Lens advice for Canon 700D

nantucket66 · 2 Jun 2019 at 16:31

I have a Canon 700D, it doesn't get a crazy amount of use, but I do want to use it more.

I have the standard 18-55 kit lens and the 50mm 1.8mm lens.

The camera is used indoors only, no people are in my photographs, just objects - largely hi-fi, electronics and gadgets. Sometimes rooms are not great light wise and I want to keep things natural, so no flash ideally.

I have a half decent tripod and I typically use that with a timer and get pretty decent shots

But - if I wanted to get better quality photographs how much money would I need to spend on a new lens?

Difficult to measure by how much I want them to be better I guess, but can you buy for example a better 18-55 lens? That lens is fine for me from a focal point of view, but if I could find one that worked better in lower light condition or simply enabled better shots I'd be happy. I don't mind looking at used.

The 50mm lens takes good shots but a lot of the time I simply can't it use due to lack space to get in the right angle etc.

I don't want to replace the camera.

Any pointers?

UnworthyBean · 2 Jun 2019 at 16:46

nantucket66 said:
But - if I wanted to get better quality photographs how much money would I need to spend on a new lens?
Any pointers?

The 50mm 1.8 lens you have is an excellent lens, I'd argue probably one of the best at crop sensor sizes so you probably won't get much better without going full frame and spending silly money. The 18-55mm though is probably letting you down.

nantucket66 said:
The 50mm lens takes good shots but a lot of the time I simply can't it use due to lack space to get in the right angle etc.

A 35mm would probably be better suited to your requirements. Depending on how much you use/need the zoom, maybe get rid of both lenses and get a 35mm 1.8. Fantastic lens and the angle should be more suited to what you need.

Other than that, maybe ditch just the 18-55mm and go for a 24-70mm if you still need the zoom. Both the Canon and Tamron 2.8 should see you much better than the kit lens.

*This is my two pence anyway. I'm far from a pro photography and there might be better suggestions from some of the pros on here.

nantucket66 · 2 Jun 2019 at 17:08

UnworthyBean said:
The 50mm 1.8 lens you have is an excellent lens, I'd argue probably one of the best at crop sensor sizes so you probably won't get much better without going full frame and spending silly money. The 18-55mm though is probably letting you down.

It's a great lens and it definitely takes better images compared to the 18-55, but due to no zoom it is sometimes difficult/impossible to use it, I literally may not have enough space to back up to take the shot I want, this obviously varies from room to room and shot to shot.
But having a zoom (of better quality than I am used to) is important. A fixed 24mm or 35mm would probably be a good balance, that and the 50mm would be enough possibly. Presuming a 24/35 would take better images like the 50 does compared to kit lens??

I am tempted to keep my 18-55 on only 24 or 35 for a week and see how I go.

sHo0sH · 2 Jun 2019 at 18:36

Are you doing close up shots at all?
Maybe some macro extensions for the 50mm might breathe some new life into it?

Columbo · 2 Jun 2019 at 19:12

The Canon 10-18mm STM is an awesome lens and cheap as chips used.

nantucket66 · 2 Jun 2019 at 19:33

sHo0sH said:
Are you doing close up shots at all?
Maybe some macro extensions for the 50mm might breathe some new life into it?

Some close ups, but not loads. Probably 1/4 of all images.

steve5424 · 2 Jun 2019 at 20:24

nantucket66 said:
It's a great lens and it definitely takes better images compared to the 18-55, but due to no zoom it is sometimes difficult/impossible to use it, I literally may not have enough space to back up to take the shot I want, this obviously varies from room to room and shot to shot.
But having a zoom (of better quality than I am used to) is important. A fixed 24mm or 35mm would probably be a good balance, that and the 50mm would be enough possibly. Presuming a 24/35 would take better images like the 50 does compared to kit lens??

I am tempted to keep my 18-55 on only 24 or 35 for a week and see how I go.

The 50mm lense is fantastic and is more suited to portrait shots.

I use it a lot when doing parties and events with people. You do need plenty of room though.

A fixed focal lense will always be better than a multi range lense.

I do have a Tamron 70-300mm lense as well for really long zoom. It also has a macro mod for extreme close ups from quiete a long distance.

I love the 700D, had it since day of release.

Razor-BladE · 2 Jun 2019 at 21:13

If going fixed, I would go for the 24mm personally, for indoors I think 35mm would be a touch too long on a crop sensor.

If going for a zoom, for a relatively cheap upgrade, going secondhand could get you something like the Tamron 17-50mm VC 2.8 for not much.