Time to upgrade

So I'm wanting to start doing some research on getting a lens for my 30d. My range is 200-400 and used doesn't bother me. I'm wanting to upgrade from my kit lens. Needing a little more zoom then what the kit lens offers. I already have a nifty fifty as a fun lens. Open to ideas or comments. Mostly I will shoot people with this lens probably.

Thanks in advance

Do you own anything between 50 and 200? Most would consider that a large gap to fill first.

Nope I don't have much. I use to spend all my money on cars but now I'm wanting to get into photography a little more. All I have now is a kit lens and my nifty fifty

When you say range, do you mean focal range, like 200-400mm, or $200-400 dollars to spend? I guess I am confused if you want a telephoto zoom or a standard zoom to replace the 18-55?

I am assuming you want to spend $200-400.

Tamron 28-75, sigma 24-70, sigma 17-70, sigma 24-60. You could look at one of the superzooms, I guess. The Tamron 24-135 gets good reviews.

That's my price range sorry. I'm just looking for something for regular shooting. I don't have a huge issue with my kit lens but it just doesn't have enough zoom for me. I don't need anything over the top on zoom though. I also have heard that kit lens are just not that good so I figured I could upgrade.

Is your kit lens the original version without IS, or the newer one with IS? If it's the older non-IS version an upgrade to the newer version with IS (less than $100) would be a nice upgrade optically. Pair that up with a 55-250 IS (about $200) and you'd have a nice range, all with stabilization, for around $300.

A used non-OS Sigma 17-70 2.8-4.5 ($200-250) and a used 55-250 IS ($160-200) would make a great combo and could likely be done under the $400 budget.

I don't think there are any all-in-one zoom lenses that are worth getting in your price range. Maybe the Tamron 18-250, but it's not got stabilization and it is f6.3, so you'll need a lot of light to use it.

I would be fine with having two lens to cover more range. Also I'm checking to see what if my kit lens has IS as I'm spacing right now since Im usually using my fifty. Sounds like either way I go though I need to seriously consider a 55-250 is.

A 55-250mm is an excellent, inexpensive lens to fill that gap - highly recommended.

alright so my kit lens does no have IS so should I just get a kit lens with IS or go another route? The 55-250 will be on my to buy list i do believe.

Also I want to thank all of you for the help so far

99sil-teg wrote in post #11210691
alright so my kit lens does no have IS so should I just get a kit lens with IS or go another route? The 55-250 will be on my to buy list i do believe.

Also I want to thank all of you for the help so far

The 18-55 IS kit lens is pretty good. It is built about the same as the older 18-55, but it is sharper wide open and adds a 2-3 stop image stabilizer. Personally, I preferred the 17-70 I mentioned above. I had both at the same time and kept the Sigma 17-70. I think either of those would be fine upgrades to the older 18-55 kit.

I'm really considering the sigma w/ 55-250 combo. I was talkin wig a buddy who shoots and thought that sounded like a great combo for the money. He also recommended a 25-75 tamron as he has had it personally but I think I would enjoy the wide range since the tamron is like 350 used

99sil-teg wrote in post #11211114
I'm really considering the sigma w/ 55-250 combo. I was talkin wig a buddy who shoots and thought that sounded like a great combo for the money. He also recommended a 25-75 tamron as he has had it personally but I think I would enjoy the wide range since the tamron is like 350 used

The Tamron 28-75 is not a bad lens, but the range is rather limiting on a crop camera since it has no wide angle range at all.

Another option would be rent several of the lenses that fall into your price range.