Starter gear - What's more critical, A better lens or Flash?

So i'm starting my first photography evening classes soon,
And i want to start gearing up for the class.

I currently own canon 600D, a kit lens and a 18-135 mm lens.

But I'm not sure what's more in hurry for me.
To buy a new landscape/protrait lens or flash.

I'm kind of leaning towards buying flash and waiting a bit untill buying an advanced lens but i'm not sure.

What do you guys think?

[I'm sorry if this question has been asked oftenly,i couldnt find a thread samillier to this anywhere]

What's your budget? You can get a good manual flash for $50-$60 (YN-560 II comes to mind).

Lenses are a different story.. obviously you need a zoom to do landscape and portraits in a single lens, I'm not really sure what a good option would be on a crop, but I think your talking $400-$500 at the very low end for something of any reasonable quality.

BrandonSi wrote in post #15536061
What's your budget? You can get a good manual flash for $50-$60 (YN-560 II comes to mind).

Lenses are a different story.. obviously you need a zoom to do landscape and portraits in a single lens, I'm not really sure what a good option would be on a crop, but I think your talking $400-$500 at the very low end for something of any reasonable quality.

So you're saying,flash first?

Not really, just pointing out the price difference, and that it's possible to get both, depending on your budget.

What do you shoot more of?

If you're doing landscape, a flash isn't going to help that much. If you're doing portraits, a flash is useful, though you're pretty limited to what you can do as far as a single on-camera speedlite. Natural light works very well with portraits as well.

I personally would take a 17-40L (which I think should pretty much work for landscape/portraits on a crop) over a flash. Of course one is around $550-$600 second hand, and the flash is ~$60. If I was going to spend $550, I don't think I'd have a problem spending $60 more to add the flash, and get both.

I would buy a flash first. This is tool one really needs to learn and come close to mastering, IMO.

The flash will give you much more flexibility using what you have today and provide a much needed learning experience necessary to move forward.

dave

I'd recommend getting a flash and getting used to using one, before getting a different lens; unless, as Brandon mentions, your primary goal is shooting landscapes.

A decent flash can allow you to shoot indoors, etc much more easily without requiring "fast" (and expensive" lenses. Learning to use bounced flash and off camera flash (OCF) really allow you to control your light a lot better.

I'd agree with that.

Flash is something you want to learn how to use, and a decent flash is cheaper than a good lens -- by a lot.

Flash

The 18-135mm lens is not bad. Its not L, but I started out with that on my rebel before moving up and so did many others. Images posted on this forum by those who mastered the camera/lens combo they had showed its capable of good clear images. A flash on the other hand, as someone said here, opens up a whole other world. If I had gotten a flash sooner, I would have been less frustrated with many of my shots that really needed some fill lighting or in low light situations.

As mentioned already, a flash will help you grow as a photographer until you get to the point where upgrading lens or cameras take place. The 18-135 is a good walk around lens to start with that covers the range that a 17-40 and 24-105 does. My wife now uses my old T2i and 18-135 and gets some real nice pics in auto mode that are good enough to be on the wall.

Since you're taking a photo class, you will learn fast enough how to take good pics with your camera/lens combo. Heck, the older masters had camera/lenses that were not as good as yours! You might have an opportunity to try out a variety of lenses in your class, that would be the best place to experiment then you can make the best decision for the next lens without asking a bunch of people who really don't know your budget, interests, skill level, etc. Just my 2 cents.

I'd recommend the flash.... also get an off-camera shoe cord and a flash bracket, to be able to position it better (than in the camera's hot shoe).

For one thing, for all practical purposes, there is no such thing as a "landscape/portrait" lens. Generally speaking, a landscape lens is a wide angle and doesn't require a large aperture. Conversely, generally speaking a portrait lens is a short telephoto with a larger aperture. So, for landscape a lens such as the EF-S 10-22 might be ideal. For portraiture you might choose a 50/1.4 or 85/1.8, or perhaps a 50/1.8 as a low cost alternative for occasional use.

These aren't hard and fast rules by any means.... People think outside the box and do interesting things with non-traditional tools all the time. However, it's still pretty likely that to shoot landscape and portraiture you are looking at two additional lenses, not just one.

The lens you've got covers moderate wide angle to moderate telephoto range, usable for a wide variety of things. So I'd suggest you stick with that for now and add the flash instead.

The built-in flashes sort of suck, anyway. They are underpowered, drain the camera's battery, and are in the worst possible location for redeye and ugly shadow problems. An accessory flash opens up a whole lot more possibilities and can do a much nicer job.

For me and my shooting style, lenses are more important than flashes. I rarely use my flashes. I prefer natural light.

I agree with the above, and I think mastering natural light first is better, then tackle flashes later, if you need it.

Flash.
Once I started shooting Off-camera flash everything changed.

Viva-photography wrote in post #15537015
Flash.
Once I started shooting Off-camera flash everything changed.

Agreed, but OCF is not the same as a flash. Off camera flash requires at least a light stand and a set of triggers.

If your class provides studio flash, it will be much easier to learn with because of the modelling lights. In that case, there would be little point buying a Speedlight just for the class.