SLR lens recommendations. (help)

I have owned the Canon Digital XT for two months now. I am new to the Digital SLRs. It came with the EF 18-55mm and I just purchased the Canon 28-135mm F3.5-5.6 IS. I would like recommendations for lenses that can take me from sports to portraits to scenery to anything. I want to buy as few as possible but have a variety of possiblities. I can exchange the 28-135mm if I need something with a different range.

a lens too versatile would mean sacrifice of image quality, dark with small aperture and very heavy to carry.

The only lens that satisfy your range would be 28-300 mm f3.5-5.6 L that cost a bit and if you hang it on the neck most of the time, you could easily dislocate your cervical spine.

A possible compromise would be 35/1.4L, 85/1.8, 135/2L if you are into primes, or the typical EFS17-55/2.8, 70-200/2.8L, or lots of combinations with 3rd party lenses

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Jürgen aus Boden, Schweden.

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Jürgen aus Boden, Schweden.

yeah, i used to be greedy wanting to have all views into one lens. i ended up paying heaps draining my bank account and kept the lens in a cheap low pro bag playing the game of treasure island in my humble town house. I almost forgot i had this lens...

I did a trip in huanshan (yellow mountain) in china climbing the stairs with that lens few years back. Yeah, my nose can touch the staircase in some sections of the hiking. It was a painful experience bringing that lens. Then carrying a tripod there was unpleasant. The sun rise and sun set were reknown in that mountain but such dark lens does not help in these situations.

This lens even with IS did not impress me though.

Tamron 17-35 mm f/2.8-4
Sigma 70-200 mm f/2.8

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http://www.pbase.com/arshutterbug/

Let me clariify. I'm not asking for one lens. I am asking for recommendations for possibly three to four different lenses that will give me a broad range of choices for all photography.

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Jürgen aus Boden, Schweden.

Lona said:

I have owned the Canon Digital XT for two months now. I am new to
the Digital SLRs. It came with the EF 18-55mm and I just purchased
the Canon 28-135mm F3.5-5.6 IS. I would like recommendations for
lenses that can take me from sports to portraits to scenery to
anything. I want to buy as few as possible but have a variety of
possiblities. I can exchange the 28-135mm if I need something with
a different range.

Click to expand...

Sigma/Canon 70-200/2.8 for sports, mid range action, portaits etc.
Sigma 30/1.4 for indoors, available light shooting and for studying photography.
Canon 50/1.8 cause it's so cheap and it's everyones duty to own it ;-)

Other than that basic setup, it really is up to your interests - if you like the macro world, you might want to buy a macro lens or an extension tube set. If you like landscapes, you might want to consider something wide. Or if you're into wildlife and/or bird shooting, Bigma/100-400IS or maybe 300mm/f4 prime depending on the light conditions you plan to shoot.

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Jarkko