starter lense?

[Atherton213]

im getting a XT in the near future (still waiting for a good deal on one)...

what are some good starter lenses....nothing crazy expensive....lowest price possible (but not crap) and also what are some decent brands

looking for these
1. close up macro lense
2. Zoom lense - Sports - Nature - I live like 6 miles from the space center so good for things like rockets
3. Fisheye lense (always thought they were cool)


thanks

 

[ambientZ]

im getting a XT in the near future (still waiting for a good deal on one)...

what are some good starter lenses....nothing crazy expensive....lowest price possible (but not crap) and also what are some decent brands

looking for these
1. close up macro lense
2. Zoom lense - Sports - Nature - I live like 6 miles from the space center so good for things like rockets
3. Fisheye lense (always thought they were cool)


thanks

get the 18-55 ef-s to start with, its cheap, its reasonable quality. Learn how to use it first, then decide what lenses you are going to use the most. Lenses arent cheap, starting with a whole bagful also isnt going to help you get proficient with them.

3. i dont know of any fisheyes for smaller sensor cameras, i think you can do without this one for now.

 

[BillLeeLee]

Kit lens first, then you can see if you need more focal length or what kind of subjects you like to shoot.

If you shoot large animals, then a zoom around the going up to the 200 - 300 mm range will be pretty good. For animals like birds, you might need even more focal length like up to 500 mm, but those lenses get pretty expensive.

Since I'm really more of a Nikon user I can't really recommend anything. I shoot with a 50 mm lens though, it's nice for portrait photography and is a very fast (F/1.8) and sharp lens, and inexpensive (around $90 for one). I also only know of Nikon macro lenses, but nothing about Canon macro lenses.

It seems the most popular Canon zoom lens is probably the Canon EF 70-200/f4 USM lens that uses Canon's high end L glass, but that goes for probably around $700 new, around $600 used. While not crazy expensive like the fast f/2.8 zoom lenses (> $1000 probably), still pretty pricey.

Generally accepted good 3rd party lens manufacturers are Sigma, Tamron, and I think Tokina.

You can get a lot of user reviews of different camera gear over at fredmiranda.com

 

[SidewinderX]

You want zoom? Save up and get a 70-200 f4L, as was previously reccomended. They cost about $500 used.

Too expensive? Get the Sigma 70-300 f4-5.6 APO (make sure it's the APO version!)

Macro? Belive or not, the Phenoix 100mm f3.5 Macro lens is rather good...

OR get a 50mm f1.8 (~$75 new) and a set of 52mm close-up lenses (filters). Or get a set of kenko extension tubes.

As for fisheye? You can get a Zenitar 16mm f2.8 fisheye for ~$150 on ebay... either with native EOS mount or with an m42->eos adapter. These are manuel focus only though.