Help with lenses

[DavesWagon]

I'm strongly considering buying a Digital Rebel but I know next to nothing about lenses. Could someone explain to me (or point me to website about) what the numbers on a lens mean and which ones would best for me to purchase? I'd very much appreciate any advice--thanks!

[cactusclay]

Well, I'm not sure what you mean by numbers, if you are refering to the focal lenght or the minimum f-stop, but the smaller the number for the f-stop means the more light gathering capabilty of the lens, which usually means higher cost. The focal lenght is used to describe whether it is a normal lens,like a 50 mm, or wide angle which is 35 mm or smaller number and going the other way, up from 50 mm is called a telefoto. Telephotos are for bringing subjects closer, standard or 50 mm lens are supposed to be close to what the human eye usually sees, give or take a few mm and the wide it to take in a panorama effect. Most people start with somthing around a 50 mm or a zoom that imcompasses the wide, normal and shot tele range, like say a 28-105 mm, however, the thing about a digital rebel is that you have to muliply the lenses mm x 1.6, to find out what the lens is going to be, because the image area is smaller than it is on a film camera. You lost yet? I don't know of any web sites that cover the info you are looking for right off hand, but I would just type your question into google and see what you get. Good Luck.

[PacAce]

I'm strongly considering buying a Digital Rebel but I know next to nothing about lenses. Could someone explain to me (or point me to website about) what the numbers on a lens mean and which ones would best for me to purchase? I'd very much appreciate any advice--thanks!


If you're not sure what lens you think you're going to need, you should get the DRebel with the kit lens. It's a decent lens for the price and it'll get you started. After you've "played" with the camera for a while, I think you'll have a better understanding of what you'd like in terms of future lenses.

[pcasciola]

Being that you don't understand what any of the numbers mean, I would also say your best best is to start out with the kit lens, which is an 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6. Like catcusclay said, the first numbers (in mm) are the focal range (zoom range) and the second set is the maximum aperture range (amount of light the lens can gather).

18-55mm means the lens is a zoom that can go as low as 18mm (wide angle with more stuff in view) and zoom in up to 55mm. Higher numbers mean more zoom on your subject.

I wouldn't worry much about maximum aperture yet, other than that with lower numbers you have the option of letting more light in which will give you better pictures in lower light situations without a flash, but at the expense of objects in front and behind of your main subject becoming blurred (Sometimes a desirable effect).

Good luck, and welcome to the forum.

[tim]

I strongly recommend waiting for a month or two, the replacement for the rebel will be announced soon. It'll be a baby 20D, a good step up from the 300D.

[Medic1]

If you do choose to buy the rebel, some stores now offer it with a kit lens of 17-85, instead of 18-55........I won't take the time to explain the numbers, but if you can afford the price difference (its a little more for the 17-85), I would go for it. Its a much better quality lens to get you started.