Need help with lens

Hey guys,
I am new to this forum. I just bought my canon rebel xt. it came with the standard 18-55mm lens and i need a new lens for it. I found a Quantaray LDO 4.5-6.7 100-300mm lens and was wondering if it would work on my camera. I am just getting into all this stuff and don't know much about it. Might need some advice on setting up my camera as well.
Thanks!
Adam

Depends on your budget and what you are looking to shoot. I would suggest getting the best lens you can afford. Typically we start out getting affordable lenses and end up selling them to upgrade later on.
I am not sure a 4.5-6.7 would be valuable except in a bright day outside.
I personally would stick with canon lens or maybe the canon 70-200 f/4-----which is a great lens--- works well and holds it value well.

well i found the lens on ebay and its going for pretty cheap, and figured i would get it to try it out and see how it works, but wasn't sure if it would work with my camera or not.

While I believe it would work, I would not buy it. The lens is of relatively low quality, slow, and not well built. There are many better lenses.

Generally, lens prices reflect quality.

Its an old lens and it may not function properly -- some older Sigma lenses, for example, cause an ERR99 if you try to stop down the lens. There are some reviews and pbase images floating around of this Quantaray lens but I didn't see any mentioning using it with a Canon dSLR.

If you're on a shoe string budget, I'd recommend instead looking the the Sigma 55-200mm for less than $150. Or any of the 70-300mm lenses made by Tamron, Sigma (the APO gets particularly good reviews) or Canon would be a good budget choice.

Thanks guys! I'll check into the others then. The Quantaray was going on ebay for $20. thats the only reason i asked about it. But i do want to get a better lens and need some help with it. I'll check out the other ones that you mentioned. I'm not really on a tight budget, but i do need to slow down on spending i've got 2 laptops, rebel xt, memory card, plane ticket, and some other junk. My house got broken into and i had to buy back a bunch of stuff that was stolen (camera being one, but i had the XTI before) and i had just bought the XTI about a month and didn't get to use it that much.

welcome to the forum Adam!

sorry for your losses...

anyway, if youre on a very tight budget, hold off buying a new lens unless you really need it. make the most out of your kitlens for the meantime.

i strongly advice you not get those "too good to be true" lens deals in ebay. you might end up wasting money by buying a crappy lens. save up for some good but (relatively) cheap lenses like the Canon 55-250 IS & Sigma 70-300 APO.

Thanks Joe! I will save up for them. How will i know if i am paying to much for a lens? Im not aware of the prices or anything. I do computers for a living, so i know when i find a good deal on computer stuff..but this camera stuff is new to me
Any advice on that part?

whoami? wrote in post #6216756
How will i know if i am paying to much for a lens? Im not aware of the prices or anything. I do computers for a living, so i know when i find a good deal on computer stuff..but this camera stuff is new to me
Any advice on that part?

For an idea of reasonable used lens prices, check KEH.com. For new prices, you actually have to be more careful of LOW prices. There's a LOT of bait-and-switch camera shops on the web and prices that are a great deal lower than other shops are often just bait to hook you into their scam. Check resellerratings.com before sending anyone your money. Its usually best to stick with the well-known shops with better reputations: B&H, Adorama, Amazon (make sure you're buying direct from Amazon and not some shady merchant selling through Amazon) and some others like Cameta, BeachCamera, etc.

The scams usually work by the seller insisting you call to confirm your order and then they tell you the camera doesn't include a batter and proceed to to sell you things already included in the box. Or they tell you the price was for an import model without a US warranty and that you'll need to pay an extra $200 for the US model. Or the web page says "US model" but they send you a "gray market" item with no US warranty.

In general, you don't usually see many big bargains on Canon lenses. Every once in a while, you'll see some for third party lenses like Tamron or Sigma. As they say, "If its too good to be true, it probably is."

I'd definitely give Quantaray a pass....

Mark_Cohran wrote in post #6217441
I'd definitely give Quantaray a pass....

I'd give it a fail!

xarqi wrote in post #6217494
I'd give it a fail!

You know what I mean...... Pass it on by!

JackProtons advice is good whoami? - refer to B&H photo digital ( http://www.bhphotovide​o.com/) and stick on here too (POTN) - if your going to buy a new lens.... come and ask us for advice if you like....

you can try http://www.the-digital-picture.com/ for great reviews and comparisons of canon lenses, flashes, some sigma and tamron lenses

Read up on the net - search reviews... and if the price is more than 10% less than a reputable site - forget it - this hardware is what it is... there isnt any getting out of it cheap...

Goodluck and welcome to DSLR territory.... go hide your credit card

Thanks guys! i really appreciate the advice. I will check out the sites. Before i buy anything i will come as you guys first. My wife and i are planning on having another baby here soon and i want to get everything set up before he or she gets here and be able to take good pics of him or her. Plus we have twin girls that are turning 5 in December and i want to get some more pics of them while they are still little. I have some pics that i took with my other camera before it got stolen that i will post on here just to get everyone's opinion on it. I don't really know how to use photoshop yet, so i can't do the editing like alot of these ive seen on here. Before i bought this XT yesterday, i was looking at a Nikon D60 and having looking through this forum and seeing the shots that everyone has taken with their Canon's, i decided to go back with Canon. Now im wanting to get all the stuff to go with it "Super-Nicko is right, i need to go hide the credit card!" lol.

Another question i have. What lens would you guys recommend if i wanted to do some close ups? Like being able to zoom in alot?

Best bang for your buck is the 55-250 IS.