Newbie lens shopping! Help!

_nightnurse

_nightnurse

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Ok so I'm pretty new to all this and could really do with some guidance!

I've just got a Canon eos 300 to get to grips with understanding the basics, I thought using film might be an inexpensive way to do so. I am now on the hunt for a suitable yet cheap lens to play with...

I'd like to do some close stuff, of the kids and things like that, I also like the street-style photography which I've seen about on blogs etc. People and little things of interest outdoors really, I suppose.

Just from a little bit of looking about I was wondering if a 50mm prime lens would suit to learn from? But I honestly know next to nothing, and would love some advice. I've seen a couple on eBay at about the £40 mark which would be great as I'm on a tight budget and only just learning!

Thanks for reading folks x
 
50mm primes are lovely but that price seems a bit cheap... are you shure they're Canon EF fit lenses?
 
I've just Googled and spotted that Canon's cheapest 50mm is their 50mm f1.8 and the shop I looked at had a new price of £97. Given that the new ones are relatively cheap that means you gotta watch the prices of the used ones and not pay too near new money for a used one.

PS. Sorry for the h is sure!!!!! Dozy.
 
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Thanks woof woof, that makes sense, thanks for looking for me! Do you think that would be a useful lens for my purposes? I'd much rather pay a bit more and get something decent.

Besides, there's a few things I need to put on eBay anyway-that'll raise a few pennies for my lens fund... :)
 
_nightnurse said:
Do you think that would be a useful lens for my purposes?
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I think you know that it's a fixed length lens rather than a zoom... assuming you know that 50mm on a 35mm film camera is what a lot of people consider to be a "standard" lens, not too long and not too short. Plus the f1.8 will allow you to take shots in lower light and play with shallow DoF too.

Seems like a winning formula to me :) plus Luckly seems to have found a good deal :) On Amazon.co.uk new ones are up for £76.80 and £71.39 from the marketplace.
 
Canon's 50mm f1.8 Mk II is also known as the Nifty Fifty and the Plastic Fantastic. It's very cheap for a fast prime, and the image quality is quite highly rated, but the bokeh is rough and the build quality is, well, poor to put it mildly. The Mk1 version, now out of production, was a bit better and had a metal mount, but these are getting harder to find now and are more expensive.

The 50mm f1.4 is altogether better, but costs quite a bit more. You might like to check the reviews here http://www.photozone.de/canon-eos.
 
To be honest, in this day and age I wouldn't start off with a film camera... Film aficionados can now shoot me but I still think it will be cheaper to go digital and learn by studying the basics, then shooting lots and lots of pics always comparing them and seeing right away what your settings were from the EXIF data on your computer.

You can do it with film and a notebook to keep a journal of your shots. And then wait for the film to be developed.. but it will cost in film, time and you'll have to scan them to show them to us :)
 
Shooting film is like buying a spent car for £350. The hunger of both for film, deloping, scanning (or petrol and repairs) is incredible and soon spiral out of control. I am just trying to set the scene.

As far as the lenses go, there is hardly anything worth getting under £100, and therefore you may as well try 50/1.8. Under right conditions it can produce great results.

I do however agree with the comment about bad / harsh pentagonal bokeh, plastic cheap construction and hit-miss autofocus, and pretty much no way accurately manually focus. (but there is nothing better at that price!) You may wish to think about those when you get used to the kit and look for improvements here and there.
 
Thank you very much everyone for your replies-plenty of food for thought there!

Not splashed out on anything yet, but I've also just been offered a box of things and have no idea what they are or if they may be compatible with the camera I have!

Does anybody know what these things are and if I'll be able to use them?

"Komura Lens f=105mm. Soligor auto extension Tube set to fit Canon. Kestrel Enlarging Lens F=50mm. Tamron Teleconverter SP- 200. Vivitar Haze Filter 82mm Skylight."
 
That's quite an assortment and I suspect the lens and extension tubes are not for the EF mount.

If you already have the EOS 300, then you have an EF mount camera. The lenses that will fit such a camera body from Canon are all named "EF something" like the EF 50mm f/1.8 II that has been suggested for you. It is by far the cheapest lens you can get for your camera which will still produce great images when you learn to work with it.

If you have a budget in mind, it would help us help you. Avoid buying bits and bobs before you know why you need them.. you're much better off with just a body and a good lens to start with.
 
Good point, thanks! I'm going to get myself the 50mm one kindly suggested for me on here, I think. Around the £100 mark is about all i want to be spending on getting a feel for the basics at this point.

Since the box of bits isn't costing me a penny I think I'll have them anyway, you never know, I might actually know what to do with them at some point :)
 
_nightnurse said:
I've just got a Canon eos 300 to get to grips with understanding the basics, I thought using film might be an inexpensive way to do so.
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daugirdas said:
Shooting film is like buying a spent car for £350. The hunger of both for film, deloping, scanning (or petrol and repairs) is incredible and soon spiral out of control. I am just trying to set the scene.
Click to expand...

I don't want to put too much of a dampener on things, _nightnurse, but I think daugirdas is right. Digital cameras are MUCH better for learning and understanding the basics. You can experiment to your heart's content, you get instant feedback, and all the settings are saved with the image so you can review them later to see what worked and what didn't work (and why).

I don't know what your budget is, but you can pick up a used Canon 350D for around £100. It won't take very long to spend £100 on film and developing/printing.
 
daugirdas said:
Shooting film is like buying a spent car for £350. The hunger of both for film, deloping, scanning (or petrol and repairs) is incredible and soon spiral out of control. I am just trying to set the scene.
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Got to agree with that. Film is not the cheapest way of learning, go digital and you will save money in the long term. Once you have got the basics learned, then go to film if that is what you want.
 
Thanks guys. Obviously digital gives instant results and would be great for learning in that respect. I always had the impression that you could pick up film for peanuts-think I'm living in the past haha!

I'm starting a new job in the next few weeks so maybe I could treat myself to a second-hand digital with my first wages.

Only spent £15 on the canon so no worries as yet, and if I get the lens I was planning to it could still be used on a different body.

My plan b is to guilt trip the other half into getting me something expensive for Christmas-he has a season ticket every year so might have to call that one in mwah hahaha! ;)
 
_nightnurse said:
My plan b is to guilt trip the other half into getting me something expensive for Christmas-he has a season ticket every year so might have to call that one in mwah hahaha! ;)
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Sounds like a good plan to me!
 
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