Question about which lenses to get....

[mamatojack]

So, the ol' birthday is coming up, and my parents and hubby like to spoil me. I'm thinking about asking for a few lenses..just want to make sure these are decent ones to ask for. They'll be for my Digital Rebel.....

Canon Normal EF 50mm f/2.5 Compact Macro Autofocus Lens
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=12145&is=GREY

Canon Telephoto EF 100mm f/2.0 USM Autofocus Lens
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=12058&is=USA

Canon Wide Angle EF 24mm f/2.8 Autofocus Lens
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=12091&is=USA

Thanks!!!
~Katy :D

[Scottes]

Change the 100mm to 100mm Macro. You'll get a lot more use from Macro this way. Then change the 50mm macro to a 50mm f/1.8. Saving about $75.


100mm mean more Macro power - the longer reach will be huge in macro. You will lose a little aperture - the 100 Macro is f/2.8 vs 2.0. Also losing a bit of AF speed - the macro lens is slower to auto-focus. The macro is optically better.

The 50mm f1.8 is not the quality of the one you choose, but is one of the favorite lenses on this forum for the money. Very nice little lens. It will be faster to AF than you choice, and you gain some aperture. Your 50mm is optically better.


Which is more important - macro or portraits? If macro, go my way. If you want/need fast AF at 100mm, go your way.


You can easily ignore me - you've got a good list there. I'm just throwing in my 2 cents.

[robertwgross]

You will get better lens advice if you say what kind of photography you expect to do.

---Bob Gross---

[mamatojack]

Thank you for the help, Scottes!

Bob, I just plan on having fun with my lenses. Just playing around. I'm not a professional. I just enjoy taking pictures..of my son in particular.

~Katy

[robertwgross]

Ahhh, close-up wildlife.

Probably a good general purpose lens would be Canon 28-135mm IS. Then there are a few others with similar focal length range and without IS, which are cheaper.

---Bob Gross---

[Scottes]

Robert's choice is an excellent suggestion for low-light shots common for indoors. Nice lens. IS is very nice.

It's not optically as good as any of your choices, but it's still good, and it will make shots that the others won't, thanks to IS. It's a great all-around lens for family-oriented shooting. Not very wide, not very long, but it covers everything in between quite well.

[Kenski]

Robert's choice is an excellent suggestion for low-light shots common for indoors. Nice lens. IS is very nice.

It's not optically as good as any of your choices, but it's still good, and it will make shots that the others won't, thanks to IS. It's a great all-around lens for family-oriented shooting. Not very wide, not very long, but it covers everything in between quite well.

Go for the double-whammy, 28-135mm and the 50mm 1.4 this way you can get two great lenses....

[ron chappel]

The whole "which macro lens to choose?" thing does get confusing :?

For film it was easy-get the 50mm if you couldn't afford the 100mm.The 100 was also a great portrait/supersharp general short tele lens.

For digital though it gets tricky.The 100 is actually too long for portrait use and the 50 is the one to choose.The annoying thing is that there is also a great/cheap 50/1.8 lens available too,so you'd end up doubling up the focal length for alot of subjects.Abit of a waste :cry:
I haven't yet worked out a good solution to this dilemma.Maybe a tamron 90 macro which could be usable for long portrait work...?
Or maybe just a high quality close up lens for macro....
Overall it ends up being a choice of how serious you want to spend for your macro pics

[mdude85]

Change the 100mm to 100mm Macro. You'll get a lot more use from Macro this way. Then change the 50mm macro to a 50mm f/1.8. Saving about $75.


The 50mm f1.8 is not the quality of the one you choose, but is one of the favorite lenses on this forum for the money. Very nice little lens. It will be faster to AF than you choice, and you gain some aperture. Your 50mm is optically better.
.

The 50 1.8 has terrible macro, however .. closest focus distance is something atrocious like 17 inches. But performs really nice with a macro filter.

OP, on a 1.6 crop factor, the 24 mm is not very wide. You should try to find something less than 20 mm for a good wide angle effect.