suggest first 2 lenses for 30d

Hi, So I have been on this forum for 3 days straight. I am a very jealous girl! Went to bed at 4am this morning! I do not have a lot of experience, have a point and shoot g3 at the moment haha! But I looove taking pictures and I am taking the plunge.

I don't expect to be able to be able to do what I have seen in this forum (you people are amazing) , just want to make something that makes me happy. So I have decided that tomorrow I am purchasing the body of a 30D. 800 Yikes!! But I think that seems to be a good price.

Just looking for suggestions to research

I am looking for suggestions from you: What would YOU suggest for 1st 2 frames that would be great to start with, I am not looking to spend thousands (to start)! But a few things I tend to love to take pics of, micro's of flowers and bugs, pics of my dog and pics of the places I go on vacation, sunsets, buildings, etc. (Next vacation hopefully Italy if I can gather some cash) I guit smoking a year ago..... I have this sick feeling I am about to start a new habit!!!!

Considering you don't want to spend thousands (to start) and assuming you want good quality lenses I would recommend a Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 XR DI LD Aspherical (IF) for a walk-around general purpose lens ($339 at Amazon). It's a mouthful but you can take very nice pics with it.

If your budget can afford it the Canon 100mm f/2.8 USM macro lens is hard to beat ($435 at Amazon) and it's an excellent portrait lens as well. For a little less you could get the Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 USM macro ($362 at Amazon). It also is an excellent portrait lens. I would go with the 100 since you already would have the 60mm range covered with the Tamron. This leaves you looking for something wide to shoot landscapes on vacation. You can get by with the Tamron but at 28mm on a 30D its really not very wide. If you can talk yourself into it the Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM ($629 at Amazon) is a great ultrawide for the 30D.

If you go with this lineup (with the 100mm macro) you will have spent $1,403 (more than "a" thousand, less than "thousands"). In the interests of full disclosure you should know that you will probably end up spending around $200-$300 more for filters and a lens hood for the 10-22 (the Tamron comes with a hood and you can probably get by without a hood for the macro for a while, maybe forever depending on the conditions you shoot under).

I have all four of these lenses and have really enjoyed using them.

take it easy and don't panic. Tamron 28-75mm, Canon 100mm f/2.8 will do just fine. and as Wayne said, 28mm is not that wide on a crop. the canon 10-22 is nice, also the sigma 10-20 is a good and cheaper option with a slight chance you might get a bad copy. it can be fixed.

oh and the tokina 12-24 is nice tooooooooo

thanks, it;s interesting, the 100 mm and the tamron 28-75 seems to be a common suggestion. plus some books, and lots and lots of practice, thank you!!! Have not been this excited in awhile!

you may also want to consider sigma 24-70 macro or the 17-70?

oh boy, I have a feeling someone will not be sleeping very well for awhile.

The forum, and the photography are both very addictive, I too went from the G3 to the 30D..to well...a real problem. But it's a ton of fun. The 10-22 is a fun lens, but I will leave it to others more in the know to offer more informed choices. Welcome aboard

Canon 17-85IS USM
Canon 100mm Macro
Used 430EX II
30D

Should cover everything you need to start.

ya you guys are right, can't for get the Canon 17-85IS USM

just curious if you have this link http://www.the-digital-picture.com/

depending on your budget there are many combos to go with but a good affordable one is the sigma 17-70 and 70-300...another good but cheap lens is the 28-105 USM II by canon

Hehe ... sick feeling you're about to start a new habit ... you bet you are, hang on it's going to be a wild ride! (and it's a lot healthier than smoking too!)(you wont be able to afford to take up smoking again!)...

Look at my equipment below, as you can see i have a 30D. My Sigma 18-200 is a very versatile little walk-around lens, then i couldn't do without my 60mm macro as i'm an avid close-up fan of the insides of flowers. And i just love a fun wide angle distortion every now and then ... hence my 10-22 ... but take the advice of the others before me, save some money on the accessory brand lenses, instead of spending big on Canon ... if you get into the Nat. Geographic league, then maybe you can go all Canon. Sigma and Tamron have awesome products.

My big lenses are because i shoot sports ... high school games, and skiing, mostly.

Think about this too ... as with other "pro-sumer" cameras (ie., the non-$5000 range bodies) ... the sensor on the 30D is smaller than a frame of film, for which most lenses are made. The effect is that there will be some cropping ... you'll get a lot more telephoto (approximately 1.6 times more ... ie., my 300mm acts like a 480mm, and my 60mm macro really gives me 96mm), which is nice in some cases, but you'll have a lot less at the wide-angle end. Since the advent of D-SLR's in this class, the lens & camera companies have had to develop new wide angle lenses, such as 10-22 ... whereas an extreme wide angle lens used to be say, a 17-35. A 28mm wide angle is just not going to be very wide at all, so invest in a 10-22, or 12-24 or such. Wide angles are fun!

Have fun with your new hobby, and welcome!