Lens Question

I am a newbie to this forum and have a Digital Rebel xti. I like taking macros of insects and nature photos.

Before I bought the Canon I had a Sony CD 300 and after that a CD 500 and liked the pictures I got from them. The closeups were good and Then Macros were rather sharp.

I figured it was time to upgrade. I am not a photographer, just a old retired guy that likes taking pictures of the things I love. I bought a Canon Digital Rebel xti with two lens, Both Tamron lens. One is a 28-80mm and the other is 70-300mm with Macro.

I have taken over 8000 pictures with it but to be honest, I have never gotten a picture that I could say was sharp when compared to the shots I took with the Sony's.

I went to the local Camera store yesterday and asked the guy there what I could be doing wrong. He looked at my camera and said the lens were not very good. Oh great. I asked what a good one would cost me and he said around 400 bucks. That was for a Canon Lens.

Now I don't care if the lens is white, blue or green. I just want a quality lens and name makes little difference to me but price does.

I see there are a lot of lens makers out there but since I know squat about any of them I started looking for a forum with knowledgeable people there that could possibly help me. I found this forum.

I guess I need to know what is a good lens brand that is affordable. If I was to buy a Canon am I paying extra money for the Name. I see on Ebay there are plenty of lens but by Sigma and many others but I don't have a clue if they are junk or what I should be looking for.

Can anyone on this forum give me a little guidence? I am on a budget and can not go nuts but need to know what I should be aiming for.

Thanks

Royalott wrote in post #6564306
I am a newbie to this forum and have a Digital Rebel xti. I like taking macros of insects and nature photos.

Thanks

The Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro is ridiculously sharp, $370, and will give you excellent macro shots. It is also pretty darn good for taking pics of people (grandkids?), and is small, light, and well built. I am not sure of any comparable lenses by different manufacturers at that price point.

http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …_EF_S_60mm_f_2_​8_USM.html

Here is a good website for looking at comparisons between lenses, without any fancy resolution charts, just comments on sharpness and such: www.the-digital-picture.com

Hope this helps.

There's a lens forum on here, which would be a better spot for your question.

A budget is always a good thing to post for these kind of questions. Without knowing what you want to spend, I'd say this is a selection of lenses that will give you the ability to take professional-quality at a reasonable price:

Tamron 17-50/2.8
Canon 70-200/4L
Canon 100/2.8 Macro

But that's well over $1000 of lenses. So for a more economy fix that will help you get better shots, try:

Sigma 17-70 Macro (not a true macro lens though)
Canon EFS 60mm Macro

And you'll need a hotshoe flash for a lot if not most macro work- also a tripod or monopod.

If you are having problems getting decent pictures, it could be because DSLRs are way more tricky to use than point-and-shoots, and there's a real learning curve with them. Start posting examples in the critique section with your EXIF data intact, and people will happily help you out.

Cheers.

Canon 100mm 2.8 Macro which also doubles up as a fantastic portrait lens.

For about $400USD you could get the Canon 28mm f/1.8 which is a fine lens and a great performer. It is a normal lens on a crop body and won't go to waste if you ever switch to a full frame camera.

Buy a 50mm f1.8

It will only set you back 100$ and it is a greatly sharp lens. (Albeit, slow on focus)

I'm not sure that the problem is your lenses. Could you post some examples with exposure data please?

My suspicion, on very little evidence mind you, is that it could be a camera shake problem, which is to say, a problem of selecting an appropriate shutter speed. That might be tied up with moving from a 1/1.8" sensor to APS-C, since for the same focal length, faster shutter speeds would be needed to prevent motion blur.

If it is a lens problem, the 60/2.8 macro suggested will certainly solve it.

99% of the time that I think it the lens, it turns out to be user error (me). Post a few pics and I'm pretty confident you'll get a quick reply on whether it's the lens or something you might need to correct.