Budget Lens?? £200 Limit!!

mw0dbb

mw0dbb

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John
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I'm looking for a new/second hand all round lens! I have the standard 18-55 lens that came with my Canon 550d and it is rubbish, there is way to much play in the manual focus. Any idea's?

John
 
tee_tee said:
Tamron 17-50?
Click to expand...

Great shout for image quality [, but the manual focus isn't much better than the 18-55, quite loose and in-precise due to it's short focus path (which keeps the AF fast). The ring is nicer to grip than on the 18-55 though.

If you're looking for nice manual focus, they don't come much better than old primes from pre-AF days. I've got a pentax 50mm f/1.7 K mount (can be used on EF with a cheap adaptor) which can be picked up dirt cheap, has fantastic image quality, built very solid and the focus ring is superbly dampened. They just don't make them like that anymore (with the exception of a couple of manual focus nikkor lenses that I believe are still in production).
Some sort of old 35mm would make a nice all round lens on a crop body (roughly equivalent to a 50mm's FoV on 35mm format), not as cheap as a 50mm but I expect you could still pick one up along side an adaptor for under £200]retracted
 
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I have only been using the manual focus for a 10 stop filter I bought and also been playing with night time photography. I have found with the 18-55 Canon when I goto 55mm the slight play in the focus ring is enough to put the shot out of focus, so would like something tighter!

John
 
In that case the tamron 17-50 should be a big enough step up in build quality of the manual focus, I misinterpreted why you were asking.
It's far from the best, but should be satisfactory for that and will provide a good step up in other areas :).
 
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The tamron will be a good step up from the kit lens and will more than meet your expectations.
When manually focusing tge ring doea feel loose but i wouldn't call it a deal breaker.
The tamron is one of the sharpest lens in that price range.
I love mine and think it is ideal when you are on a budget.

One think to note, the tamron is slightly noiser than the canon kit lens when focusing, again though it isn't a major thing. It would lead you to believe that focusing is slow, but its actually contrary to that with lock on being pretty quick unless in extreme low light.
 
Am I missing something here? Whats an SH Siggy? Another thing is do I need a IS lens at this kind of focal length?
 
Sorry, had a brain freeze moment then!! Got it now.
 
Tamron and I might throw in old canon 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5 USM if you fancy nice autofocus (needs a bit of stopping down, and not very good on full frame either, but should run circles round the 18-55)
 
I just want an improvement!!! This Canon lens sucks!! But I want to stay in budget if i can? I also use Olympus cameras and lenses and there standard kit is alot better quality! I feel Canon have gone for quantity over quality.

John
 
The 18-55 standard is a bit pants.
Personally, I would say the Canon 17-85 IS lens is pretty damn good for the price. The added bonus of IS is always handy for low light work, allowing you to slow your shutter speed that bit more.

Mike
 
I would recommend 50mm 1.8, the sharpness is amazing and you can buy it for under £100 new.
 
I have just listed a couple of Lenses that would fit the bill, both within your limit.
A Canon 17 - 85 EFs IS and a Sigma 24 - 70 f2.8.


Dave
 
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