Lens Recommendation

Myky D

Myky D

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Hi all,

As fans of my previous 18 posts will know, I got a Canon 450D for Christmas, which is ace.

I've been getting to know it, and have managed to pull off some relatively decent shots with it, but now - unsurprisingly - I'm getting itchy fingers and want to move beyond the standard kit lens, and invest in a new, different lens. I will get one second-hand off eBay or the like, and can't afford to spend more than £150.

Now - I live in Mordor, and do a 9-5 job for a faceless grey corporation doing faceless grey work for faceless grey people, and as such don't really get the opportunity to go out anywhere beyond very often. However, I do have central Mordor and it's surrounds to play with.

While I enjoy capturing raw, clean, in-camera images, sometimes I like to photoshop seven shades of shot out of (newly-saved duplicates of) pics, giving them a graphic novel style - see below for examples of both:

My Flickr gallery

So my question to the panel is this: what sort of lens do you recommend I get?

I thought of a fish-eye, but then wondered whether such shots would lend themselves to my shoppery. But then a fish-eye would enable me to get all of Millbank tower in a raw shot. I thought of a zoom, but wondered if it was really worth it, considering the Mordor skyline is generally hundereds of feet above me.

I'd be intereted to hear your thoughts. Or if you've got any lens for sale within my range.
 
For £150 the only decent lens really within budget is the canon 50mm 1.8.

You could get that along with some extension tubes to try out macro, and maybe a fish eye adapter to experiment but you won't get a proper fish eye lens for much under £400
 
Uneducated_Rick said:
For £150 the only decent lens really within budget is the canon 50mm 1.8.

You could get that along with some extension tubes to try out macro, and maybe a fish eye adapter to experiment but you won't get a proper fish eye lens for much under £400
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Even second-hand?!

F e c k.

This photography lark's clearly a rich kids' game.
 
Myky D said:
Even second-hand?!

F e c k.

This photography lark's clearly a rich kids' game.
Click to expand...

Lenses hold their price amazingly well - they often sell second hand on eBay for 90-95% of their new price.

Some lenses even go for more than their new price because some people only compare to Jessops ?!?
 
Nice pics in your flickr stream - you're clearly enjoying the Canon and getting some good stuff out of it.

I'd suggest a macro lens - something like a Tamron 90mm or the Canon 60mm EFS if you can stretch to it. That will enable you to do life-size closeup shots and also doubles up as a decent short telephoto portrait lens. I'd suggest you try leaving the kit lens at home and working within the limitations of the fixed focal length, using your feet to change perspective rather than the zoom. I'd also like to see what you can do with portrait work as the style you're developing would be interesting applied in that area.

I wouldn't bother with the fish-eye lens yet. They tend to be "one trick ponies" that you'd probably get bored with very quickly. If you want to scratch that itch later on, then try an add-on converter lens that screws into the filter thread of your existing lens. They're much cheaper than true fish-eyes!
 
Hey Snowey and Rik,

Thanks for your replies - interesting stuff!

I'll look out for a Canon macro, then. That would work taking shots of buildings and stuff, right?

Good advice about the fish-eye, too - hadn't thought of that angle (photography joke there).

Myky
 
Myky D said:
I'll look out for a Canon macro, then. That would work taking shots of buildings and stuff, right?
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Absolutely. All normal macro lenses focus right out to infinity, so they make good general-purpose telephoto lenses as well. The only one that doesn't is the (rather expensive) Canon 65mm which is a specialist macro-only.

You should be able to get a used Tamron 90mm or Sigma 105mm within your budget, or maybe a Canon 50mm macro (an older lens but still very good).
 
I was thinking the opposite. It seems you like to do landscape and architecture shots and so maybe a wide angle lens would be the way to go. You would have to stretch your budget to £250 though to look at a secondhand Sigma 10-20 though. This photography game as a lot of options, most of them not cheap :)

Oh, BTW, I am really digging a lot of the shots in your flickr account!
 
Have a look at the classifieds. Kerso is doing the nifty fifty for a good price.
 
snowy said:
You should be able to get a used Tamron 90mm or Sigma 105mm within your budget, or maybe a Canon 50mm macro (an older lens but still very good).
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are we looking at the same budget or are you posting from 1995, there's not a hope in hell of getting a Tamron 90mm or a sigma 105mm for £150.

I'd go with the other suggestions of a 50mm f/1.8 for £70 and some macro tubes, then you get a good sharp 50mm so you can play about with depth of field and macro
 
wack61 said:
are we looking at the same budget or are you posting from 1995, there's not a hope in hell of getting a Tamron 90mm or a sigma 105mm for £150.
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No, I'm here now :p I did a quick ebay check to confirm prices and maybe I was being a little optimistic, but not by a wide margin.

I'd go with the other suggestions of a 50mm f/1.8 for £70 and some macro tubes, then you get a good sharp 50mm so you can play about with depth of field and macro
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Yes, that's certainly a good option with lots of flexibility, and well within budget.
 
Guys - this is all great stuff - thanks for your input! As you can tell I'm a complete novice at all of this, so it's good to see the recommendations - and also the rebuffs!

Limping - glad you like - that's very kind of you!
 
wack61 said:
are we looking at the same budget or are you posting from 1995, there's not a hope in hell of getting a Tamron 90mm or a sigma 105mm for £150.
Click to expand...

Well, CBA100 has just posted in this very forum saying he just picked up a Sigma 105 from ebay for £91.50 Admittedly it was for a Sony Alpha not a Canon, but it shows there are bargains to be had. ;)
 
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