Your help is welcomed!

[sj022698]

I have the digital eos rebel with the standard EF-S 18-55 MM kit lens. I am wanting to take photos of concerts, sports, etc....... What is the difference between a zoom lens and a telephoto lens? How important is the image stablizer? I don't have much to spend. For this type of photo taking do I need to get a telephoto or a zoom lens. I want to be able to take a photo of the entire band and the backdrop without it blurring. Please help. Any suggestions of lenses are also welcomed.

If you suggest the 75-300 III lens what is the difference between that and the one with the ultrasonic?

Thanks,
Justin

[cactusclay]

Ultrasonic is the focusing mechanism. Most of the lens have that. It sort of depends on how close to the stage you are. You might be able to get by with a 85 1.8 if you are close enough, if not then a longer telephoto or zoom would work. If there isn't much light, then you will probably want a fast lens or one with the IS (image stableizer). I would think that you wouldn't want to get anything less than a 2.8 apature. Hope that helps.

[cactusclay]

A zoom that goes from around 70 mm to say 200 mm is also considered a telephoto. Anything more than 50 mm is considered a telephoto, zooms just have several telephoto lenses built into one.

[Dante King]

How much are you going to spend? I just got tamron's 28-300 XR DI 3.5-6.3 (44mm-465 on digital cams) lens and I love it. Thing is super light, crystal clear and I have yet to take it off my DRebel since getting it. Like the idea of IS though, could really come in handy in low light sits. Tamron's 6 year warranty is a nice thing as well. here is a link.

Tamron 28-300 XR DI 3.5-6.3 (http://www.tamron.com/lenses/prod/28300_di.asp)