Starter kit lenses to cover portrait, monuments, landscape and animals

Hoomer

Hoomer

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Hi, i'm a newbie and purchased a Canon 400d body.
I'm interested in takin vacations pictures of landscapes and monuments, as well as portraits (by that i mean more me and/or my girlfriend in front of a monument) as well as some zoom pictures if i want to.
I know that theres isn't a lens that covers all this (or is there??), but i'd like to know your recomendations about a kit to cover these needs.
I don't wanna spend much money right away. I'd rather buy some good price/quality lenses to "play" around and print some nice photos to have and show around and eventually upgrade some day in the future to one or two extra lenses according to my preference, but at the same time keep a good kit forone or another special shot i want to take eventually.

Thanks a lot
 
Hi Hoomer,

Firstly welcome to the forum and the expensive world of DSLR's.

I have a 350D and a Sigma 17 - 70mm which I use as an all purpose lens, that includes landsacpes and studio work. I do own a 70-300mm lens but that very rarely sees the light of day (or night). The 17-70mm costs about £200 and was highly recommended by many people on here.

My flickr shows some expamples of my work with it, so feel free to have a nose.

Rob
 
Were all those pictures taken with the Sigma 17-70mm??

What about night shots in the street with people?

Are the animal pics good enough to print them in 30x40??
 
What about a canon 15-55mm standard + tamron 55-200mm and a canon 50mm/1.8 ???

With the 50mm/1.8 i'd cover the night shots on the street, or inside monuments like churches, wouldn't i?

Are they good enought to print the photos at poster size if needed?
 
Hoomer,

I would suggest either an EF28-105 f/3.5-5.6 (45-170) for about £130 delivered or an EF28-135 f/3.5-5.6 (45-210) for £230 delivered....figures in brackets take intoo account the 1.6 multiplier on your camera body.

Bob
 
Hi,

I can thoroughly recommend the Sigma 17-70 F2.8/4.5 Macro, cost me £195 or so delivered brand new, some sample shots can be seen HERE, only been using it a couple of weeks and I'm well happy with it.

For the money it can't be beat in my opinion.

Mike.
 
Now i'm really mixed up.

I've been reading around i got very higly recomendation for the Canon 28-105mm lens
So now i have:

Option 1: Standard kit lens 18/50mm + Canon 28-105mm/f3.5-4.5 + Canon 50mm/1.8 (60+250+90€)



Option2: Sigma 17-70mm + canon 50mm/1.8 (300+90€)



The price is almost the same, but with option 1 I have better/more zoom capcity. With option 2 i have better image quality at wide angle shots, plusa a better aperture, and only 2 lenses (less lens switching, less dust on the sensor) and can later in the future buy another tlephoto lens.



Please help me decide
 
Sigma 24-70 f2.8, £230 from Kerso. Excellentay!.
 
Hoomer said:
benneh , that doesnt relly help to solve my dilemma...
Click to expand...


The 24-70 is a little better than the 17-70, and thus would suit your need for something like "another special shot i want to take eventually". It doesn't cost much more, and if you can sacrifice 7mm then it's worth it. The Canon 28-105mm I really wouldn't bother with, the extra reach isn't much at all and the image quality doesn't seem to match the sigma 24-70 (at least according to reviews).

The nifty however (50mm 1.8) is a must have :lol. Love mine to bits.
 
Hi,

if you do fancy the Sigma 28-70 F2.8 then Ffordes Photographic have one in stock S/H for £159.00 in Exc++ condition.

Have a look HERE then go to USED equipment, Canon, then EOS Lenses, should find it there. Although I will say that after owning a 28-70 lens I found it to be too much at the short end at 28mm especially with the crop factor of 1.6x. That's one reason why I went the 17-70 route. With the 28 I always ended up having to back off on certain shots all the time and for me it wasn't any good for landscape or architecture shots as I didn't feel it was wide enough.

Mike.
 
Easy :)

Landscapes: Sigma 10-20mm

Everything else: Tamron 18-250mm

And a nifty fifty.

Once you get some practice in, swap the 18-250mm for a 17-70, ans a 70-200mm f/2.8...
 
Missed this thread.

Going by your initial post what you are looking for is a 'walk about lens' - something good for everyday shots. The 18-55 kit lens fits this purpose. Where it falls down is in low light as the maximum aperture is not very wide. That said it is a very cheap way of getting used to what different focal lengths do on your camera and will help you greatly deciding on your next move lens wise. Buy second hand and you can re sell for about the same money later.

As said get a 50mm 1.8 as well which is lovely and sharp and will sort your low light problems too. It will also get you a shallow depth of field for portraits with a nice blurred background.

So my suggestion is get used to it on the cheap for a month or three then work out what the kit lens is not doing for your particular type of shooting.

Reddeathdrinker - do you know someone with that Tamron zoom? I've not heard of anyone that rates the PQ from a lens with that big a range (compared to std zooms).
 
Just joined the forum and noticed this thread. I've got the Tam 18-250 arriving tomorrow after MUCH reviewing/researching. I wanted to extend from my Sony Alpha 18-70 kit lens so looked at the Sony 18-200, but then learnt about the Tam. If you're interested I'll let you know how I get on - fingers crossed! (Apparently Tamron make the glass for the Sony lens anyway)
 
RobertP said:
Reddeathdrinker - do you know someone with that Tamron zoom? I've not heard of anyone that rates the PQ from a lens with that big a range (compared to std zooms).
Click to expand...

I do indeed. As you say, the quality isn't as good as your higher-priced lenses (obviously), but is great for your everyday shots. And with an 18-250mm range, it doesn't need to come off the camera. It's also a very compact lens. Ideal for someone starting out, or for someone on a limited budget...
 
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