Lens Recommendation

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  • #1743
    Kestrana
    Participant

    One of the ladies that works for me wants to buy a lens for her Canon Rebel SLR, she’s not sure which model she has. She wants to use it to take quality pictures of her daughter’s horse tournaments, so she wants a zoom lens that is good for action shots. Anyone have a recommendation? She asked me and I was like “uh I don’t really know what an f stop is, let alone how to judge if that’s what you want”.

    #25624
    jpatten
    Participant

    What is her budget? If you want action shots you are going to want a lens that can go as low as possible f number. But it can get really expensive.
    If its a rebel then Its probably an EF mount. (I think)

    But probably talking at least $1000, unless there is a lot of light.
    I have a 70-300 that does pretty decently I think that was 250 or so but it needs fairly bright light to get good results and the AF is slow.

    #25625
    Kestrana
    Participant

    I don’t know that she has a limit, but of course she would rather not spend more than is necessary to get decent pictures.

    #25626
    Choc-Ful-A
    Participant

    I found a page with a discussion of zoom lenses for Canon Rebel cameras that might be interesting. Comment #8 in particular is worth a read and contains a bunch of links to lens reviews. I have one of the lenses they talk about, the Tamron 70-300, and like it a lot given that it cost ~$120 when I bought it. I hear the AF is horribly slow (I use manual focus) and it does require a lot of light. But if your friend is going to be shooting outdoors,or at least it very well lit indoor events, it’s worth considering as a first/learning lens.

    I’m using it on a Nikon D80, so it’s not quite an apples to apples comparison. But I took these kite surfing shots with that lens zoomed all the way to 300m on a very windy day. I was using a tripod though,which helped a lot.

    #25627
    jpatten
    Participant

    I have the Sigma 70-300. Of course getting a lens without IS(image stabilization) you will save money. But that will slow the lens down. I have heard very good things about the 100-400 f2.8 IS lens. BUT Its not cheap.

    #25628
    nobigdeal
    Participant

    The Canon 70-300 IS like the one I sold to Mopsy is a good choice for what she wants. You can buy it new for around 600 bucks. The 70-200L f4 is also a decent choice. The non IS model can be gotten for a little more than the 70-300. The reach isn’t quite as far but the image quality is much better as is the build. Image stabilization is not really needed for what she wants to shoot, however if she decides to use it for birdwatching or other situations where longer shutter speeds or long zoom is needed she may want it.

    #25629
    soosh
    Participant

    the 100-400 isn’t a particularly fast lens, and for anything indoor with typical lighting, one would have to work to keep the shutter speed up high enough to keep from blurring. I use it for my kids football, and while the reach and flexibility is excellent, the f/4.5-5.6 isn’t the greatest if it’s not broad daylight. it’s got IS and the image quality is great, but it will cost an arm and a leg.

    the 70-200 f/4 is a great choice, reasonably priced (especially for what it is) and sharp as hell. don’t know if it would be long enough, but it’s a little faster than the 100-400.

    if money is no object, the 70-200 f/2.8, either IS or non would be the way to go. there is also a 300 f/4 non-zoom, but that would probably be too long.

    I don’t know much about the various 70-300s, but they are all slower than the ones above, which can limit you if you’re in indoor lighting or outdoor events at night. a lot depends on which camera body is being used – some of the newer ones would allow for a lot higher ISO to be used, so that would somewhat offset having a slower lens.

    #25630
    Kestrana
    Participant

    Thanks for the advice everyone

    #25631
    Morningbreath
    Participant

    I have the Tamron, and I am happy with it.

    #25632
    corsec67
    Participant

    I have the Tamron, and I am happy with it.

    Yep, the Tamron 70-300 is an amazing deal for the money. I bought it to replace my Pentax 50-200, and now the 50-200 is in a box on the other side of the world from my home now.

    Its macro abilities are just bonus, and don’t get in the way of using it as a normal tele-lens.

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