What is the next lens....

to get ?
I just bought a Rebel XT with the standard lense 18mm-55mm. This is my first DSLR so I am really new to this.
Any help would be great I basically take pictures of my kids but I like to be able to zoom in. I am also planning on taking some action shots of my son swing a bat at this games.
So please lmk which way to go
Thank you ahead of time.

rickap7 wrote in post #3671942
to get ?
I just bought a Rebel XT with the standard lense 18mm-55mm. This is my first DSLR so I am really new to this.
Any help would be great I basically take pictures of my kids but I like to be able to zoom in. I am also planning on taking some action shots of my son swing a bat at this games.
So please lmk which way to go
Thank you ahead of time.

A nice, relatively inexpensive, addition to your kit would be the 70-200 f4. I think you can get them for around $500. It's a great lens and would give you some nice reach for the son's action shots.

If you don't need as much reach, but want more speed, the Tamron 28-75 is a fabulous lens.

GOod luck and have fun!

What's your budget?

A Tamron 17-50 is a good, midpriced lens for wide shots. It doesn't have IS, but still has great image quality. I have the 28-75 mentioned above, and it's a good one as well. As for sports, which is my favorite thing to shoot, I'd recommend spending the extra dollars for a Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 with a compatible 1.4x teleconverter. You can get them for a reasonable price at Sigma4less, and they have fantastic IQ for the money. I shoot a LOT of field sports for the school, and use it often.

For most sports you will need a longer lens than the EF-s 18-55. Lenses which have larger apertures are also desirable for sports. Unfortunately long, fast lenses are expensive. A 70-200 or a 70-300 would be a good length for baseball. The 70-200 are faster than the 70-300's. while they might be inconvenient a tripods and monopods are an excellent substitutes for a IS lenses. It should be noted though that the white paint on the 70-200 L serries of lenses might bring you unwanted attention, afterall you are there to take your sons photo, not as the team photographer.

WMS

I'd have to initially agree with the 70-200/4 suggestion. You've not mentioned what your level of interest in photography is, though. Is it an end itself, or a means to an end? If you're just looking for a few lenses to shoot your favorite things and not planning on making photography a big part of your budget, you might consider the 70-300 IS as well. Most folks find 200mm too short after a while and if you're not wanting a huge kit of lenses, that will take you out to 300 (which on your XT will give you a nice range). It runs around $550, but gives excellent service.

I have the XTi and these are the lens that I picked up in the following order:

50 f/1.8
17-40L f/4
70-200L f/4

I figured that this is a good start and range for me. Everyone's need varies so hopefully it will provide some guidance on where you can start.