baad1 Loc: Western NY

I'm buying myself a Canon T2i this holiday season and am in a quandary of which lens or lenses I want with it. I'm torn between the package deal of the Canon 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 Standard Zoom Auto Focus Lens and the Canon 55-200mm f/4.5-5.6 EF II Lens or the single Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens.

I'm hoping the seasoned photo vets will give me some feedback on which would be the better choice. Money wise the prices are comparable so it comes down to the "bigger bang for the buck" choice. Thanks

dirtpusher Loc: tulsa oklahoma

what have you had in youre mind of photographs have been interested in getting Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens. will give biggst variety of types i think.


http://www.paragon-press.com/lens/lenchart.htm

dirtpusher Loc: tulsa oklahoma

mite look this over

http://www.uscoles.com/fstop.htm

JimH Loc: Western South Jersey, USA

The 18-55 and 55-250 (??) pair are relatively good quality, perfectly useful 'consumer' grade lenses, especially now that the 18-55 comes with Image Stabilization. I think you'll probably be happier with the pair, only because of the slight increase in total zoom coverage. On the other hand, if you really want "one lens to do it all", the 18-135 is very adequate.

All three are perfectly good glass to learn on. I have the 18-135 and it's not bad either. All three have their 'sweet spots' around which they perform very well, and all three, like most consumer lenses, tend to slip off the charts a bit if you stretch them to their limits. In other words, keep them between f/5.6 and f/18 and you'll do fine.

mjp

I'd suggets the 18-135mm. I bought a D90 a couple years ago because it came with an 18-105mm and really like the range. I've since bought a 55-300mm and a 35 mm f1.8. The more range you have the less often you have to change. Plus you never have the lens you want on the camera. 18-135mm is a nice range for most shots. If you go with the pair, it won't be long before you want a 300mm zoom. Once you get 300mm, you'll want 400mm. My camera bag is now 17 pounds, I miss the days of one lens and a flash in a smaller bag.

travlnman46 Loc: Yakima WA

Canon has a great website Under the Canon EOS Beginners FAQ III (Frequently Asked Questions) Lenses. They cover ever lens they make from the cheapest to their L line. All of it in simple understandable ratings along with explainations on the differences in the lens. I know when I bought my first telephoto lens I thought because I bought a 75-300 I had a better lens than a 70-300. I was wrong I found out the optical glass in the 75 -300 is inferior to the 70-300. Now my goal is to save my pennies and buy a 400 L series lens.

HughB Loc: Minneapolis MN

I just purchased a Tamron 18-270 All-purpose lens. I checked the user reviews in several sites and also at the camera store where I purchased it. The sales person had actually field tested it. Bottom line, after owning a number of different lenses over 30+ years, this one is excellent for the price. And I have owned Tamron lenses in the past but this is one that is all purpose from wide angle to zoom. Also it is quite compact and light weight. It' not that fast; only the standard f3.5. Look it up on the web.
I forgot to add that I have used it for the past 2 months: with grandchildren, landscapes, flowers, people. And we just returned from a week in Mexico with lots of sun and sand photos including sunsets and sunrises. I was very pleased.