Decent inexpensive lens's for beginner?

[dr.stevil]

So my GF wanted a nice camera for xmas. She was sick of using her crappy point and shoot with digital zoom, so she did some research and asked me for a Canon T5i. I ended up grabbing her a lightly used T4i since it appears to use the exact same hardware as the t5i (just a different starter lens).... not quite sure why the difference in name but whatever.

Anyway, with the money I saved on buying new, I was wanting to pick her up a few lenses to go along with the camera. I'm guessing maybe a lens for distance and another for macro photography? Or can you guys suggest anything? I'm guessing the vast majority of her subjects would be people at fairly close range and landscapes (and some further away action shots of the kids and whatnot)

Like I said, she is a beginner so I'm not looking to spend a crazy amount of money (less than 100 per lens if possible), but it would be nice to give her some more options, lens wise, that she can start playing with right away. I really don't know much about photography lol

 

[Anh N.]

Less than $100 per lens would be very hard to find decent lens, unless you get lucky and find one at yard sale or thrift store.

Just use the kit lens (canon EFS 18-55mm) to start, and save money for better lenses later. While the kit lens are not the best quality, it is still very good to learn with.

For landscape wide angle, something like Canon EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM Lens, which runs around $250 to $300
For portrait, a used Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM Lens can be have less than $100
For Macro, probably an Kenko extension tube to use with the Canon EF 50mm.

 

[Zepher]

I had the Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 that I used on my 40D as my everyday lens and I really liked it.
Image quality was the same as my brothers Canon 17-40L F/4, but much cheaper, slightly longer, and is faster.

 

[madFive]

We'll need to know your budget to get more specific, but a good start for a beginner would be an all-purpose lens with a lot of zoom range. It's not going to have the best image quality, but she can shoot with this for a while, see what zoom ranges she uses the most, then get better lenses that cover her preferred ranges.

One decent inexpensive all-purpose lens would be something like the Tamron 18-200mm.
http://www.amazon.com/Tamron-18-200mm-3-5-6-3-Aspherical-Digital/dp/B0007WK8MQ/

If you prefer top-notch image quality over ease of use, you probably want to look at prime lenses (non-zooming). Something like a 35mm f/1.8 for all-purpose walk-around, and a 100mm macro lens for close-ups and portraits will give much better image quality, but they don’t zoom, so they take more skill to use.
http://www.amazon.com/Canon-28mm-Wide-Angle-Cameras/dp/B00009R6WU/
http://www.amazon.com/Tokina-100mm-Macro-Digital-Cameras/dp/B000BZIO0M/
The Canon guys will have to chime in with better recommendations in this category, I fail at finding links today.

And there are tons and tons of options in-between and in many different price points. Let us know the budget and you'll probably get much better recommendations.

Edit - oops, missed the budget you already said. Yeah, you're not going to find much for DSLR's for $100 or less per lens. Generally really cheap is $200-350 range. Anything under 150 is often total garbage.

 

[Daggah]

What kind of photography does she like to do?

 

[cyclone3d]

Don't skimp. 85mm f1.2

A 50mm 1.4 would also be great for portraits.

I am a sucker for fast lenses.

 

[UnknownSouljer]

What kind of photography does she like to do?

This.

Lenses and lens choice is particular to the subject matter that you're trying to capture or what your workflow is going to be like.

As cool as it is to have macros, maybe she has zero interest in ever taking a macro. Maybe all she ever wants to do is landscape. Then it'd be mostly about wide angle. Maybe she wants to do portraiture in which case it's all about primes. Maybe she wants versatility and/or to shoot events, then she'll want a mid-range and telephoto-zoom.

It's possible she doesn't know either. But it's hard to give suggestions past: "sure buy this thing I like that you may not like or use."