Rebel XTi- What lens..I read the thread below!:)

Forums Forums Get Technical Hardware Rebel XTi- What lens..I read the thread below!:)

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  • #841
    PlagiarizeMe
    Participant

    Hi there. I purchased a CanonRebel XTi about a month ago. I have read the thread below about the XT. I am going to buy the cheap 50mm under $100 lens..BUT, I got a gift card for xmas that is $100 to wolf camera. They do not carry the 50mm cheapy but carry other lenses.

    The only lens I have for the camera is the one that came in the kit. The EF-S 18-55mm, it is pretty blah.

    I take product photography for my company. Mostly small items under 12 inches. Also, I like to take personal all around photos.

    I want a zoom lens. I go to SuperBike races alot and would like a lens that can capture SOME decent shots. I know I am going to be limited in my price range. So my questions is, should I pick up the 50mm elsewhere and use the $100 card toward a decent zoom/telephoto lens?

    I do not want to spend more than $450 on either with the $100 gift cars. I am not a pro, and use this for personal and some business pictures….

    Any more info needed I will supply. I appreciate the help, and actually I am going to try and begin entering some farktography contests soon.

    Thanks,

    Mark

    I am just lost in the lens techinical world.

    #7879
    staplermofo
    Participant

    I have two questions.

    What’s the sales tax where you live?
    How happy are you with the lighting you’re using for your products?

    #7880
    PlagiarizeMe
    Participant

    I built a light tent and am using tungstan(on)? lighting that I bought for my product shots. I have a Smith Vector light kit that I bought for about $350 more than a year ago.

    Before I bought the XTi I used a G1 and got really creative to get good product shots.

    Lighting isnt a problem. I know a lot more about putting light on the product and white balancing than I will ever know about lenses…

    7% tax.

    #7881
    mikemikeb
    Participant

    If what would equate to 200-215mm on a film body is telephoto enough for you, I suggest the Canon EF 28-135mm IS lens. From your comments on the 18-55, I get the impression that this is the least expensive telephoto zoom lens that you’d be satisfied with. Thanks to the XTi’s 1.6x crop, the 28-135 has the sort of telephoto range on an XTi of a 200mm lens. In addition, the lens has something called IS, or Image Stabilization, which counteracts camera shake, which can help in many situations. It’s not going to stop action any faster than if the lens didn’t have IS, but the IS can stop action in a more tripod-like manner.

    The amount of $$$ that Wolf Camera is selling the 28-135 for is a ripoff. In fact, even with the $100 gift card factored in, the price of the lens on Amazon.com is less than what you would pay at Wolf. Amazon has been known to be extremely reputable.

    From my time at the Wolf website, I can’t see anything to recommend them when it comes to most things: They don’t sell the lens hood for the 28-135, or any other lenses that I searched for, for that matter, and there’s more from there that I won’t bore you on. I can’t see how that $100 could be spent on good accessories there, so I’d say that you should regift the card to someone who’s thinking of buying a new camera.
    ________________

    When it comes to SLR lenses, there are other things to think about. Ask any good photographer and they’ll tell you that a lens hood will add to color and contrast versus not having one. In addition, they’ll tell you that the hood also reduces lens flare. The results in the pictures are noticeable. The hood for the Canon 28-135, the EW-78B II, is about $30 on Amazon.

    With the 50mm prime, you may choose not to get a hood. If you do, the Canon-recommended ES-62 does a fine job and costs less than $30. But I’ll let you in on a little secret: The ET-65 III fits just as well as the ES-62, adds additional flare protection without drawbacks in the picture results, and costs less than the ES-62 (under $20 on Amazon).

    Then there’s the UV filter to think about. A good one may eke out further improvements in flare reduction and contrast. More importantly, as my high school photo teacher said, “Break a UV filter, buy a new filter. Break the glass on a lens, buy a new lens”. There are so many types of blunt objects, like the corners of a table at a diner, or a door handle, that can bypass a hood on a lens with a wide thread diameter, like the 28-135, and — whoops. In addition, a UV filter prevents scratching of the front of the lens glass, which can happen occasionally. Such scratching is also unrepairable.

    There is a danger to UV filters, however. Using an inferior (cheap) version will degrade color and contrast. The least expensive UV filter that you can buy that delivers good quality is Hoya multicoated (a.k.a. Hoya HMC). One with a 72mm thread diameter (for the 28-135mm) will be around $32 (on Amazon)-50, and is worth every penny. Since the 50mm prime is so inexpensive, with such a thin thread diameter, I’d say that a filter for that lens is rather pointless, especially with the ET-65 III hood on it.

    Finally, invest in a good scratch-free cleansing cloth to clean oil, dust, etc., off the UV filter or glass (in the case of the 50mm prime). I have one and I can say from experience that it’s worth every penny of the less than $10 it cost me.
    ________________

    Some of these accessories might push the final price to over $450. Bite the bullet, especially when it comes to any 28-135-related accessories, as you’re not going to find any high-enough-quality telephoto zoom lenses at lower prices, and those accessories might save you another $400+ in the future.

    If 200mm isn’t telephoto enough for you, feel free to reply in this thread saying so.

    #7882
    staplermofo
    Participant

    Well, I’m out of ideas.

    The 70-200mm f/4 L is only $550 after rebate now too, and $100 is only a weekend of day labor.

    #7883
    PlagiarizeMe
    Participant

    Thanks for the great advice. I am going to call Wolf Camera’s local store and see if they can order me the 50mm lens.

    Now I am going to save up and get the Canon EF 28-135mm IS lens before my trip in March to the Daytona 200. It looks like it is more than I need.

    I am going to try and make a contest in the coming weeks. Some great work shows up in these threads.

    #7884
    PlagiarizeMe
    Participant

    If 200mm isn’t telephoto enough for you, feel free to reply in this thread saying so.

    After doing a little research, should I go ahead and spend the extra $100-$150 and get the Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM Lens? I want to be able to zoom in on the SuperBikes at the races and other sports. Is this lens fast enough? Is there something better….

    Thanks for your help. I got Wolf to order the 50mm prime lens for me so I at least used the gift card.

    #7885
    schnee
    Participant

    After doing a little research, should I go ahead and spend the extra $100-$150 and get the Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM Lens? I want to be able to zoom in on the SuperBikes at the races and other sports. Is this lens fast enough? Is there something better….

    You handholding? Rule of thumb is a shutterspeed equal to the inverse of the focal-length (as a fraction of a second).

    A 300mm lens means a 1/300 shutter speed – 1/250 to 1/500, minimum – to reduce lens-shake (or 1/480 if digital). Since you’d be doing action shots, you’ll likely be faster than that, but it is something to keep in mind. I mostly shoot static subjects with the kit on a tripod, so these speeds are foreign to me.

    #7886
    PlagiarizeMe
    Participant

    [/quote]You handholding? Rule of thumb is a shutterspeed equal to the inverse of the focal-length (as a fraction of a second).

    A 300mm lens means a 1/300 shutter speed – 1/250 to 1/500, minimum – to reduce lens-shake (or 1/480 if digital). Since you’d be doing action shots, you’ll likely be faster than that, but it is something to keep in mind. I mostly shoot static subjects with the kit on a tripod, so these speeds are foreign to me.[/quote]

    I will probably do both. I shoot on a tripod for product shots, so I have a good tripod that I will be carrying with me. Unfortunately, almost all the speeds are foreign to me, I am planning to get the lens with a month to “play” with it.

    #7887
    mikemikeb
    Participant

    After doing a little research, should I go ahead and spend the extra $100-$150 and get the Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM Lens?

    Ummm: No.

    The problems start with the optical quality of the lens. Compared to the 28-135 IS, it leaves plenty to be desired. From your statements of what you thought of the 18-55, be ready to say “meh” with the 75-300 as well.

    A 200mm lens = a 320mm field of view on your Rebel. This should be enough zoom, even for you, and if so, and only if 200mm eqivalency isn’t telephoto enough, try the 70-200 f/4 L that schnee has. The L has professional optics, and, more importantly, a full extra stop of light available at full telephoto, which really helps if you want to stop action, even outdoors. It’s available for about $600 on Amazon.com. There’s a more expensive version of that lens which adds IS, which might or might not be worth the extra $450+…

    If 320mm (equivalent) even on a Rebel isn’t enough, the only decent Canon lens that goes from 70-300mm is the 70-300 DO IS. However, its contrast and bokeh aren’t the world’s greatest, and it’s over $1,000, even on Amazon.

    I still say that if 200mm equivalency (on a Rebel) is enough, get the 28-135 IS. It’ll have faster AF than the 70-300 IS. It has a distance window, unlike the 70-300. Unlike the 70-300, the 28-135’s (and 70-200 L’s) front barrel doesn’t rotate when zooming, which is good for polarizing filter users, especially ones in fast action photography. It’ll be cheaper than the 70-200mm L.

    The 28-135 IS and 70-200 f/4 L have a good balance of optics and price. The 70-300? Ummmmm…. no.

    #7888
    Elsinore
    Keymaster

    I have the 75-300 f/4-5.6 USM IS and can vouch for mikemikeb’s caution against its image quality. It’s definitely a meh lens, unfortunately. Just too many focal lengths crammed into one consumer level lens. I’ve taken some shots with a 70-300 DO IS and spoke to the owner about it, and he said it was a mixed bag. I didn’t get a lot of testing in on it, and it seemed fine the couple shots I took, but he did say it tends to flare easily and contrast is variable. I’ve heard good things about the 28-135 IS and the 70-200 f/4 L, though.

    #7889
    PlagiarizeMe
    Participant

    mikemikeb and elsinore thank you VERY much for taking the time to give me some great advice. To me, an amateur with no knowledge of lens quality, I can tell the 18 – 55 isn’t good. That is why I asked here, I don’t want to drop 400+ and get a mehhhh lens.

    Awesome, you people are great!

    #7890
    kaitou
    Participant

    A couple of things to caution about here also.

    Don’t confuse the older 75-300 with the current 70-300 lens. The new one stands heads above the older one, and can come close the the quality of some L glass, you can check out the review of it here: http://www.photo.net/equipment/canon/70-300is/review.html

    The IS on it is great, as I can hand-hold 1/30th of a second at the full 300mm with it.

    However, as said above, you will get better quality from the similarly priced 70-200L f/4 (When wide open, at f8, the two look near identical). It doesn’t have IS, and doesn’t have the extra 100mm of reach, but it will focus faster, and is better built.

    Since I already had the 70-200L f/2.8, I got the 70-300 so that I always had a long zoom with me, since the L is way too heavy to cart around daily.

    The DO, I tried, and it got worse results then the non-DO (for me, YMMV) also its’ bokkeh(background blurring) wasn’t as good. 28-135 is a decent lens. better then the kit lens, but amazing it isn’t.

    #7891
    staplermofo
    Participant

    Hey kaitou, welcome to the forum and my list of people to mug.

    #7892
    kaitou
    Participant

    lol thanks

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