Another newbie looking for lens advice :)

Gonetae

Gonetae

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Hi folks, I'm ordering my Canon 400D tomorrow and with it I'm getting the 18-55mm kit lens which sounds fine for a general purpose 'walkabout' lens but have put together a wee list of other lenses I would like to add to the kit over the next year or so (with wifies permission hehe).

Just hoping some folks could add thier thoughts and comments on the ones I am thinking of and if possible offer a better quality option for around the same price.

Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 APO DG Macro
Canon 50mm prime f/1,8

I'm quite interested in doing macro photography but from I've read the Sigma 70-300 isn't actually a true macro lens?, are there any cheap options that I could look into bearing in mind I have a very small budget as you can probably tell from the lenses listed :).. or would I be better looking into extension tubes?
 
The Canon 50mm is cheap and chearful and is a good entry into learning about prime lens's. They are sharp and give you good lower light capabilities. I would also consider the Canon 55-250 EF-S IS. This is a cracking lens for about £150 which consistently gives good image quality (IQ). It's got a fairly good zoom and produces good enough IQ for some serious cropping for bugs and close ups.

Macro len's can be quite expensive. Perhaps a set of extension tubes onto your 50mm first? Or if you get the 50mm there is a reversing ring that will give you close up capabilities click here.

For close up you could also consider the magnification lens that fits onto the end of your lens, such as Raynox DCR 250. There are quite a few posts on here with talk of them. They are about £40.

Hope that makes sense and is helpful to you.
 
Heh, i'm on a 450d so have a slightly different (better?) 18-55 but have both of the other lens you are asking about as well. The 50mm is a sure buy, i love it. The sigma produces sharp results when manually focused but i've really struggled to get enough light to use a high enough shutter to prevent subject movement so most of my results have been a bit soft (and not being able to stop down to sharper apertures hurts as well). But when manually focused on stationary cats it is nice and sharp
 
Thanks for the reply Blue Eagle, could I ask how you have found the Sigma out towards max zoom? One of my passions is birdwatching and was hoping to use that to get some nice pics of whatever I see while I'm out and about but have read a review of the lens that says it's really soft (does that mean a bit out of focus?) when using at 300mm. :shrug:
 
hmm.....maybe a bit late with the reply but its great a 300 as well, picking out plenty of detail, provided you manually focus or have plenty of light. However you could look at some side by side comparisons rather than taking my (inexperienced) word for it.
 
swag72 said:
I would also consider the Canon 55-250 EF-S IS. This is a cracking lens for about £150 which consistently gives good image quality (IQ). It's got a fairly good zoom and produces good enough IQ for some serious cropping for bugs and close ups.
Click to expand...

:agree:

It really is a cracking lens for the money.
 
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