Newbie Needing info on a Canon Lens (Page 2): Nancy, everyone is trying to help. But I think they are firing too many different options at you too soon. I will get back to you some...

lighthouse Loc: No Fixed Abode

Nancy, everyone is trying to help.
But I think they are firing too many different options at you too soon.
I will get back to you some time in the next couple of days to try to provide you with some background so that you can sort of understand their advice and recommendations.

3Nancy3 Loc: Tillsonburg, Ontario, Canada

CHG_CANON wrote:

Nancy - take the suggestions and look to http://www.the-digital-picture.com/ for reviews of each lens suggestion. For a Canon brand you'll probably want to look at the EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM. In the US a used copy can be found for less than $400.

Oh thank you so much for that and the link!!!

3Nancy3 Loc: Tillsonburg, Ontario, Canada

Whuff wrote:

If you can afford it the best Canon lenses are their L series. Excellent crisp sharp lenses but to get the focal length you want, I suspect you'd be looking at $1000 +. If your budget is more modest as it is for most of us the 55 - 250mm I referred to earlier will be much less. If you buy directly from Canon, you can get refurbished Canon lenses at less than new prices and you can be assured they will be good products. I just bought a 50mm 1.8 prime as a refurb. It works great.

Walt

Holy cow!! I never would have thought of refurbished lenses!!lol Thats awesome and a good way for people starting out to possibly get something better for less... Love it Thanks tons!!!

dooragdragon Loc: Alma , Arkansas

One thing no one has mentioned is the need for a good sturdy tripod once you start getting into the larger zoom lens (50-500mm, 150-500mm etc as they are quite heavy to hand hold, so figure to add around $300.00 for a good tripod along with the cost of the lens.
Look into the 18-270-18-300mm as well they are light and offer a wider choice as a general all purpose lens.
Pete

ptcanon3ti Loc: NJ

3Nancy3 wrote:

Holy cow!! I never would have thought of refurbished lenses!!lol Thats awesome and a good way for people starting out to possibly get something better for less... Love it Thanks tons!!!

here is a refurbished 55-250 that Wuff referred to from a trusted seller If you are outside of NY state there is no tax to you. These lenses are sharp, have good image stabilization...and they are very inexpensive. as you can see if you click the link.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/used/543923/Canon_2044B002AA_EF_S_55_250mm_f_4_5_6_IS.html

lighthouse Loc: No Fixed Abode

Nancy, there is a wealth of information on the net that can help you as you start out, (including UHH).
One site that I often recommend for its simplicity in keeping things understandable but not overly technical is
http://digital-photography-school.com/digital-photography-tips-for-beginners/

Whuff Loc: Marshalltown, Iowa

3Nancy3 wrote:

Wow! Thank you! Are them links for me to go to? lol I feel kind of lost... I think I understand what your saying ... thats sure a start!! lol So It really is an important decision.... I will need to know more about focal length... I think your telling me that between the two lenses you are blurry and missing out on some of your view? jeeeesh

No, i don't have any problem with blurry photos. Here is a video on focal length:http://www.photographycourses.biz/focal_length.html

I highly reccomend all the videos on this site for beginners. They taught me a lot when I was learning. It can seem overwhelming at first but I began less than 2 years ago and between the site I reccomended here and UHH I've learned a ton.

As far as the links below my messages - those are just the 2 sites on which I post some of my photography.

Walt

3Nancy3 Loc: Tillsonburg, Ontario, Canada

SharpShooter wrote:

Nancy, welcome to the Hog.
You'll get lots of help. I just want to make sure you are aware that it's possible that the things you're trying to focus on that you speak of you will actually not be able to focus on with anything. So you need to keep all this in perspective.
Describe exactly the kinds of things you are wishing to shoot. Or take some pictures with the lens you have and post them so we can SEE what you're trying to shot.
Again, welcome. ;-)
SS

Very smart SS-- Just off the top of my head here are a few things I wish to shoot---- I want to be able to take pics of alot of birds---- flowers--- mountains if I were in the rockies and the ocean waves ---people running--- I love to run but can't for a while or ever am not sure yet but taking pics of runners---ect Does this help or hinder?

3Nancy3 Loc: Tillsonburg, Ontario, Canada

boberic wrote:

OK I think that you should learn the basics of your current gear. Spend lots of time shooting with your camera. Read , about exposure and composition. There is all kinds of free tutorials available. I think Peterson's book about the exposure triangle is a good place to start. Take your time and have fun.

Thank you for that .. This is a wonderful learning experience already!!! Wow!!!

3Nancy3 Loc: Tillsonburg, Ontario, Canada

lighthouse wrote:

Nancy, everyone is trying to help.
But I think they are firing too many different options at you too soon.
I will get back to you some time in the next couple of days to try to provide you with some background so that you can sort of understand their advice and recommendations.

Thank you so very much!!!! Is soooo appreciated!!

3Nancy3 Loc: Tillsonburg, Ontario, Canada

dooragdragon wrote:

One thing no one has mentioned is the need for a good sturdy tripod once you start getting into the larger zoom lens (50-500mm, 150-500mm etc as they are quite heavy to hand hold, so figure to add around $300.00 for a good tripod along with the cost of the lens.
Look into the 18-270-18-300mm as well they are light and offer a wider choice as a general all purpose lens.
Pete

Wow!! Yes! I hadn't even thought about a tripod I did a wee bit but once I got the camera... My mind turned to mush lol and there it kind of sits... Thank you for the reminder of the tripod!!! And the lens info.. I didn't think of weight!!!

Whuff Loc: Marshalltown, Iowa

dooragdragon wrote:

One thing no one has mentioned is the need for a good sturdy tripod once you start getting into the larger zoom lens (50-500mm, 150-500mm etc as they are quite heavy to hand hold, so figure to add around $300.00 for a good tripod along with the cost of the lens.
Look into the 18-270-18-300mm as well they are light and offer a wider choice as a general all purpose lens.
Pete

This is correct and a good tripod is very good advice. With that said a 55-250mm or a 70-300mm can easily be used handheld as long as your shutter speed is at minimum set to a reciprocal of your focal length. Example: if your focal length is set at 250mm you want at a minimum a shutter speed of 1/250, focal length 200mm - minimum of 1/200. This rule of thumb is necessary to eliminate movement due to camera shake.

Walt

Whuff Loc: Marshalltown, Iowa

3Nancy3 wrote:

Very smart SS-- Just off the top of my head here are a few things I wish to shoot---- I want to be able to take pics of alot of birds---- flowers--- mountains if I were in the rockies and the ocean waves ---people running--- I love to run but can't for a while or ever am not sure yet but taking pics of runners---ect Does this help or hinder?

Yes, this is very helpful. For any landscape shots a good tripod and remote shutter release are very helpful so keep those in mind. For bird shots you may want to look at much longer focal length lenses such as a 150-500mm or up to 600mm. Look at some of the bird pics that get posted here on the hog. Most will be taken with the longer lens.

Walt

3Nancy3 Loc: Tillsonburg, Ontario, Canada

Whuff wrote:

No, i don't have any problem with blurry photos. H... (show quote)

Thank you for the link... I do need to study up with tutorials and I will be starting that tomorrow You are right .. It sure is a tad overwhelming but I do have the time to put into it..... so will surly get busy.... This is what you can call overwhelming I have had the camera a week now and havn't put the software in my computer as the camera scares me lol So tomorrow I will get busy!! Thanks tons alt[/quote]

FredB Loc: A little below the Mason-Dixon line.

3Nancy3 wrote:

Hi there.... New to the site and trying to find my way around... I bought a Canon Rebel SL1 EOS 100D and it came with 18-55 Lens which isn't enough for any distance..... I am told that I shouldn't go too big as it has to do with the light getting in? Please be patient..I know nothing as yet ..lol My question is... What numbers should I be looking for in a lens? I am a newbie but I do need to be able to focus in on things in the distance and this lens just isn't going to do that.

1) when there are two numbers in a lens designation, such as "18-55" or "70-300", they refer to the lens's zoom range. The low number is the "wide end", the higher number the "telephoto" end. If you want to see and/or focus on stuff that is "far away", you need a lens with a high(er) telephoto number. Generally any lens that goes out to 250 or more is considered a telephoto lens. The drawback to a nice big telephoto lens is that they may not be able to focus on closer stuff.

Many telephotos are used for wildlife - birds, small animals, etc that are 'far away' compared to, say, a flower in your garden or your Aunt Mabel in the porch swing.

A lens with just ONE number is called a 'prime' lens, as it does not 'zoom' between wide and telephoto like a 55-250 lens or similar. Prime lenses USUALLY provide a slightly better image quality, but they are also sometimes more expensive. Some picture-takers will say to you, "Buy a prime lens and zoom with your feet" but that is not always good advice when it translates to "walk up closer to that grizzly bear".

The other set of numbers you often see are the maximum apertures available at the wide-angle and telephoto ends of the lens. For example, "f/4.5 - 5.6 100-400mm" is translated to mean "you can open up your aperture to a maximum of f/4.5 at 100mm and a maximum of f5.6 at 400mm".

What THAT means is that your aperture (the thing that lets in light) can open to f4.5 if the lens is at 100mm, but can only open to f5.6 when you're zoomed out at 400mm.

What THAT means is that the farther out you go, the more the light-gathering ability of your lens is LIMITED by how far open the aperture can get. When the light-gathering ability is limited, you need to leave the shutter OPEN for a longer length of time to compensate.

Remember, in aperture numbers, the higher the number, the smaller the opening. f/2 is REALLY BIG, f/22 is a little tiny hole.

In a perfect world, you could buy a lens that is an f/1.0 12-12000mm super dooper wide angle telephoto for about $87 brand new, but that ain't gonna happen.

It is always a compromise between cost and functionality. If you've got about 10 grand to drop on a lens, check out the Canon 1200mm beast. That's the one you see in the end zone of all the football games. Sports Illustrated and ESPN own them all. :)

More down to earth, a 70-300mm lens will be a good basic entry level piece of glass that you can probably get for under $300 or so. If you have about $800 to $1000 to spare, or you can successfully stick up your local 7-11 without being identified, the Canon 100-400mm lens is a fan favorite, and can be had now on eBay for a decent price, since the new Model II of this lens has just come out for $2000 and everybody who owns one of the older models is selling theirs to buy the new one. Don't be like arm-hair Rob Lowe, if you know what I mean.

The newish Tamron 150-600mm lens is also creating much buzz in the field, but they are fairly hard to find since evidently, Tamron makes them one at a time in some hut in the middle of Thailand.

Oh, and all the other nonsense you see with lens descriptions is usually just marketing BS, like "ED DO FS VS VC DI IS" and all that other crap. IS or VC is "Image Stabilization" or "Vibration Compensation", which won't matter to you since you'll be using a tripod, won't you? Nod your head 'yes'.

Most of the other crap has to do with coatings on the lens glass and or how many ball bearings there are in the zoom sleeve. Don't worry about it.