Am I moving in the right direction

Hi everyone, being as this is my second home and with the wealth of experienced people here I need some advice please.

Having owned a powershot pro 1 for two years now I feel it is time to move on (and dont go tell me to read a book ).

Dont get me wrong I love the camera despite the various minor issues it has (dust anyone) but now I need more of a challenge, in your opinions do you think the 350 D would be a good logical step up, also I need some advice about lenses as I want to start a glass collection (eek, the missus is gonna love me for this), apart from the packaged EF-S 18-55mm lens what lenses would you recomend for starting out with, I know thats probably a pretty open ended question but any advice will be gladly appreciated.

Thank you for your time.
Mark

Sounds like the 350D would be perfect for you. I can't suggest any lenses other than the kit lens because you don't say what kind of photography you do. The kit lens is excellent value, so I'd just get the kit & worry about more glass once you've had a chance to play with it & find out what you need from additional lenses.

Stroller.

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Critiques, I love critiques! It's so much easier than taking photos!
I'm a n00b - my opinions may have no value.

My suggestion: take several good pics with kit lens - it's possible for sure! Than you'll can do next step buying better equipment. In photography there are a lot of good lens and a lot of poor photos and "L" lens doesn't mean "L" pics.

Regards, swnw.

Mark it would be helpful to everyone here if you can put down in words what exactly are you most intrested in... landscape/potraits/sports/wildlife/birds... cuz for every aspect there are different set of lens you would need... depending on what your needs are you can package your lenses accordingly.

Hi,

I have owned my 350D for two weeks. I would rate my self a beginner coming from an IXUS500. I have been reading alot on this forum, and the web and learning the ISO's, Exposures, Apertures, and on and on...

I am not a pro so this is my experience, NOT a professional recommendation.

Anyway, 2 weeks into close to a 500+ photos now, and I have started to narrow my list of lens that I would like to have. This I have been able to do by making good use of the kit lens in varying situations and environments.

Can I mention you may want to consider the dual kit lens, 18-55, and 75-300 to give you opportunity for varying lens to play with.

Tonight (at a friends wedding) I used the 75-300mm kit lens, at 1600ISO, WB=tungsten, shutter 1/25. zoomed close to 300mm and got some good pics. Not the sharpest, perfect images but considering I did this from my table, probably 15-20m away, I was impressed. I almost thought being without IS on this lens meant my pics be really bad.

I would like to post these, but think I should respect the people in the images as I dont have there consent.

fyi..I still in decision mode and I dont want to spend a bucket on lens but narrowed the list to the following (remember this is to suit what I be shooting), general outdoors, holiday pics, indoor parties, kids at home;

One of either 18-75mm IS USM or the 28-135mm IS USM
Leaning towards the 28-135 due the longer zoom and cheaper.
Heard/Read the 18-75 bit out of focus until somewhere around 22mm

A prime, 50mm f1.8 or prefer something in the 30's or 20's 2?mm f?.?
To cover the indoor shots - restaurant dining, parties, house
Just a little concerned due to 50mm on the 350D and the 1.6x factor
Dont want to lose lighting mood & avoid weight/bulk of external flash

In future a macro just for creativity, and catcing critters/plant shots and maybe a similar/larger telephoto zoom but with IS for holiday pics..

50mm f1.8 around $80 US.

Yes use the kt lens and take lots of shots BUT get this as well. Great for low light portraits etc. Teaches you about depth field. etc The best $80 you will ever spend on lens(es).

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Roger

http://rpsd.net

Roger Pfister said:

50mm f1.8 around $80 US.

Yes use the kt lens and take lots of shots BUT get this as well.
Great for low light portraits etc. Teaches you about depth field.
etc The best $80 you will ever spend on lens(es).

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Roger

Click to expand...

and more it will show you that you can "zoom" using your legs instead off "sitting behind a table".

I agree. I jumped into dSLR last year (300D) and a friend of mine said to get the 50mm 1.8.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=12140&is=USA&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation

He said I would take better pictures with it and he is right. The lens, being a prime lens is sharp as a tack and a lot of my favorite pictures have come from that lens.

This Christmas I was treated to the Canon 100mm Macro lens and it too is a sharp as can be. Being a Macro lens gives you the added flexibility of taking extreme closeups, which can also be a lot of fun.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=194451&is=USA&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation

Suchit Patel said:

Mark it would be helpful to everyone here if you can put down in
words what exactly are you most intrested in...
landscape/potraits/sports/wildlife/birds... cuz for every aspect
there are different set of lens you would need... depending on what
your needs are you can package your lenses accordingly.

Click to expand...

Thank you for the replies your all very helpfull. Sorry Suchit I should have been more specific about the types of shots I want to take with the 350D.

Telephoto for wildlife and probably a wide angle for landscapes, for starters.

Being as this is my first dive into glass and only having the pro 1 as reference which is generally covers everything but obviously in limited fashion it's hard to know what to choose for a noob like me.

At the end of the day I dont want to end up with lenses sitting on the shelf plus with the many lens makers out there it's alway good to know who the best manufactures are both in terms of quality and suitablity for job in hand, rather than being led down the blinkered path of some site reviews and cheap prices I would prefer to rely on advice and information given by you guys as I know it is reliable.

Thank you again

Mark

I started with the XT at Christmas time and got the 24-105L IS with it....I think it is a great combination to get started with. Later I will want more zoom, but the 24-105 will always be with me, probably as my standard lens.
Get lens reviews at http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/

since you are looking for a telephoto for wildelife/birds you can choose either 70-200mm f2.8 (sigma = heavy/cheap/sharp) or canon 70-200mm f2.8L "luxury series" lenses better quality and a great lens in all. or you can choose the canon 100-400mm, would give you a lot of range for your wildlife shots. Landscape would be great with either 17-40 F4L again L series (expensive) or you can go with EF -S 17-85mm IS. You cannot go wrong with IS. Great all around everyday lens.

canon EF 17-40 F4L ($600+)
canon EF 50 F1.4 / F1.8 II ( great for portraits/low light very fast lens..)
canon EF 70-200mm F2.8 or Sigma 70-200mm F2.8

*************

canon EF -S 17-85mm IS USM ($589..IS is great)
sigma 70-200mm F2.8 ($729) or canon 70-200mm F4L ($550)

If on a tight budget go for a used but good 17-85. And if you are not too concerned about a fast lens go for 70-200mm F4L a great lens and once you like it you can probably sell it without losing too much on it and go on for F2.8... L series and 70-200mm would always be in demand.

24-105 IS might be a great lens but than again it not a real wide-angle lens. with the 1.6x factor at it widest it would be 38mm...not at all a wide angle... rather spend same amount on 17-40 F4L + 50mm F1.8 both are a great set to have...could never go wrong with it...OR you can just have 17-85mm with would be 28-136mm on a 1.6x factor... an overall great range for wideangle needs as well as short length zoom...

Suchit Patel said:

since you are looking for a telephoto for wildelife/birds you can
choose ... canon
70-200mm f2.8L "luxury series" lenses better quality and a great
lens in all. or you can choose the canon 100-400mm, would give you
a lot of range for your wildlife shots...
You cannot go wrong with IS. Great all around
everyday lens.

Click to expand...

In that case you missed out the EF 70-300mm f4-5.6 IS USM. This lens is 1/3 the price of either of the others you mentoned, incredibly popular and I'm inclined to it's probably the best bang-per-buck in this sort of zoom range. There do seem to be some issues with it in portrait mode, however; hopefully this'll be restricted to early copies - I'll be checking mine when it arrives.

Stroller.

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Critiques, I love critiques! It's so much easier than taking photos!
I'm a n00b - my opinions may have no value.

Or...you can use your legs!

Well, actually I upgraded from Pro1 to 300D first, before upgrading one more time to the XT. Going from a point & shoot to a DSLR is a huge jump. You're gonna love the clean high ISO of the XT and the instantaneous shutter response. But you're gonna miss the ability to frame the photo from the LCD. It will be difficult to look through the tiny hole at first, but after a while you'll love it because it lets you see more.

A couple good beginner's lenses other than the kit lens:

Sigma 70-300mm APO super (red ring) - among the cheap consumer tele lenses, this is one of the best. About $200.

Canon 50mm f1.8 - a super cheap way to get professional quality and low light capability. $70.

Other good non-L lenses:

Canon 17-85 IS - good replacement for the kit lens, giving you image stabilization and a longer zoom range. $550

Sigma 17-70 - just released. It is another good kit lens replacement with wider aperture but no image stabilization. $400

Canon 70-300mm IS - more expensive than the Sigma 70-300, but has L-quality optics and image stabilization. $580

Tamron 28-75mm f2.8 - a very cheap way to get L-quality optics and a constant f2.8 aperture. Perfect wedding lens. $330 after rebate

Tokina 12-24mm - super wide angle, good for landscape. $500

Canon 85mm f1.8 - very good lens for shooting action in low light, like indoor basketball. Also very good for portrait shots. $340

Shado said:

[...]
I should have been more specific about the types of shots I want to
take with the 350D.

Telephoto for wildlife and probably a wide angle for landscapes,
for starters.

Click to expand...

If you want a general purpose wildlife lens, your best best is the EF 100-400L. If this does not fit into your budget, Sigma 50-500 or Tamron 200-500 are sub-$1000 options that have a bit more range. Sigma and Tamron do not have IS, so you should get a monopod to use with these lenses.

If you are specifically interested in birds, EF 400mm f/5.6L prime and a 1.4x Tamron teleconverter may be a better option. Since this prime does not have IS, you would need a monopod with it, too.

People have done decent landscapes with the kit lens. If you need wider, Canon EF-S 10-22, Sigma 10-20 or Tokina 12-24 are three options.

dylanbarnhart said:

Well, actually I upgraded from Pro1 to 300D first, before upgrading
one more time to the XT. Going from a point & shoot to a DSLR is a
huge jump. You're gonna love the clean high ISO of the XT and the
instantaneous shutter response. But you're gonna miss the ability
to frame the photo from the LCD. It will be difficult to look
through the tiny hole at first, but after a while you'll love it
because it lets you see more.

Click to expand...

No worries there, I never use the LCD, although it's nice to have I just find it easier to frame my shots via the viewfinder.

Thanks for all your help everyone and for pointing me in the right direction, I have still a lot to learn but for me that's half the fun.