a novice perplexed about lenses

[M.Lois]

Hi there.
I am looking to buy an EOS 10D and am a bit cofused about lenses.
I would appreciate any help one could offer.
I will be shooting some indoor stuff for my portfolio - I am an event florist.
I am also an artist and shoot mostly stationery compostions.
My questions are -

How important is USM?

When a lens is described in a listing as "wide angle" at 28mm isn't that roughly the equivalent of a 50mm? And a 50mm roughly a 75mm?

What do you think about the 50mm 1.8 II that is so inexpensive. Perhaps a good starter for what I'm doing?

I am however willing to pay quite a bit more, if I knew I was making the right choice.

Any suggestions on where to buy? I've looked at BH, Calumet, 42nd, Provantage.

THANKS!

[adegiulio]

Quick, read http://photonotes.org/articles/beginner-faq/lenses.html#categories

its an excellent FAQ covering everything about lenses.

[Scottes]

USM is nice for autofocusing IF it's ring USM. From what you mention for work you don't really need fast autofocus. It's generally desired for wildlife, birding, auto-sports - stuff with fast-moving objects.

The 10D has a 1.6 crop factor, so a 50mm becomes an equivalent 80mm, a 200mm becomes 320mm. I won't go into this further, as the explanation of this has been beaten to death many, many times.

50mm 1.8 is a very good lens, and at $70 it's a freaking great lens. Sounds like a very good 1st lens for you. However we'll have you buying $1500 "L" lenses by the time this thread is finished. :) OK, I'll mention them first: 17-40L for wide stuff, 24-70 L for covering all ranges that you mention, and the 600mm F4 for when you decide to try birding. (At about $6,000 I'm kidding of course.)

I only shop at B&H, though I'll do Adorama is they're out of stock and I can't wait.

Beyond that, the FAQ mentioned is excellent.

[IanD]

Canon lens buying tip......

Start with the white ones......... :lol: :mrgreen:

[PacAce]

Canon lens buying tip......

Start with the white ones......... :lol: :mrgreen:

Trivia question: Did you know that there are L lenses that are black????

Trivia question: Did you know that all L lenses have a RED ring at the front end of the lens?????

[IanD]

Canon lens buying tip......

Start with the white ones......... :lol: :mrgreen:

Trivia question: Did you know that there are L lenses that are black????

Trivia question: Did you know that all L lenses have a RED ring at the front end of the lens?????
Leo,
Some clown in Brooklyn tried to sell me a 14-500 F8 screwmount lens that he said was an "L" but that they had decided to paint the Red Line black so as to not attract attention to the lens. Hey, for $500 US with the adaptor tossed in for free, how could I resist?

[PacAce]

Hi there.
I am looking to buy an EOS 10D and am a bit cofused about lenses.
I would appreciate any help one could offer.
I will be shooting some indoor stuff for my portfolio - I am an event florist.
I am also an artist and shoot mostly stationery compostions.
My questions are -

How important is USM?

When a lens is described in a listing as "wide angle" at 28mm isn't that roughly the equivalent of a 50mm? And a 50mm roughly a 75mm?

What do you think about the 50mm 1.8 II that is so inexpensive. Perhaps a good starter for what I'm doing?

I am however willing to pay quite a bit more, if I knew I was making the right choice.

Any suggestions on where to buy? I've looked at BH, Calumet, 42nd, Provantage.

THANKS!

If you are going to be photographing flowers, a macro lens might be in order. Perhaps the EF 100/2.8 USM macro lens?

[PacAce]

Leo,
Some clown in Brooklyn tried to sell me a 14-500 F8 screwmount lens that he said was an "L" but that they had decided to paint the Red Line black so as to not attract attention to the lens. Hey, for $500 US with the adaptor tossed in for free, how could I resist?

Ian, I'd say you got a very good deal with that one. I had to pay $60 extra for the adaptor and not a very good one at that. The lens kept giggling around on adaptor. And on mine, the red ring had rubbed off so they put a red rubber bank in it's place. Better that way...I can remove the rubber bank if I don't people to know it's an L lens. And put it back on when I want to show it off to people on the know about L lenses.

:mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen:

[CyberDyneSystems]

Get the 50mm f/1.8.. it wil be very helpfull in low light.

The 100mm Macro is another great suggestion,. giving you the longer focal lenght and the extreme close up performance.

It doesn't sound like Macro is what you are doing mostly though,. so I defeinately think the 50mm f/1.8 is your best bet for starters! :)

[Scottes]

I'm not so sure that an "event florist" needs to be able to shoot at 1:1 reproduction.... Sounds more like M.Lois will be shooting floral displays, not floral pollen.

M will often have little control over *where* the shot can be taken from - since events can often be crowded - then a zoom is definitely in order.

So, M.Lois, will you be taking pictures in relatively low-light conditions such as a large hall, with many booths of displays, and narrow aisles? If so the 28-135 IS lens shown here (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=149629&is=USA) might be a very good choice for $400. Nice lens, large telephoto range, relatively wideangle to somewhat telephoto, portrait range is covered, the IS helps in low-light situations, and all for $400.

[timmyquest]

Quick, read http://photonotes.org/articles/beginner-faq/lenses.html#categories

its an excellent FAQ covering everything about lenses.

Thanks for the link, found out alot about flashes as well

[M.Lois]

thanks so much for the responses
I will be shooting the flowers before the event starts, so I can choose at what distance I shoot. The light will often be low-ish, certainly not in my control most of the time. I am leaning toward the cheapie 50/1.8 for my starter.
This may seem odd given the high tech capablilites of these cameras, but I really like manual focus. Do all these lenses allow for that? Does the 50/1.8?
thanks again

[nosquare2003]

It's not easy to do manual focus with a 50/1.8. The manual focus ring is smalll and coarse, it's not easy to do fine adjustment.

The manual focus ring for 100/2.8 macro is big and smooth and it's easy to do fine adjustment.

However, there is no focus assist screen in the 10D making the manual focus sometimes (especially in dim lighting) difficult.

By the way, the 50/1.8 and the 100/2.8 macro USM are two excellent lenses.