Beginner Best lenses

Personally I think the Canon 28-135 IS USM is a very good all round lens for what you want.

I have had this lens for a few years now and used it on a 350D to my 1Ds MKII full frame.

At the moment it sells on Amazon (used) from £179.

The other great lens for indoor work is the Canon 50mm f1.8 the best value lens that Canon make - in quality it is as good as an "L" glass lens and from f2.8 onwards is pin sharp.

And if you get into macro simply add some auto extension tubes and you have a great macro combo at a bargain price.
 
One thing we haven't really got is what you are after. Macro, telephoto, prime, zoom? There are some good lenses out there in your price range but we've not got a lot to go on to meet your needs.
 
friesianfan69 said:
Thankyou I'm toying between 24-105 or 85 mm prime
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Don't think you can go wrong with either for kids, dogs, horses etc. :thumbsup:

Personally I'd go for the 85 for shallow dof portraits that is a very popular look for your subjects and low light / indoor potential. I upgraded to a 5DM3 after about 10 years with a 350D and haven't looked back. 85/1.8 was one of the first lens for it for these reasons.
 
LC2 said:
18-55? that's EF-S
Do you want to borrow a 50mm f/1.4 until you've got yourself sorted (it's just sitting around gathering dust).
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That is so so kind of you but I'd be scared of breaking it ( you know what it's like when something isn't yours)!
But thankyou so much for the offer
 
The 40mm stm f 2.8 is also excellent. I think the IQ is way better than its price and size would suggest.
 
85 1.8 on a 5d3 is a lovely short telephoto combo. Took mine to a wedding this weekend and I had forgotten what a sweet lens it is, excellent value for money. 2nd hand will get you some decent glass from yesteryear, just make sure it has a metal mount a distance scale and a reasonable aperture. You might find a 70/210 or a 100/300 in your price bracket to tide you over. A few years ago Canon made very good reasonably priced amateur lenses that were nearly as good as L lenses optically but slightly less well built but still very fast AF etc. So my advise would be to try and find some of those in the short term. Remember to look for metal mounts and distance scale window.
Matt
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Canon-70-...967124&hash=item2cc43e6edb:g:-XYAAOSwGhFZibtR
Is the sort of thing
 
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friesianfan69 said:
Sorry 18-55
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That's not going to work on your 5D. It's an EF-S lens so has a smaller image circle (designed for crop sensors) so, if it even physically mounts without hitting the mirror, you will end up with an image in the centre with a round black vignette.
 
stevelmx5 said:
That's not going to work on your 5D. It's an EF-S lens so has a smaller image circle (designed for crop sensors) so, if it even physically mounts without hitting the mirror, you will end up with an image in the centre with a round black vignette.
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Oh ok
It's quite temperamental anyway
 
stevelmx5 said:
The lens will mount into place but it's highly likely that the larger full frame mirror on the 5D will hit the back of the lens so I wouldn't recommend fitting it. You need an EF mount lens like the ones recommended above.
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Ok thankyou I won't then
 
I don't know about the stm version but the 50 1.8 ii version has slow auto focus and hunts too much for focus.

Useless for her fast dog. Maybe they improved the new version though ?
 
Another point for the 85 1.8, it's very fast to focus and I found tracks well with the 5DM3
 
if I could have either it would be the 85 and yes the stm 50 version is reportedly faster focusing than the earlier versions
 
As already said I for what you want I would get a second hand 70-200 F4 even if you have to save a little bit more it's a really excellent lens I've had one for more than ten years and it's always on my second body (for wildlife) that I use together with a longer lens on my main body
 
28-105mm used on mpb for £120ish at the moment plus throw in the 50mm £69. Best value to performance I could suggest.
The 70-200 f4 is also cracking lens for the money.
 
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geejgee said:
28-105mm used on mpb for £120ish at the moment plus throw in the 50mm £69. Best value to performance I could suggest.
The 70-200 f4 is also cracking lens for the money.
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28-105? Did you mean the 28-135? I wouldn't recommend that on a 5d3, it'll show the hell out of its faults, which are numerous!

We should be recommending the best possible lenses for the price (the £300 she has left) not make do poor quality lenses really (IMO), such as primes (Cankn 35mm f/2 mk1, Canon 50mm STM, Canon 85mm f/1.8 etc). This was exactly why we were trying to dissuade her from buying the 5d3 leaving very little for anything else!
 
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GTG said:
I don't know about the stm version but the 50 1.8 ii version has slow auto focus and hunts too much for focus.

Useless for her fast dog. Maybe they improved the new version though ?
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The STM is in a different league to the mk2, much faster, silent focusing. Absolutely amazing lens, especially for the money.
 
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odd jim said:
28-105? Did you mean the 28-135? I wouldn't recommend that on a 5d3, it'll show the hell out of its faults, which are numerous!

We should be recommending the best possible lenses for the price (the £300 she has left) not make do poor quality lenses really (IMO), such as primes (Cankn 35mm f/2 mk1, Canon 50mm STM, Canon 85mm f/1.8 etc). This was exactly why we were trying to dissuade her from buying the 5d3 leaving very little for anything else!
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Nope definitely meant the 28-105...
https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&s...ghGMAM&usg=AFQjCNGOvopK2bD-fLlS0gY4fd2QQ4c3Qg
 
I had that 28-105, it's good at what it is I guess but the narrow DoF and not to mention the variable DoF drove me nuts.
 
I see that you work at Wilko's. So if you're one of the poor team members up for redundancy I'd hold on to my money for a little while. If not depending what you really want to shoot as already mention 24-105l could be picked up second hand. This tends to be my go to lens for day to day even though I have a tamron 24-70 2.8 in the bag. I don't need 2.8 most of the time and it's a heavy lens for the range. The 24-105 gives me the IS that I do need and some extra reach. FYI this is on a 5d mkiii.
 
weybourne said:
I might be approaching this from the wrong angle, but if you just want something to see you by until you get your preferred lenses, a second-hand Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM shouldn't cost too much (a lot less than £300), has a useful zoom range for many purposes and should be good enough as a stop-gap/fall-back. I've only ever used mine on an APS-C body and when it comes to equipment, I'm not the most critical person, but I've been happy with it.
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I have a question weybourne. I myself also have a Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM and im very happy with its performance. But when i went to Canon for my annual maintenance, they told me that the production this lens is already discontinued and they eventually won't accept services for it in the near future. They even offered me a swap out discount for a newer model lens. Do you have any idea regarding this? Or is this information true in your country as well?
 
BigJohn said:
I see that you work at Wilko's. So if you're one of the poor team members up for redundancy I'd hold on to my money for a little while. If not depending what you really want to shoot as already mention 24-105l could be picked up second hand. This tends to be my go to lens for day to day even though I have a tamron 24-70 2.8 in the bag. I don't need 2.8 most of the time and it's a heavy lens for the range. The 24-105 gives me the IS that I do need and some extra reach. FYI this is on a 5d mkiii.
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No thankfully dont include me
 
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