Could someone give me some help with lenses?

Naffa · 4 Mar 2007 at 12:15

Basically, I don't really understand lenses properly. I've spent the last hour or so reading various pages on wiki and browsing e-tailors looking at various ones. My mum is buying a 400D tomorrow with a kit lens. I think she's going to get another one and asked me about it and I said I didn't really know.

After reading I think I've gathered that a lower focal length of say 28mm is better for subjects at long distance? As most wide angle lenses are less than that? And I also revealed that a telephoto lens with a 210mm focal length is better for zooming in close to a subject?

Hopefully I've got the hang of this and haven't just wasted an hour. :rolleyes:

But would someone be kind enough to spec my mum a lens that isn't too expensive, and will offer the chance to capture a variety of photograhs when paired with the kit lens?

Thanks,
Naffa

J1234 · 4 Mar 2007 at 12:26

Well personally, I think a 50mm f/1.8 is great for all round use, but you may benefit from a 17-40mm wide angle.

iGiDK · 4 Mar 2007 at 12:34

The kit lens covers the focal length 18-55mm

The widest angle is 18mm therefore around this focal length would be useful for taking landscape photos. As you move up towards 55mm these upper focal lengths are generally more suited towards portraiture / general walkabout shots.

If she's buying another lens, the focal lengths below 18mm gives you an ultra wide angle for landscape work and these lenses generally cost quite a lot of ££

The salesman will probably try to sell her a telephoto lens in a fancy bundle which gives a larger zoom than 55mm (prob either 70-200mm or 70-300mm) These zoom lenses are more suited for shooting subjects at a far distance e.g. shooting sports or wildlife

She really needs to decide what she's going to be shooting most of the time, if she's going to be out and about a lot looking for wildlife then I'd recommend the:

Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 APO DG MACRO

(note the emphasis on APO, there are two variants, the APO and non-APO, this one is optically superior than its cheaper non-APO counterpart - and optically superior to the Canon 75-300mm lens which is in the same price bracket)

Another popular option is the 50mm f/1.8 which is a sharp lens at a very nice price

Johnny|lucidcomposure · 4 Mar 2007 at 13:04

Here you go Naffa.

http://www.usa.canon.com/html/eflenses/lens101/focallength/index.html

That shows a scene covered by most comon focal lengths starting at the widest and moving uptowards a telephoto lens.

The camera is stationary at the same place at each snap to show its focal length effect.

Naffa · 4 Mar 2007 at 13:20

Thanks for the replies.

That link was very very handy Fstop11.

I think she intends to take a lot of landscape shots, so I assume that a lower focal length would be better?

Johnny|lucidcomposure · 4 Mar 2007 at 13:24

naffa said:
I think she intends to take a lot of landscape shots, so I assume that a lower focal length would be better?

Landscape shots is all about getting as much scenary into the frame as possible (depending on your choice of landscape)
A wide angle lens is what you want. The bundled kit lens is 18mm - 55mm (18 = wide 55 = slight telephoto zoom)

Thats the focal range of that lens so it is actually a wide angle lens and probably enough to start out with. The reason you would upgrade this lens is because it is the absolute basic and its quality is limited, as too is build quality.

You can get wider lenses than 18mm but these are more pricey. I have the 17 - 40 L which is a great quality zoom but its only 1mm wider than the 18 - 55. I also have the 10 - 22 which is 8mm wider than the kit lens and this is about £400 and its also regarded as an ultra wide angle lens.

Most DSLRs actually have a crop factor to take in mind so most of the lenses you can buy arent actually performing to their manufactured focal lengh. But this is the way the camera is designed and not the lens. The only option to correct this is to buy a full frame Dslr but they are very expensive.

What this means is that your actually getting more focal range than what is stated. If you bought a 50mm lens it would become a 85mm lens due to the 1.6x crop factor to be added on. So every lens gains more length but looses it at the wide end.

!!!This can be very confusing to new people so please ignore it if you dont understand!!!!