DSLR Newbie wants some lens recommendations please.

Hi all,
I have just decided to take up photography again after a gap of 12 years when I used to have Canon SLR and and Minolta SLR cameras.

I have used most of my budget buying an EOS 7D body and 15-85mm Canon Lens. On top of that a good friend has sold me a 75-300 Canon Lens and 580 EX Flash from his EOS 20D which he has just traded in.

Back to the 90's, I liked taking shots of Cars from 1950's thru 1970's using a semi-fisheye convertor screwed on the front of my SLR lens. I liked the effects from the semi-fisheye convertor even though the quality did suffer a bit. Must add that I like shooting landscapes too especially the Utah and Arizona Canyons and Rock formations when visiting USA.

I do not have enough left to spend loads on the upcoming 8-15 fisheye zoom from Canon so again I have to sacrifice quality or flexibility to some degree when choosing a lens. This is where I need your help folks, what lenses could you recommend I take a look at, I would prefer to keep a rectangular photo shape while still being able to distort the object (like extending tail fin shape, also trying to get good effects on custom motorcycles too). This would be better than having too much vignetting that occurred with the old fisheye convertor I used previously.

Also what are the cheaper battery grips from Opteka like, never used a grip before but I do have a spare battery. I would also like to buy a remote for the EOS 7D, what would you recommend?

Thanks in advance for your help

Pete

Have you looked at the Canon 10-22mm lens? Its cheaper than the 8-15mm fisheye by $500 but it might still be out of your budget.

As for Opteka grips I have had mixed success with them. I used one on my Rebel XT for years and it was great. The 40D opteka grip was missing the control wheel near the shutter button and their sale page did not specifically mention it either way nor show a photo of that portion of the grip so be careful when ordering from them.

If the grip has everything that the canon grip has I think you fine. Though I do not think the opteka grips offer any weather sealing like the canon grips if that is a concern.

Thanks mrfixitx,

Yes I looked on the website at the 10-22 and it is a bit dear for me right now, but have not been down to a Canon Store to try it out yet. I may try it next week when I go into town again. I also saw some fixed fisheye lens around 7mm or 8mm but they are manual focus which is fine but then I may miss some shots. These were much cheaper around 300 to 400 bucks but I would miss the flexibility of a zoom too. Like 6 of 1, half-dozen of the other really.

Are there any other lenses perhaps by different manufacturers that some one could recommend please?

Cheers

Sigma's 8-16mm lens may be what you want. It's not really a fisheye but at 8mm you gotta believe there is going to be distortion. People have been raving about it because it put's out sharp pictures from edge to edge. The only drawback is you can't attach filters to it because of the front element (it's a bubble).

The below E-bay seller is very reputable & trustworthy plus been around a long time:

The Phottix brand is what i have always used on my bodys with no problems:

http://cgi.ebay.com …tt_RL&hash=item​27b3ee860e

Regards,

Thanks HaroldC3,

That Sigma 8-16 lens looks like it will be just what I want. I have just been looking at some of the shots and a video on the related post on the forum and I like what I see. Just got to hunt for one of these where I live in Philippines now, aftermarket lenses are limited here and stores do not seem interested in ordering even with cash upfront. I will have a trawl round the city on Monday and see if anyone has some stock, thanks for that tip.

Thanks Silverfox1,

Do you know if the batteries supplied with the Phottix battery grip will charge with a standard Canon charger? I also saw an Opteka battery grip on its own at $50 so will compare the 2 units,

Cheers

pete80 wrote in post #11917621
Thanks Silverfox1,

Do you know if the batteries supplied with the Phottix battery grip will charge with a standard Canon charger? I also saw an Opteka battery grip on its own at $50 so will compare the 2 units,

Cheers

Yes they will charge just fine in the Canon charger.

Regards,

Ok Silverfox1, thanks for that. It is probably worth paying the extra to get the 2 spare batteries with the grip.

Cheers

I bought a non name brand grip and it worked flawlessly, the opteka grip I had, gave me problems with the grip jogwheel when the jogwheel on the camera was left in certain positions.

Thanks for letting me know about your experience with the Opteka grip, I will give their grip a miss then.

So glad I joined this forum before buying the grip & lens, I would have made mistakes choosing both of my original choices.

I have increased my budget on the lens and will probably choose between Sigma 8-16mm and Tokina 10-17mm. They seem to give the effects I require and will be better than the cheaper fixed focal length manual focus fisheye I was looking at.

Looks like I will have to order these from the USA and get them delivered by a door to door air courier service, not much available apart from manufacturer's lenses where I live. Alternatively I can stop over at Hong Kong en route during my next trip to the USA and purchase them there.

The ef 75-300 is really not that good of a lens optically. The 70-300 is allot better lens.

shoturtle wrote in post #11922151
The ef 75-300 is really not that good of a lens optically. The 70-300 is allot better lens.

My friend sold me the EF75-300 lens for £20 and the 580EX Flash for £50 so I didn't do too bad. Point taken about the 70-300 being a big improvement though.

Hopefully I would love to add some new lenses as time goes by, especially some decent prime lenses. Thanks

that is not to bad for what you paid. It should carry you over till you get the urge to get a better telephoto zoom.

Tokina 10-17mm f/3.5-4.5 FishEye zoom