM Telephoto my zoom mm

flexibility gets limited.

 

Can any of you gurus please share your experiences /advise.

 

Kind regards

-Sam

If I were you I'd seriously miss the wide end, and would suggest getting a 'standard' zoom for

the camera. This would be either the 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM (expensive but very very good) or

the 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM (much cheaper and very good). I'd live with that lens for a few

weeks before deciding what else I needed.

Frankly, the 18-55mm IS - the new kit lens, not the L-like 17-55 - is a decent lens and practically free with the body as a kit. I still think, warts and all, that the 17-85 IS lens is a super convenient lens and I use it more than anything else.

 

I think you are right to get at least one prime lens and the 50mm f/1.4 is a good candidate. If you want to do travel and wildlife, I think a zoom will be more useful than longer primes. The 70-300mm IS does test well on the optics, and if you prefer L glass, then do consider the 100-400mm lens. For actual lens tests see Photozone.de and our own site for reviews and links.

If nothing else, get the kit lens. I'd think you'd feel severly limited with nothing wider than 50mm.

I have the 200mm 2.8L that I use on a 40d, and has done very well in indoor and outdoor settings. If you think you need more power, consider the 1.4 or 2.0 teleconverters. They will slow your f-stop down close to what the 70-300mm would, but cost and weigh much less.

The 50 f/1.4 is a great lens, but 50mm is not wide enough on the XSi as a standard lens or for indoor shots. You should get the 35mm f/2.0 or one of the 28mm lens to have a field of view comparable to a "normal" lens on a non-cropped body.

<p>If you are not an experienced SLR photographer with experience that leads you to select this particular

setup, I'm concerned that you might be about to make some very expensive mistakes.

 

<p>Some misconceptions are easy to pick up from forums like this if you don't have sufficient context:

 

<ul>

<li>A 50mm prime is a good normal lens for a cropped sensor DSLR.

<li>Primes are better than zooms, or zooms don't have sufficient image quality.

<li>Having the largest possible aperture is always important.

<li>When in doubt always get the L lens.

</ul>

 

<p>The 50mm lens is generally the <i>wrong</i> prime to pick, even if you want a prime for general use.

(Most people in your situation would be far better served by a zoom, but that is a different issue.) If you want a

so-called normal prime on a cropped sensor like yours it would have a focal length of between perhaps 28mm

and 35mm.

 

<p>Without going into the rest of the story... I <i>strongly</i> urge you to pick up a copy of the excellent EFS

18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS kit lens and shoot a ton of photographs with it. But doing so you'll figure out real answers

to the questions about what lens features you do and do not need... and when it is time to start buying "better"

lenses you'll have a good basis for making very good choices.

 

<p>The choices you propose here are, to say the least, very unusual. There is nothing inherently wrong with

that as long as you have well thought out reasons for this, but if it isn't you intention to get something very

unusual...

 

<p>... wait.

 

<p>Dan

Hi All,

 

Thanks for your comments and suggestions. It was real eye opener for me. Yes i am new to SLR photography all my limited knowledge is based on theory online a few books.

 

Based on your comments i have redone my configuration to

 

Camera Body Rebel XSi

 

Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM

 

I would really like to get some good shots of the 4th July fireworks.. would these be able to get me some? or am i asking too much from them.

Also is there any thing i should add to the above config.. considering i am st the starting level.

 

Again thanks a ton for your responses you have defiantly saved me from a a lot of frustration and on some $$.

 

-Sam

If you want to shoot fireworks, then get a good tripod and a wired cable release (the cheap versions are fine). The idea is to be able to trip the shutter without touching the camera, and to hold it stable for exposures of several seconds (IS won't help you here) to capture the trails from several bursts. Shoot in bulb mode (shutter kept open as long as you like) at an aperture of f/8 or f/11 and ISO 100 as a trial exposure: if the images seem burned out with no colour in the traces, stop down some more. You can hang your hat over the lens between bursts if you like.

I hate to sound like a curmudgeon here, but I'm going to take that risk a bit.

 

First, the camera and lens you are speaking of are capable of capturing fine photos of fireworks. But so would the kit

lens.

 

I want to repeat something I wrote earlier. You are not an experienced DSLR shooter. There is nothing wrong with that -

everyone started that way. The issue is that you don't have any real basis for choosing among all of the different

available options - and there are many excellent options. The problem is that there is no one "correct" generic choice.

The lenses a photographer selects are more or less specific to the photography he/she does. While I might prefer your

17-55mm f/2.8 IS lens, another photographer might find that the kit lens is a "better" choice and another might have good

reasons to select primes instead.

 

The fact that you have switched from an all-prime configuration, to a prime plus "maybe this zoom or maybe that one or

maybe a prime" to now choosing a lens that wasn't even on the first list suggests that...

 

a) you are moving way too fast

 

b) you don't have a solid basis for making specific selections

 

c) the kit lens would serve you well and provide you with an opportunity to learn a lot about photography and your

shooting style, which would...

 

d) let you make some very excellent and wiser choices in the _future_.

 

Get the EFS 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS lens and shoot a lot.

 

Good luck.

 

Dan

As to fireworks, you certainly don't need a $1,000 lens such as the 17-55 (less with the current rebate).

 

The attached photo was taken with the Rebel Xti and the original (non-IS) kit lens 18-55. The fireworks were shot quite low to the ground. My settings were 20 sec exposure, ISO 200, f/11, zoomed to 21mm (why I didn't go to 18mm and get all of it I'll never know). Yes I used a wired cable and a tripod.

 

I would start with the new kit lens with IS and get to know your camera before you start spending big money. Even as to a long zoom, I'd start with the 55-250 IS. With that lens, keep it on 200mm for a weekend and pretend you can never move it. See how you like having a fixed 200mm at this early stage of your use of an SLR. I think you should wait on the 200 prime for a bit. Splurge on the 70-300 IS if you like. It is quite nice but you might not notice a big difference from the 55-250 this early and you will save about $250 you can put toward other things like a flash, tripod, monopod etc. Just my 2 cents.

G Dan has a point, but he is wrong in assuming that the 50mm lens is used as a "normal" lens by those who use it on a crop body like the XSi. It is what was highly sought after in the old days, a very large aperture portrait and short telephoto lens. It's sort of like the old, classic 85mm Biotar that still sells for big bucks even today.

 

If you are buying the 17-55 f/2.8 lens you are putting a lot of money into an EF-S lens, especially considering that the body you are buying is more in the "amateur" class. It, like nearly any decent camera, can take superb pictures, but it does not have the heft nor durability of the 40D, say. If it were me, I'd get the 40D and either the 18-55 kit lens or the 17-85mm lens and then see where you want to go after you have learned the camera and process. Inflation is not yet so bad that the money will evaporate if you don't spend it today or tomorrow.

> Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM

 

I've got the EF-S 17-55 f/2.8 IS USM lens and the EF-S 18-55 f/3.5-5.6 (which was the kit lens that came with my 20D

body), and I have to say the difference between the two is night and day. Physically the 17-55 is twice as large, twice

as heavy, and far, far better. The 18-55 feels like a toy in comparison.

 

There's something to be said for learning on a disposable lens like the 18-55. It will make you appreciate the 17-55

better if you decide to buy it later. This is important because the 17-55 is a substantial investment, and you don't want

to spend that kind of money until you definitely know you want that lens and not something longer.

JDM wrote: "G Dan has a point, but he is wrong in assuming that the 50mm lens is

used as a "normal" lens by those who use it on a crop body like the XSi. It is what

was highly sought after in the old days, a very large aperture portrait and short

telephoto lens"

 

I wrote what I wrote because the OP stated:

 

"Lens Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM Medium Telephoto Lens for Canon SLR Cameras -

I plan to use this as a standard lens and for indoor."

 

Putting a 50mm lens on a Canon 1.6x cropped sensor body is in most important

ways equivalent to putting a 80mm prime on a 35mm film SLR as your "standard

lens." Such a lens could indeed serve as a portrait lens, but that is not what the OP

proposed.

 

You will also note that I acknowledged the very small possibility that our OP was

experienced enough to actually want a non-standard lens like this for a, uh,

"standard lens."

 

In general, advising a new cropped sensor DSLR owner to rely on a 50mm prime for

his/her "standard" lens (and our OP wasn't looking at anything shorter) is a very poor

idea. In fact, in my view, it is perhaps the most wide-spread and unfortunate advice

often found in forums like this one.

 

Dan

I have 4 lenses with my XT. The kit lens I got with my film SLR (Canon EF 35-80 f/4-5.6) the kit lens for the XT (Canon EF 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6) a low end zoom (Canon EF 75-300mm 1:4-5.6 III) and what I use most of all (Canon EF 50mm f2.5 compact macro). I really love my 50mm and whenever I grab my bag I know that's usually the lens that's attached. I think a 50mm prime is an ideal lens for a 1.6x crop body. It can be used for portraits, with the wide apeture it can be used with no issues in low light and I use mine for macros as well.

Hi All,

 

Thanks so much for all your valuable advice.I guess now that i have been brought back to humble earth, we all agree that 18-55 kit lens is the best one for me.

 

Please don't beat me now for asking this question.. but after seeing some of the replies i am getting to think about the crop sensor Xsi and the full frame 40D.

 

Which one would be appropriate for me.

 

Background:

 

I do not intend to be a full fledged pro, i am a management consultant with a overwhelming schedule bui i am eager to invest time and money over the years and hope to get serious with photography.

 

Thanks again.

 

-Sam

Both the XSi and the 40D are cropped-sensor camera bodies. Their sensors are

essentially identical in size. The XSi has a 12MP (approx.) sensor and the 4D has a

10MP sensor.

 

The 40D can provide some advantages for photographers who have specific need

for those features it has that are lacking in the XSi. In terms of image quality, either

camera will produce excellent results and the XSi can at least equal the 40D in this

regard.

 

My answer here is going to be somewhat similar to what I wrote about lenses. If you

are new to DSLR photography and you don't yet have specific needs in terms of 40D

features and you are more or less getting started in DSLR photography, the XSi can

make a wonderful complement to your kit lens. In fact, Canon designed the XSi/kit

lens combination almost precisely for buyers like you.

 

Dan

I did not mean to imply that the XSi was not a fine camera, it was merely that if you were going for L glass, it was a little strange to go for the lower level camera. In fact, the XSi and the 18-55mm kit lens make a fine combination (be sure you get the 18-55 kit with the Image Stabilization (IS) however. By all accounts, the new kit lens is quite good optically, and although it doesn't look anything like as sturdy as the L lenses, given the millions of them out there, I have seen very few actual claims of them "falling apart" or failing dramatically. After you shoot with the kit lens for a while, you'll probably get an idea of what you need next, and so on as you spiral into "investment" in camera gear. The other "kit" lens, the 55-250mm IS is also supposed to be quite good, and might be worth considering as another purchase now or soon.

You might want to read this thread on the Xsi (the 450) vs. 40D:

 

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00Plts

Lots of good advice to be found in all of these comments, the best is to start with the basics, take a lot of pics, and over time you will see what you most need. I had a film canon T2 for 3 years before I upgraded to digital. The best lens for the money for me is my 50 1.8, even on a crop body it is great, just have to back up a bit more. I own 3 lenses, the 50 1.8, 200 2.8L, and a zenitar 16mm fisheye I picked up 2 years ago. I do plan on making a few additions over the next year or two, but don't think that you have to start from scratch with a bag full of gear that you may or may not actually ever use. Happy shooting.