Murray Loc: New Westminster

She already has that.

cmurf831

I had a k1000 and loved it and purchased another Pentax k30 and can use all the old lenses..It is a great
camera but everyone is about Sony, Nikon and Canon LOL

LMurray Loc: North Orange County, CA

Did you read her post? She has a digital camera and lenses already.

Pepsiman Loc: New York City

You have or had a Pentax. You should have bought another Pentax DSLR so that you could use the lenses..

anotherview Loc: California

I presume by "little Canon," you mean a Canon camera with a cropped sensor. As an illustration, a cropped sensor gives an image 1.6 times bigger than a standard 35mm lens, to produce a field of view of 56mm.

This camera also goes by the designation "APS-C."

Anyway, you want a general purpose lens, I sense, for now. Get a zoom lens with a 17 to 70mm focal length range. Sigma makes one and sells it at a reasonable price.

This lens on your present camera will produce an effective focal length of 27mm to 112mm. This range comes close to the 24-105mm lens which most consider a general purpose lens on a full frame camera.

With this lens, you can do 95 percent of the photography you will face.

As an alternative, consider the Canon 17-85mm zoom lens. It costs less. Read a review of it here: https://kenrockwell.com/canon/lenses/17-85-is.htm

Note that I use the Canon T7i with the Canon 17-85mm lens mounted on it as my walking around camera, with very good results.

Of course, if you branch out to, say, macro photography, then you may wish to buy a lens for that purpose.

But please consider learning your digital camera with one lens until you sense the need to go beyond this combination.

Take a workshop or two in DSLR camera operation. Take a workshop or two in photo editing. These two workshops will give you a foundation and confidence in doing photography.

Study and learn composition. Exposure and subject remain important. But take it to the bank that a well-composed photograph will elevate your photography most dramatically.

Good luck.

dragonlady9947

Here is my suggestion: keep it simple. If your camera manual is online, download it, print it, and put it in a binder. If not online, keep your manual close. Never mind about sensors or any of the other stuff. Take one lens, put it on your camera and spend some time taking pictures. Try taking pictures on auto and try the different buttons on the camera. Read the manual and spend some time taking pictures. Then do the same with your other lenses. It’s digital so you can spend as much time as you want taking pictures. As time goes on, and you are comfortable with the camera-you will decide if there are other lenses you may want. (I started with an AE 1 in the ‘70s-developed my own and had a color processor. Sold quite a few of my shots-then bang-couldn’t find film so I dragged myself to digital-bought a 50 D and started over. I now have 6 lenses and bought a new 5D MK IV. ) The best way to learn is to get out there and take pictures. Tons of pictures.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

I suggest you head over to Amazon and order two books:

1. Bryan Peterson's "Understanding Exposure". This is a great overview of how modern cameras work, regardless of brand. There's lots of discussion about lenses, how and why to use them, too. https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Exposure-Fourth-Photographs-Camera/dp/1607748509/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=understanding+exposure&qid=1552330635&s=gateway&sr=8-2

2. Choose one of the guide books specifically for the Rebel T6 (EOS 1300D). These guides expand upon what's in the user manual and also contain good info about lenses and other accessories. I see several available guides... I'm familiar with similar guides from David Taylor and David Busch, can recommend them, though other authors might be fine, too. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=canon+T6&i=stripbooks&ref=nb_sb_noss_2

Speaking of the user manual... not sure what came with your camera. Many come with a heavily abridged printed manual now, at best... Some don't come with a printed manual at all. Whatever you've got, I'd recommend going to the Canon USA website, look up the support section for the Rebel T6 and download the free PDF user manual you'll find there. This will assure you have a complete copy.

The Rebel T6 has a lot of automation to make shooting pretty simple. Use that and learn other, more advanced techniques a little at a time, when you feel ready.

It is a "crop sensor" camera, meaning that it uses a sensor that's smaller than the image area of your old Pentax film camera. The effect of this is that lens focal lengths will "act differently" than they did on the Pentax. Focal lengths are still the same, they just behave differently because the camera only uses the central portion of the image circle the lens produces.

You mention liking a 35mm lens on your Pentax. On the T6 a lens with 21 or 22mm focal length would give the most similar angle of view. Your 18-55mm "kit" lens includes that focal length. Or, Canon sells a rather inexpensive, ultra compact "pancake" EF-S 24mm f/2.8 STM lens that comes close too. That lens is on sale right now for $129.

You also mention taking scenic shots and may want a wider lens for that purpose. The EF-S 18-55mm sounds like your widest presently. 18mm is only moderately wide on a T6, approx. equivalent to a 28 or 29mm lens on your old Pentax. Canon offers one of the most affordable "ultrawide" zooms with their EF-S 10-18mm IS STM for about $279 right now. (Canon also sells three other 24mm lenses, as well as a number of zooms.... they have a huge selection of lenses to choose among.)

You can compare with lenses you enjoyed using on your Pentax by dividing or multiplying by a "lens factor" of 1.6. This will tell you what would be equivalent on your T6. For example, a 50mm lens served as a "normal" or "standard" on your Pentax SLR (i.e., not wide or telephoto). The same 50mm will "act like a short telephoto" (similar to what an 80mm lens would have done on your Pentax.... 50 x 1.6 = 80mm).

Doing the math to compare lenses like that is only necessary if you are trying to replicate what you're accustomed to from using that old film camera. If you've forgotten or if you never really established preconceived notions of how any given focal length behaved on your film SLR... then you really don't need to get out your calculator. All you need to do is learn how various focal lengths work on your new camera. You've got virtually every focal length from 18mm to 300mm... so can always zoom to a particular focal length to see if it accomplishes what you want.

Don't be too quick to add lenses like those above. First "do all you can" with what you've already got, since you've already have a pretty wide ranging kit of lenses.... Only consider adding if and when you find your current lenses can't accomplish something you're trying to do. There are other accessories that actually might serve you better. Only you can say what those might be, but just for example... an accessory flash is far better than the one built into any camera (more powerful, faster recycling, has it's own power supply, etc.). Or, decent quality tripod can be a good investment for many people. While a tripod certainly helps make for steadier shots, it also forces one to slow down and work more deliberately, thoughtfully and carefully. Another thing that can be really helpful is a versatile image editing program such as Adobe Elements. Finally, I also recommend a computer monitor calibration device, because most peoples' monitors are way too bright and don't render color all that accurately, which cause them to misadjust their images.

Hope this helps! Get out, shoot, make mistakes, learn and have fun with your DSLR!

aellman Loc: Boston MA

Read his post. He is a beginner. He needs a full
frame camera about as much as he needs a 600mm lens and a
$2000 tripod with a fluid head. He doesn't even understand
his lenses.Not only that, but consider how many serious
experienced photographers use crop frame cameras. It is
ridiculous to recommend a full frame camera to any beginner. >>Alan

aellman Loc: Boston MA

A great way is to get outside and experiment with your lenses with different kinds of subjects. It shouldn't take too long to appreciate the characteristics of each one and when would be the best situations in which to use them. >Alan

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Read the OP's post. DawnM may be a she. Just sayin'

BebuLamar

A beginner who used a 35mm SLR as a child? If that was true then I was a beginner when I bought my first DSLR which is a FF model a few years ago. I used the 35mm SLR for 40 years but until then never a DSLR.