Begininer lens for 20D

[Raj]

Hi,

Which a good beginner lens for canon eos 30D, some general purpose lens offering something like ~18 - ~125 + ?
Is there any particualr recommendation to start with ? kit lens is only 18-55 mm, same as D rebels & does not seem to have great reviews. I think there is another canon lens 18-70 USM but i dont know much about it.

Please suggest.

Thanks

[merrrrjig]

I have the 18-55 and its great, Thats the only lens I have right now, I want to get a 28-105 too

[pcasciola]

The Canon 28-135mm IS is a decent starter lens and almost covers the entire range you are asking about. The IS is nice to have, but I think the Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 Xr Di is better and a little cheaper, but may not be long enough for what you are looking for. Either one is definitely a step up from the kit lens. If you definitely want 18-125mm, Sigma makes one, but I know nothing about that lens other than it is a DC lens which means it will only work well on the 300D/10D/20D.

[KevC]

I think the 50mm f/1.8 is cheap enough to be in *everyone*'s bag :) I love it!

[Raj]

I heard some good reviews on sigma 18-125 mm, however I dont know much about lenses & so cant really make up my mind for it. Its a bit cheaper taht canon 28-135 mm....

By the way, I saw many people in this forum mention some lenses are slow to focus, or image from some lenses are too soft.
What does this means ? Does this means issues with specific lenses?

[Mike Panic]

you can buy the 20d as a kit /w the 17-85mm lens you know right? and it is an IS lens

after that your next lens purchase should be a 50mm f/1.8

[tommykjensen]

Have a look here: http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=55407

[tim]

If you want to learn, get a 50mm F1.8 - you'll learn a lot playing with it. If you want a flexible walk around lens, get the 28-135 or the Tamron 28-75. I have both, and wouldn't give up either of them without a fight.

[ron chappel]

There are alot of wide zooms around (wide as in from about 18mm upwards) but not all of them are well know or proven to be good.
Obviously the canon 17-40/4 L is a stunner but it's also expensive.
The 18-55 sh*t lens (oops,did i misspell kit again?,lol) is OK but nothing more.It will dissapoint most people in the long run
The sigma 18-125 is getting far better reviews than it deserves (in my opinion) .I have yet to see a sharp image from that lens.Here is a very good comparison og it plus the canon 18-55 and 17-85 lenses
http://www.pbase.com/franklin/canon_sigma

Canon 17-85mm IS.This lens looks pretty good judging by the above examples! Strangely it gets mixed reviews...i think alot of that is Pro users who fall for the 'one lens does all' syndrome and get bored with it.? Just a theory
Several makers have had 19-35mm lenses for awhile but i still havent seen anyone compare any of them to the Kit lens.
Sigma has a very good 15-30 lens that is very good
http://burren.cx/photo/ultrawide/1530v1740.html

In fact here's a recent thread with some links
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=56642

[RJSorensen]

My kit lens is the 17-85 IS and I have found it to be just the ticket for a general purpose every day lens. You will love the 20D regardless of what you do.

[karusel]

Well, you never know when you're gonna make THE shot, so it's better to be prepared; although I've never owned an 18-55 I doubt it's really good. In your case I'd go with the Tamron 28-75 Xr Di and 50mm 1.8. The Tamron has good sharpness is light, relatively small, and has almost macro capabilities, the 50 1.8 is ultra small, ultra light, can be used in low light and is pretty sharp, the only downside is it has only 5 aperture blades (rather rough bokeh) as opposed to the 1.4 version which has 8.

[Raj]

Thanks a lot everybody for your response, this is a wonderful forum :-)

I will let you know how it goes :-)

Cheers