Camera lense advice for Canon

amanda14_2006

17 years ago

Hi.

We have a Canon Rebel 35MM Slr as well as a Canon Rebel Digital XTI camera. I know the lenses are interchangeable such that we took the 28-80 from the slr and put it on the digital. I want to get a new lense for the digital and I really dont understand anything about lenses. I want to get a better one that can handle longer distances I guess. Any suggestions?

Thanks

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (2)

steve_o
17 years ago
There are several good telephoto lenses (the kind you want to buy) available for your cameras. Since your current lens can cover distances to 80mm, you should look for one with a focal length of at least that. Bigger numbers indicate the ability to handle longer distances. A 160mm lens will focus to twice the distance your current lens will. A 240mm lens will focus to three times the distance.

However, as this focal length increases, three things will happen to the lens: it will get more expensive; generally larger and heavier; and less able to handle lower levels of light.

Expensive is expensive; there is not much you can do with that besides buy a used lens or a third-party lens (in your case, a lens by anyone other than Canon).

The inability to handle lower levels of light can be compensated for several ways. You could keep the camera lens open longer to admit more light -- but that can cause blurring if you're shooting a moving subject or holding the camera without a tripod. You could use flash, though the flash that comes on the camera likely won't have enough power to light something far away, so you might have to buy a flash unit. You could spend more money :-) and get a telephoto lens that has a wider maximum aperture. These are sometimes dramatically bigger and heavier than less-capable lenses. Or you could buy an "IS" (Image Stabilization) lens; the lens largely eliminating blur caused by handholding. Neat feature; not cheap.

If you choose to buy a used lens, it's best to buy one in person at a place that sells used photographic equipment and will give you at least a little warranty. Bring your digital so you can see some results right away. Since Canon is a popular brand, if you live near an urban area you shouldn't have trouble finding a good lens.

If you buy a third-party lens, stick with better-known brands (Tamron and Tokina come to mind, but try to avoid their very cheapest lenses). A good third-party lens will have a metal lens mount and operate smoothly and quietly. You also will have to make sure it works with your particular Canon camera model. Sometimes third-party lenses don't work well with a given manufacturer's camera, so you may lose some automatic features or exposure information.

That's a lot to digest at once, I'm sure. There also are several Web sites which discuss lenses for Canons -- but be warned that there is just a firehose of information out there because Canon is such a popular brand.
rayfromalaska
17 years ago
Amanda,

Not all lenses are fully compatible. However, digital lenses for the Canon Rebel XT, XTi, 20D, and 30D are interchangeable. Did you buy your XTi with a kit lens? If you didn't, the kit lens is the cheapest digital Canon lens, and is the EFS 18-55mm lens sold with the Rebel XT or XTi. This lens can be used for wide angle photos such as landscapes, as well as portraits, although it's not a high quality lens. The kit lens is a "walk-around or general use lens. A barely used one costs around $45.00 to $65.00 most times, because people want to sell it to upgrade to a better lens. However, for over a year I have been using a kit lens on my Rebel XT, and have taken quite a lot of beautiful photos with it.

The best Canon lenses cost from $1,000 to $6,000 each. Some of the Sigma, Tamron, Tokina, etc., are much cheaper then Canon's, and still offer great image quality. Then there are the cheaper Canon lenses, for your XTi. The lenses usually begin with the letters EFS, followed by the lens size in mm's. Now, Sigma, Tamron, and others offer similarly priced lenses that offer approximately the same quality (or better) than the cheaper Canon lenses. For example, the Sigma 70-300mm F4-6.6 APOI DG Macro is comparable to one of the cheap Canon lenses of the same size, and costs around $300.00.

Now, a Sigma 17-55mm lens costs a little over $400.00, but offer better image quality than the Canon kit lens.

To learn about lenses for your camera, you may want to go to this forum:
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/index.php

Registration is free, and you can ask or learn everything about Canon and other lenses there.
Related Discussions
Canon 720 IS
Q
Comments (9)
http://s182.photobucket.com/albums/x208/garden_path/field%20wildflowers%205%2008/ I took these pictures after reading some of the instruction booklet. In taking these pictures there seems to be a big problem taking photos in strong sunlight. The view finder will show alternating, a very deep color then white color, and the actual photo is washed out to white/gray. I changed some settings (f-stop?) and that helped, but only if I shaded the object (see album). I still cannot get a really good closeup in focus, using both the macro button and the telephoto toggle on the top of the camera. I know those of you with this camera can get better shots so I am thinking I may have the settings off or maybe a defective camera. Hoping for some suggestions....
...See More
older lenses, new digital camera
Q
Comments (2)
As long these are EF lenses then you're fine,.. Canon has introduced in 1987 with EOS cameras. Konrad
...See More
Need advice on this camera
Q
Comments (12)
It looks like amazon.com has the same package for $479.00. Buying piece by piece at the best prices wouldn't get you better savings. Two things I would clarify with the ebay seller. The shipping costs are not clear to me. Also, will they take the package back if you aren't satisfied with the quality of the add on lenses? The 2-lenses and 3-filters are items that may not give you satisfaction depending on their quality. I have a Panasonic DMC FZ20 which takes pretty good photos. Some of my complaints have been addressed with the newer Lumix series cameras--according to one of the camera review sites. My camera doesn't do well in low light, the FZ8 is reported to have fixed that noise problem. Also the 8 has a popular lens size so you shouldn't have trouble or high costs finding filters, etc. All Panasonics have good stabilization. Their Leica lens are top quality. The new ones shoot in RAW which is good. All the accessories that come with this package appear to be off brand and inexpensive. That isn't always a real bad thing. It lets you experiment with tele-converters, various filters, tripod, etc. If it turns out you develop a burning desire to take really professional quality wildlife photos and need a better lens/camera you can upgrade later. You should be able to get good portraits with this camera. IMHO too many people jump in and pay $1000 for a DSLR and another $1000 for lenses. All of that stuff sits in a drawer and gets used at graduations, birthdays and vacations. My point is, you can learn a lot with this package. Which ever camera you choose, spend another $50-100 and get Photoshop Elements software and a good manual. Also consider the Cannon S3. A lot of people love this camera. Check out the birding forum. Ken has an S3 and just got a fairly good quality 1.7 tele-converter. His bird photos are wonderful. He's a nice guy, and will answer your questions. Here is a link that might be useful: Ken's bird closeups
...See More
Canon Power Shot SX110 IS Digital Camera
Q
Comments (2)
Note that the lens spec is 6.0 to 60 mm; f/2.8 to f/4.3. The zoom range is 10X as indicated by the 6 to 60 mm range. An important figure is the lens opening: f/2.8 to f/4.3. These are great numbers. This means at the widest angle (6.0mm) the f-stop is 2.8 and racked all the way out to maximun zoom, the f-stop is 4.8. Many zoom lenses would fall to smaller openings such as f/5.8 at maximum zoom. However, check out the wide angle. You may find it not wide enough for other uses such as group shots in confined spaces, or including eveything in a wide shot. Canon in designing this lens apparently favored the long side of the zoom range. A tripod will be needed for zooms greater than 2X although a very steady hand in good lighting can get shots up to 4X zoom. Beyond that, it is very difficult to prevent blurring without a stablization aid. You mentioned taking shots of birds approximately 45 ft away. Getting a sharp focus will be the challange. I suspect that you intend to shoot from indoors through glass. It would be best if you could shoot from a blind without any glass in front of the camera. However, if this is not practical for you, there are some things you can do to minimize the extra pane of glass in front of the camera. If you house is like others with installed storm windows, raise the lower storm and acreen to remove this impediment, and shot through only one pane of glass. That piece of glass msut be flat and free of defects. If you have thermal pane windows with a double pane of glass, the internal reflections will degrade the image. Seek another location. There may be times when you will be tempted to turn on the flash. It won't work behind a pane of glass. The reflection off the glass will wash out the exposure and will not illuminate the scene very well.
...See More

Camera lense advice for Canon

Comments (2)

steve_o

rayfromalaska

Related Discussions

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US