Shopping for a new lens

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clarwel

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Claire
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As Christmas is fast approaching, my other half knows my love of photography all too well and has said that he would like to buy me a new lens seeing as I have "hinted" lol. I currently use the Canon 18-55 IS (standard) and the Tamron 70-300 lens

Anyway, I have two lenses in mind for my Canon 550d: Canon EF 70-200mm f/4.0 L USM or the Canon EF 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 IS USM.

I am one of these people that likes to know what I am buying by testing things out first and unfortunately I have no way of testing either lens out. Mainly the lens will be used for football and motorsports photography, which sometimes involves some distance. So I would like to have people thoughts who have been able to have a go and any advice as to which one to go for.

Another question is, on the L-series lens (Canon EF 70-200mm f/4.0 L USM), does it matter that it doesn't have IS? or is it not needed?:help::thinking:
 
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So which of the two lenses do you think is the one worth going for? :thinking:
 
Not the 70-300mm... too slow and you have a lens that covers that focal length already. Would say the 70-200mm is a better bet, and as said above it's much sharper. Still not particularly fast though.
 
the tamron long lens I currently have is f/4-5.6 - so is the L series one I mentioned an upgrade or is it ultimately a sideways step?

Also I have been a bit confused after reading another topic about crop camera's etc...although I'm still at a loss as to what a crop camera is, will the EF lens be ok to use with my 550d? Full frame, crop...I am confused lol! :thinking::shrug:
 
55D is crop format, but don't worry about it. Most DLRS are croppers, as opposed to full frame which is much more expensive and not the best choice for sport anyway.

The question is really what's wrong with your Tamron? Both the lenses you're looking at at pretty similar in basic spec. What do you want to do that you can't do now?
 
Personally I would be looking to upgrade the 18-55 as I find its this type of lens that I use mostly, I went for the 15-85 and am pleased with it, the 17-55 gets good comments too.
Otherwise go for the 70-200L its a superb lens very sharp and IS isn't essential at those focal lengths.

Happy shopping
 
I have tried both of these lenses and stuck with the L lens. It's a lovely lens, and with an extender, great for bird photography.:thumbs:
 
HoppyUK said:
55D is crop format, but don't worry about it. Most DLRS are croppers, as opposed to full frame which is much more expensive and not the best choice for sport anyway.

The question is really what's wrong with your Tamron? Both the lenses you're looking at at pretty similar in basic spec. What do you want to do that you can't do now?
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The Tamron was part of a bulk deal when I bought my 1000D in 2008 and in all fairness it has served me well for what I have used it for to date. I have already upgraded my camera since then but I now feel that the lens has become obsolete compared to the camera...if that makes any sense. I am one of these people that is constantly looking for improvements - annoying really. :bonk:

Besides that, I sold my 1000D to my parents as they wanted to escape the fossil of a camera they had before and didn't want a new compact one as they saw the difference between even the 1000D and them. Of course when they had the 1000D they then wanted a bigger lens so I have offered them the Tamron as it is more than enough for what they need and it works out well for me then to get my hands on a Canon lens which is able to take me forward.

I am quite happy to keep the 18-55 lens at the moment as it seems to be more distance i am working with. More than happy with that one...for now! lol

Can I use an EF lens with my 550d ok?
 
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clarwel said:
The Tamron was part of a bulk deal when I bought my 1000D in 2008 and in all fairness it has served me well for what I have used it for to date. I have already upgraded my camera since then but I now feel that the lens has become obsolete compared to the camera...if that makes any sense. I am one of these people that is constantly looking for improvements - annoying really. :bonk:

Besides that, I sold my 1000D to my parents as they wanted to escape the fossil of a camera they had before and didn't want a new compact one as they saw the difference between even the 1000D and them. Of course when they had the 1000D they then wanted a bigger lens so I have offered them the Tamron as it is more than enough for what they need and it works out well for me then to get my hands on a Canon lens which is able to take me forward.

I am quite happy to keep the 18-55 lens at the moment as it seems to be more distance i am working with. More than happy with that one...for now! lol

Can I use an EF lens with my 550d ok?
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If you are constantly looking for improvements, you're about to start hitting the law of diminishing returns. You will end up with a few L-grade lenses sooner or later, so you might as well bite the bullet.

Two questions: do you use the 300mm end of your Tamron much, and do you use shutter speeds longer than say 1/250sec? Check the Exif data on your recent pictures and that will tell you what you actually shot at.

If you need 300mm, then it's really got to be the Canon 70-300 IS - very good lens BTW, and very good value. But if you can stay under 200mm, and tend to shoot in good light where your shutter speed is always above about 1/250sec, then the 70-200L 4 is worth thinking about.

But personally, I would go for the 70-200L 4 IS. It's a lot more money, but it obviously has IS which I would not be without on a lens like that, pretty much regardless. And it is optically better than the non-IS version, plus quite a few other smaller improvements.

It is a completely fantastic lens, relatively recently overhauled with Canon's finest R&D, and you will still be using it happily for very many years, even after you have upgraded the camera six times. And L lenses hold their value very well. There's just nothing better at that spec. It's around £800 form here http://www.camerapricebuster.co.uk/cat5.html though there's a guy called Kerso who might be able to beat that. I bought mine from him, and so do many others on here.

Final question then: how much does he love you? :D
 
HoppyUK said:
If you are constantly looking for improvements, you're about to start hitting the law of diminishing returns. You will end up with a few L-grade lenses sooner or later, so you might as well bite the bullet.

Two questions: do you use the 300mm end of your Tamron much, and do you use shutter speeds longer than say 1/250sec? Check the Exif data on your recent pictures and that will tell you what you actually shot at.

If you need 300mm, then it's really got to be the Canon 70-300 IS - very good lens BTW, and very good value. But if you can stay under 200mm, and tend to shoot in good light where your shutter speed is always above about 1/250sec, then the 70-200L 4 is worth thinking about.

But personally, I would go for the 70-200L 4 IS. It's a lot more money, but it obviously has IS which I would not be without on a lens like that, pretty much regardless. And it is optically better than the non-IS version, plus quite a few other smaller improvements.

It is a completely fantastic lens, relatively recently overhauled with Canon's finest R&D, and you will still be using it happily for very many years, even after you have upgraded the camera six times. And L lenses hold their value very well. There's just nothing better at that spec. It's around £800 form here http://www.camerapricebuster.co.uk/cat5.html though there's a guy called Kerso who might be able to beat that. I bought mine from him, and so do many others on here.

Final question then: how much does he love you? :D
Click to expand...

Haha! He loves me...but I think I'll be testing it a bit too much at £800 ish! Besides, we have a rally car to fund alongside my addiction to photograph almost everything. haha! Dont get me wrong I would like to bite the bullet and have the IS version and even the longer one, but financially I cannot justify that unless I got the point where I became published...or won the lottery. :lol:
In answer to your questions, I do sometimes use the 300mm end of my tamron lens...its because its there and it's nice knowing I have that little bit extra if I need it. It's difficult to answer that one. I think it would be a case of I would have to get used to not having the extra focal length or get closer to the action. That said, I have been to watch a few rallies recently and I have noticed a few people with the L series lenses (in envy) and when I have looked, most of them are using the 70-200mm (a mixture of IS and NON-IS) - they seem to be managing fine. Moving on to the shutter speeds, I vary it depending on the kinds of pictures I'm after e.g panned images or still ones. The malvern rally that I was at on the weekend, the bulk of the pictures during the ok overcast light were set at 1/320, usually I will have it at about 1/400 on a well lit rally. However when it began to get dark, the tamron lens was having none of it.
 
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