Which Lens for Canon EOS 400D??? Im a noob with DSLRs!

clocka

clocka

clocka

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Im gunna buy 1 of these canon's for £357 delivered for the body only, the cheapest with lens is about £418, what lens would you recommend me, i'd be using it for normal use, so dont need a crazy zoom lens.

The standard lens is: Canon EF-S 18-55mm (f/3.5-5.6) Lens

is this any good: Tamron Zoom Wide Angle-Telephoto 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 Aspherical AF Lens

i dont have a clue what the f/3.5-5.6 means or what the 18-55 or 28-80mm means.

Im looking for a lens that will do normal use and close-up shots to sell things on ebay and have quite a good zoom if possible, will the tamron do the job or can you recommend a lense for me please.

thankyou very much!!
 
You really want to get a DSLR but dont know what aperture or focal length is? Um, ok. Easy answer; get the kit lens that normally comes with the body.
 
yeah but the camera + kit lens is £418, £61 more that just the camera i can get that tamron for about £45, would that be better than the standard lens? im sure i could buy a better lens than the standard cheap either new or 2nd hand off auction sites, just need to know which lens to get.

I'm gunna teach myself everything about the camera but i need to get a good lens, the numbers for the tamron are the same except for 28-80mm instead of 18-55mm, what difference does this make? will it still be able to do close up shots? i presume it has a better zoom?

thanks.
 
I think that maybe you should do a bit of research first if you don't know what aperture and focal length is....

Aside from that i would say get the Sigma 17-70mm F2.8-4

Don't get that Tamron it isn't wide enough. It was made for full frame cameras hence it starts at 28mm, whereas the kit lens and the Sigma i recommended start at 17/18mm which is the equivilant to 28mm on an APS-C sized sensor that the 400D is.
 
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Gregeff said:
I think that maybe you should do a bit of research first if you don't know what aperture and focal length is....

Aside from that i would say get the Sigma 17-70mm F2.8-4
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thanks for the recommendation.

could you give me a VERY brief explanation of the numbers please if you have time i would be very greatful.

EDIT: just seen the price of that lense, they are £170+, was only looking at spending upto £70 for a lens new or 2nd hand. It sure is pretty tho:

sigma_17-70-001.jpg
 
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focal length, the 17-70mm bit simply put is how wide the field of view through the camera is. the first number is the wide end of the zoom, the second the long end of the zoom. so the smaller the number at the beginning then the wider view you have and the larger the number at the end then the longer the view you have. A standard zoom for a DSLR is around 18-50mm.

The other numbers are the aperture. This describes how much light the lens is capable of capturing. The smaller the number the better, as the lens can if set to that setting let more light in, enabling it to be used in darker conditions and to produce a narrow depth of field. This is often variable so the two numbers indicate what the apeture is at each end of the zoom.

A typical 'cheap' zoom will have an aperture of around F3.5-5.6
An Expensive zoom will have a constant Apeture of F2.8
and A fixed focal length lens around F2


However these are very simplified descriptions and not technically sound. I suggest that before you buy a DSLR you find out what the following are and how they relate to each other:

Focal Length
Depth of Field
Aperture
Shutter Speed
ISO Sensitivity

/Edit

If the Sigma is too much then you may aswell just get the kit zoom, you won't get anything better than it cheaper than the Sigma 17-70mm IMO. You could get the Sigma 18-50mm F3.5-5.6 which is probably a little better than the Canon, but there isn't a lot in it. I still use the kit zoom (along with a few Primes)
 
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you know when you said the first number is the width, so is 28-70mm like a widescreen photo? im assuming you can buy widescreen lenses, i know panasonic lumix non-dslr cameras have been getting widescreen ability recently, not sure if that just removes the top and bottom and gives the main area more pixels or not tho.

i bet you guys are laughing your head off at me now lol:P

here is the photo of the Tamron Zoom Wide Angle-Telephoto 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 Aspherical AF Lens:

tamron_28-80_lens.jpg
 
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Have you used any kind of cameras with a zoom and zoomed in and out??? The first number represents how wide the zoom goes at the wide end of the zoom and the second represents how long the lens goes at the long end of the zoom. If you buy the Tamron you will be disappointed that it does not go wide enough because it only goes to 28mm where as the kit zoom goes to 18mm. It was designed for use on film SLR's where it has the same effective zoom range as the kit zoom does on the 400D.

It has nothing to do with widescreen aspect ratios. All DSLR's have an aspect ratio of 3:2 (except olympus and Panasonic which are 4:3)
 
thanks michael, i'll read those tonight.

looking at the cheaper sigma, think there are 4 different fitting versions for the different brands, will try and find a cheap canon fitting version i think. will a sigma mount fit the canon eos 400d?

ive just read somewhere that the default 18-55mm is only a 3x optical zoom? im sure i read it having 10x optical on somewhere else, anyone know?
 
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clocka said:
ive just read somewhere that the default 18-55mm is only a 3x optical zoom? im sure i read it having 10x optical on somewhere else, anyone know?
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Divide the longest focal length by the shortest to get the "x" figure. 55 / 18 = 3.05, therefore it's a 3x zoom.
 
everything will probably make more sense once your camera comes and you get to play with it.
I'm also awaiting delivery of my 400D, was hoping to get it today but looks like it's going to be tomorrow or Friday. I got it with the kit.

I think my next lens after I get used to a DSLR will be the fixed focus (no zoom) 50mm f1.8 as everyone seems to recommend it.
 
didnt have a clue that the standard ones were only 3x, 10x ones cost several hundred pounds, surely thats a big reason to get a DSLR so you can get insane zoom, you can get 10x optical point and shoot cameras for £150 ish. Yikes!
 
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IF you're getting a canon camera, the lenses need to be canon fit, otherwise they won't even go on the front. That's EF or EF-S.

It isn't simple to apply the theory of zoom to SLRs / dSLRs, as the lens systems are completely different to a point and shoot. With SLRs, you can buy lenses that are, for example, 600mm - that's a massive magnification. Take the canon 100-400 L, it gives you a big magnification, but technically it's only a 4x zoom. However, at 100mm, that's already twice the magnification of the kit lens 'fully zoomed'. Basically, forget zoom.

In all seriousness, you could save a lot of effort and money with a decent point and shoot or a bridge camera if you're not sure that you're going to be making full use of the features a dSLR can offer.
 
clocka said:
didnt have a clue that the standard ones were only 3x, 10x ones cost several hundred pounds, surely thats a big reason to get a DSLR so you can get insane zoom, you can get 10x optical point and shoot cameras for £150 ish. Yikes!
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This post means you should get a bridge camera.
 
might be an idea to go for a cheaper p&s compact that has all the modes on that dslrs have, auto, av, manual etc and learn on that to see what range of photography you prefer then get a dslr later on once you've figured out what range of lenses you'll want. you'll also still have a small compact to take around everywhere too. a lot of compacts can do macro "close up".

but if you're set on getting a dslr now then go for it :)
 
having read through this i'm inclined to agree with the general consensus that you should get a decent bridge camera (Fuji 6500 or similar) and learn about what all these numbers mean it should then put you in a position to make a much more educated decision about what if any DSLR to buy down the road.
 
I too would probably recommend a bridge like the Fuji 6500, have you actually seen the price of nearly all lenses for dSLR's. If you insist on a 400D (great camera btw) then just buy the 50mm F/1.8 lens and move closer/ further away from the subject you are trying to shoot instead of buying a cheap zoom.
 
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