Hi everyone,
Just in regards to a new budget lens for my canon eos 1000D (EF and EF-S Lenses), i was wondering if you had any ideas for lenses that i can maximise the usage of it for a variety of types of photography?
Any ideas would be welcome.
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Hi Alex what have you already got to use? Or do you mean you are going to buy one? I only have the 18-55, a 24-85, ( that I already had from a previous camera before digital) and the EF 75-300.
This gives me a good starting selection. I would love to have a longer lens but it is just not in the budget I am afraid.
Sunshine Coast Queensland
Hi Adrienne,
Ive got the standard 18-55MM and the EF 75-300MM.
I was thinking about getting the 75-200 IS so if i go birdwatching in a dark forest or dusk. Is that a good choice?
How much is that going to cost then? as I see no good reason to duplicate the same focal length when a tripod can do teh same thing ..... I personally ( and this is my own situation at the moment) would prefer to pout the money towards something longer
Sunshine Coast Queensland
Oh nothing over $500.
Buy a decent tripod and get a good flash then and save up till later for a better lens is my vote. You cant buy anything much different to what you have unless you want to spend a bit more. Each to their own though Alex as you may have shakier hands than me LOL ....I cant imagine it though at your age.
Sunshine Coast Queensland
Hi QLDBird, I had a 1000 and alas it was ruined in the rain a few months back. As was my 70-300 Canon lens, sa I tried a Tamron lens, same lens, different maker, but a fair amount cheaper. Also, worth finding a shop that will let you test your lens first, maybe the shop you bought your camera from?
I've succumbed to the birding bug!
Alice Springs, NT
I'm with birdie on this one i would put the money towards a descent flash and maybe a flash extender
i cant see any point in getting a 200mm when you already have a 300mm
most birders drool over 600mm lenses that cost more than a small car and still put 1.4 TC s on them !
I have not had much luck with tamron lenses!
I use a old sigma 300f4 and a couple of TCs and a mate uses a sigma 150-500mm both were purchased on ebay for less than half there list price,or just keep saving until your dream lens comes up at the right price
Sparrow did you see his pics of a BIF??? He obviously doesn't even need IS ...bugger these young ones and their talents LOL
Sunshine Coast Queensland
I liked the one of the Bush stone-curlew!
Its great to see so much talent in so many young photographers!
Here is a WARNING , and a lesson to learn for everyone!!! If you buy a SONY (anything) on the internet, that comes from Hong Kong,as we did, and it breaks, do NOT expect Sony to honour the WARRANTY !!! We had arguments with Sony Australia, in no way will they do it. If we want the camera to be looked at, we will have to pay for the repairs. The only way to avoid any problems, would be to take out an INTERNATIONAL WARRANTY ! Keep that in mind, when buying on the net, might be cheep, but could cost more in the end. (so, Sony isn't Sony???)
M-L
That is very old news to those of us associated with the industry Araminta. What you need to understand is that in Asia in particular , products can be sold without a warranty ...meaning they are cheaper. Canon has the same policy ... but if you buy from a reputable Australian dealer ..it will ALWAYS have an international warranty..... and every time I hear about people buying stuff over the net especially from Hong Kong ..I am wondering if they are aware of this fact. There are many reasons for their ability to keep the price down and it is not always just the exchange rate .
Anyway..... buy Australian and keep jobs ...what is wrong with that? And for those of you that think the Australian dealers are making huge mark ups on your cheaper cameras..... I have news for you unless things have changed greatly over the last ten years!
Sunshine Coast Queensland
....next question is, it's still a Sony, isn't it??? Couldn't be a cheaper version/fake? Hope not! I can't say anything, was a birthday present!
M-L
It could be anything but it is more than likely a Sony! In the bad old days HK had a bad name for removing the guts from stuff and replacing it with fakes, but I think we have moved on from there hopefully with China bringing the prices down everywhere by manufacturing just about everything LOL.
Sunshine Coast Queensland
Aramainta sorry to here you've been burnt,hong kong is a mine feild but be warned the grey market products are avalible in Australia as well,relabling, selling referbished as new,selling cheap imports without waranty,the old saying if it sounds to good to be true then it probably is has never been more true!
Funny about Birdie's last comment about China manufacturing everythin. My Phillipino colleague always says that: God created man and everything else is Made in China. LOL!!!
Much of Canon's amateur range was being made on China when I left, but the Pro gear still had the Made in japan stamp....hope it still has !! Canon even used to make the lenses for Sony video cameras in those days M-L...there are always contra deals struck like that.
Sunshine Coast Queensland
Very funny Akos! Adrienne, Sony still has some "Karl Zeiss" lenses, mine is! Not all that bad, is it? As you colleague said... most is made in China. (All my Miele is made in Germany, I made sure of that). LOL
M-L
Yes everything is made in China including most of the people!
If the budget allows for it, the Sigma 50-500, Sigma 150-500 or Tamron 200-500 might be worth looking at. You might also care to consider what mounting systems can be adapted to Canon with older Pentax or Nikon long tele lenses.
Oh yes, xjjohnno, don't we all know, what we could get, if we had MONEY !!! I'm not so sure you have seen, how fantastic the photos that Alex takes are, taken with what he has. But, we can all dream ??? I would buy........Hmmmm !? I don't have a cool $ 1000 (or more) in my pocket, and I don't think Alex would! Sorry, if this sounds harsh, but reality sometimes is !
M-L
If the budget is such an issue then best I don't list all my longer lenses which just keep following me home.
Older lenses worth considering, old 500mm Russian mirror lenses, they come in M42 mount but there is an adapter to Canon. There are f6.3 being 3M-6A F6.3 and a f8 versions being 3M-5CA F8. What you can expect from the 3M-6A. http://www.xjgarage.org/photos/july2011/slides/KFYV3014.JPG
The old Tamron SP300 f2.8 in adaptall 2 mount, with decent shopping around can be had for $350, add the adaptall 2x teleconverter and you are withing budget. Tamrom made an adaptall mount 500mm f8 mirror lens that produces lovely results. Pentax made a quite decent 400mm f5.6 lens in what they call the PKA mount, $400 but add the cost of an adapter.
New decent longer lens cost, that's the sad reality and cheaper new lens buys need to be dealt with a degree of scepticism.
Come on guys, made in China isnt a bad thing (not in the past 10yrs anyway). Most reputable brands make much of their stuff in China, and it will be made to the specification requested.
Chinese manufacturers are capable of matching quality of other reputable manufacturers around the world. Its unfortunate that new players in manufacturing try to do it cheaper by sending offshore, but fail to properly specify each aspect of the work and then claim all Chinese manufacturers cant meet quality or safety standards (although some of the smaller Chinese manufact. really cannot, but thats true anywhere).
I used to work for Apple engineering and much of Apple kit is made in China, as is Dell equipment and others. If there ever is a known issue (manufacturing or design), most reputable brands will cover this with either a factory repair or warranty replacement anyway.
I know a couple good dealers in Hong Kong and I buy my lenses from them. Why, because I bought a CarlZeiss lens from them for AU$1400 (yes its real and authentic) and cheapest i could get in Australia is AU$2300. I dont know what the AU$900 margin is for, but I work hard for my money and dont wish to give it away. Besides after saving $900 that will pay for pretty much any repair required and still leave money in my pocket.
A point in case, I have a couple Tamron 17-50mm F2.8 lens, one for my Sony and one for My Nikon (identical except for the mount type). The Sony one is made in Japan, the Nikon one is made in China, both perform identically for all intensive purposes and visually look identical as far as quality of manufacture is concerned.
Knockoffs are a different story of course.
_______________
I love photography.
Yes Wolfy, my Sony Lens is CarlZeiss. And I have an update on my Sony camera, the Sony people in the City didn't want to fix, because it was bought in Hong Kong,we sent it back to H K. They rang us, and are either repairing or replacing it.It will just take a bit longer.And no, they are not Knockoffs.
The only thing, that worries an old Socialist like me is, we are effectively supporting the exploitation of poor chineese workers, who work for very little money, and make Overseas Manufakturers rich! If nothing else, it is a moral issue!?
M-L
I did a strange thing today, went into the camera shop and asked about some of the above. The 75-200 lens glass is, according to camerashopman, far superior in quality and thus, costs more, but you get better photos. But really, it all comes down to your budget at the moment, and save for the better lenses to dream about for now and buy when you can afford them. so the main thing is the glass used in the lens, not the focal length etc. He said the 75-200 IS would be way better than the standard Canon 75-300. Probably goes for all makes, Nikon, Panasonic etc.
I've succumbed to the birding bug!
Alice Springs, NT
@Araminta: If its a moral issue for you, then I suspect you shouldnt be buying the camera at all. Some of the stuff which has a Made in Japan stamp on it still has Chinese manufactured bits in it.
For me its not a moral issue, I think within 25years a lot of that exploitation will be replaced with a burgeoning middle class. Manufacturing will move elsewhere and some other country will hopefully develop a bit quicker and we will see China become another global investor.
We have already seen a number of cases where the exploitation set working condition below min standard, got reported to the world, the multinational investigated to save face and was corrected with help of the Government.
@rjwaring: Generally the bigger the zoom range, the more difficult it is to get great performance at reasonable prices, so compromises are usually made which will effect image quality. Usually softness at edges, lack of contrast, visible vignetting, chromatic aberation issues or combinations of these.
This is why generally prime lenses will out perform zoom lenses, as there is no compromise required, but also means you need a bag full of lenses to match the zoom for function.
My decision process goes like this;
If you can afford the better lens, buy it.
If not and you can get by without it, save for the better one.
If you require it to get the shots you want, then get the cheaper option till you can afford the better option.
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I love photography.
rjwaring, better pictures rely as much on the user of the lens as the attached lens. Salesmen will be salesmen after all and do need weekly sales figures to keep in work. I suppose he doesn't go chasing bird pics. A wren taken with a 200mm lens versus a lomger lens is going to look substantially smaller.
One of the annoying things with Canon is they've kept moving the goal posts with mounting systems taking away the potential of using older and longer lenses that can produce some seriously decent results on a more modern camera.
I regularly visit some of the forums dedicated to older Manual focus lenses and am continually gobsmacked by the results some folk get from those lenses. Perhaps a bit of research might be in order to find some of those classic gems. Granted you don't have auto focus, but auto focus can be notorious at focussing at the wrong blade of glass. You also get a greater control of the composition of your photo.
Sorry I just had to add to this....get over the Canon moving the goal post thing! They did it some 15plus years ago and with outstanding results...why do you think they led the world for the last 20 years in International sports and wildlife photography? Technological progress is always going to inconvenience the dinosaur in us and I sure as hell don't expect my car parts to fit the models from 30 years ago. The EF mount system has been monumental in allowing faster lenses and give apertures that were only dreamed of when coupled with the speed of the AF system to result in stunning images. Electronics was the way of the future . I myself have a 75-300 as you know. I hate it yet I love it ...because...... it is all I have. Without it there would be no images from em here on this forum and.... while some may think that could be a good thing :')...
I think they have been fun and have shown that the user matters first and foremost . Young Owen is doing a great job and I would never listen to a camera salesperson who debates stuff in a shop till I knew which lens they had in stock and how much he was earning to push that particular brand. Sorry but having worked in them..I am a cynic.
That is my lot for the week hope it doesn't offend anyone
Cheers
Birdie
Sunshine Coast Queensland
Birdie, LMAO, (if I can say this here?) you little cynic!!!A cynic, who takes wonderful photos, nobody here wants to miss!! And you are right Owen is the bright future in bird photography.M-L
M-L
WOW birdie they really did light your fuse LMAO
like you i was around during the transition into AF and electronics in cameras and i remember like everything new a lot of photographers didn't trust it they thought electronics were no match for the human eye and experience.
And most camera makers tried to have 50c each way and make AF lenses based on the mounts they already had.
Only canon had the stones enough to say no this is the future and completely redesign there mount system for AF in the short term it probably did cost them,but in the long term there foresight has made them the market leader and the first choice for most pro's who need long fast lenses.
I use nikon because it best suited my needs at the time when i first went digital and even though i can use old MF lenses on my new D7000 im way to lazy to do so!
If i had known back then the direction my career was going to take i would probably be using canon as well.
Oh boy, I love this, as well you don't have any weapons!! LOL, just had a closer look under my Sony camera, Bought in Hong Kong. The stamp states: Made in Thailand!! There you go!
M-L
Both my D200 and D7000 have made in Thailand stamps as do my two kit lenses!
All my other lenses are made in Japan
even my wife's panasonic fz100 is made in Japan
so not everything not made in China after all !!
....just looked, my husband's Pentax K-5, is made in the Phillipines ! But bought in Melbourne.There you go, didn't even know.
M-L