DawnM Loc: Arkansas

I am a complete neophyte with digital photography, so please talk to me nicely, but not over my head.

I don’t remember a point in my childhood when I didn’t have my faithful little Pentax K-1000 35mm with me. But when digital took over I gave up and never pursued any kind of advanced knowledge in photography. I recently decided to fix that and bought myself a little Canon. I love it, but having never learned much about different lenses I find myself with several but completely unsure what for. In my limited experiments I have found the 35mm is my favorite, but that might be because it is the only one I used when I was a kid.

I took some online classes and they went over the best lenses for a variety of circumstances but it is way too much for my age addled brain to retain. I was hoping there was a cheat sheet somewhere online, but what I am gathering is there’s a fair bit of personal preference in which lens to use. So... advice on how to choose? Is it all about how wide you are looking to go or are there other things to consider when selecting the correct lens? Is it in my head when I think my dedicated lenses seem to do better with light? The colors seem truer to me, but the difference is not anything I can put a finger on...

Anyway.... I know I’m ignorant. Be gentle. 🙂

kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

Welcome. You can have fun while learning.

BebuLamar

Why don't you get a full frame DSLR with the lens of same focal length as your K1000. You can then start using exactly the way you use your 35mm.

jdubu Loc: San Jose, CA

Welcome to the forum. Everyone starts at the beginning, so no problems.

What Canon and lenses do you have now? What do you like to shoot? If you can work it out, post some of your favorite shots you've taken and what it was you like about them. The more information you give us, the more we can help.

LWW Loc: Banana Republic of America

Assuming you have s crop sensor, a 35mm lens is a close approximation of a human eye’s perspective.

Want to see as if you could cut the distance in half, use a 70 ... and so on.

Want a point of view as if you were twice as far away, get an 18 ... and so on.

This is why the 18-70 zoom range is so popular ... or the the 28-100ish in film days, you can be optically ‘mobile’ rapidly.

I hope this helps.

LWW Loc: Banana Republic of America

I don’t think they asked how to scrap the money they’ve already spent.

IMHO the only reason a beginner should trade up is that their current DSLR has been mastered and will no longer do what they need/want it to do.

BebuLamar

Op don't know how to use his DSLR so I suggest something that closest to his old camera. A full frame, no crop factor. Whatever focal length he used to use, he use the same.
Actually I was going to suggest a Nikon Df and Nikon AI lenses. It would be as close as his K1000 as possible.

DawnM Loc: Arkansas

Thanks all. No, I can’t trade up right now. Just not financially viable, and the camera I have now seems perfectly sufficient for my current needs. I’m not looking to become a pro. I’m just looking to enjoy myself. I read that the crop factor would throw me off some. I’ve been adding lenses as I find them discounted or used. I currently have a 50mm, a 35mm, a 24mm, a 75-300, and the stock lens (18-55). I mostly take pictures of nature. A lot of landscapes, but I would some day like to learn wildlife photography. I’m also a crazy dog lady, and my dachshunds find themselves in front of the camera a lot.

jdubu Loc: San Jose, CA

You have what you need for gear to learn with now. I assume your camera body is a Rebel series? Don't worry about the crop factor at this point. It has nothing to do with learning about photography and exposure.
Go on line and look for YouTube videos about exposure triangle and get a good basic understanding of how shutter speed, aperture and ISO affect exposure and composition first. You might be confused about how aperture works, it confused me when I started, but you will get the principle and then it will all fall into place. Probably sooner than it did for me!

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Welcome to the forum.
The K-1000 was a nice film camera!
Yes, everyone definitely has their own personal preference for lenses!!!
I mostly just use an 18-200 as my walk-around lens. It's wide enough on my crop sensor and allow me to crop in camera; and of course the 200. With my Ftb and AE-1 I had about six lenses. Not any more, I want to keep things simple. The zoom does well for me. I also have a 50mm for low light.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Only if you think about it.
I don't think about it. (My camera is a 1.6 crop.)
I just look through the viewfinder and see what is there and work with that. I usually compose (primary concern) with the zoom then shoot. I don't find out what the focal length of a shot may have been set to until later. Most times I don't care.

PHRubin Loc: Nashville TN USA

WELCOME TO UHH!

What is the model # of your camera (leave off the EOS)? If it starts with a T (like T7i) it is a crop camera. All that means is the sensor is smaller than a 35mm negative. So any lens on it appears to funtion of the focal length (like 50mm) times 1.6 as it did on your k-1000. 50mm X 1.6 = 80mm. The image is effectively blown up by a factor of 1.6, or you appear that much closer.

If you don't need museum quality, many of us like to use a zoom lens that covers both wide angle and telephoto rather than many single focal length (prime) lenses. I use a Sigma 18-300mm for that purpose, but the 18-200 is fine as well.

DawnM Loc: Arkansas

Yes, it’s the Rebel T6. It’s all the camera I need/ can afford right now.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Learn all you can about it, it should do well for you.
(I'm still using a T1i )

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

I see in a later post your camera is the T6 - this is a good solid basic camera. Lenses 18-55 good for general purposes and walking around (equal to 28 to 88 on your film camera), 24 mm decent semi-side, 35 mm on the T6 it is the same as a 50 on your film camera-roughly the same angle of view as the eye when looking straight ahead, 50 mm (I will guess it is probably an f/1.8 so for dim light) and the field of view of an 80 on your old film camera-considered about the ideal for portraits of your friends and those dachshunds. The 75-300, well they made a bunch of different models ranging from OK to pretty good and 300 mm is the least recommended by most for wildlife and birds.

You have everything from 18 to 300 covered and should now concentrate on learning to use them. then you can decide if and which other lenses or other accessories you want to acquire in the future.

Online tutorials and a good basic book or two*, maybe find a photo club or class at a local adult school or community college will all be good ideas and helpful.

Most will say start with Peterson's "Understanding Exposure" and it is very good, but my favorite is "How to Create Stunning Digital Photography" by Tony Northrup (Author), Chelsea Northrup (Editor) a husband and wife team. If you get it as an e-book (Kindle or Nook about $10 and the reading app for your computer is free if you don't have an e-reader) Besides the book itself they have over 14 hours of video tutorials linked to the book and they update them regularly.

Then there are the people of the UHH. Most are helpful and understanding with a great deal of help and knowledge to give out.