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Please help me choose first Lens!

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M Kim said:
My 28-135 is great outdoors during the day but it is really
frustrating indoors.

Min
Peter Gregg said:
Brian,

I don't know if someone here is going to be able to tell you
whether to spend $400 or $900.

Obviously there is a difference in the price for a reason.

The simple answer is, the more expensive one is better.

The D60/30 needs - NEEDS - more light to be able to come in to it
just to work the auto focus systems. Sure, at some settings both of
those lenses are almost equal, but the camera is always operating
at a handicap with a 3.5-5.6 lens on it.

The 28-70 is also sharper and you will be able to see the
difference in your pictures.

The only reason to get the 28-135 lens, is if most of your pictures
will be taken outside in daylight. Then enough light can get into
the camera to focus at a better or more reasonable speed. Remember,
the D60 has a poor AF system to begin with. Putting a lens like the
28-135 on it will only frustrate you every time you go to take a
shot in the house.

Hope this helps,
Pete
Click to expand...
--
M Kim
Click to expand...
--

Thanks Guys! I've decided to go w/ the 28-70 for now and save up for a 70-XXX for later. The 24-70 is $1350+ and is not yet available.

Overall the D60 has "poor" AF? Ouch! Poor overall or just poor in low light? How would it compare to my G2? Worse?

Thanks again for all your help. This is a fun hobby.
 
I have both of those Brian, the 28-135 first then the 28-70L. I like the 28-70L alot, but it's more cumbersome and more serious (I know the D60 is serious). The 28-135 is more compact and has a longer reach, the AF is not much off compared to the 28-70L. Save the money and get the 28-135. Then if and when you get the 28-70L you will have a spare/backup still.

What you will find is that at 2.8 on the 28-70L you can take some very nice outdoor portraits available light shots with very narrow depth of field, better than the 28-135.

Hoang
Brian Smith said:
I have a D60 on order and need a lens. After reading this board
I've narrowed it down to 2 lens:

Canon EF 28-70mm f/2.8 USM L $900.00
Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 USM IS $400

Since I'm new to this hobby I'm not sure which lens would work for
me. I want the best all round lens (i.e indoor shots, landscapes,
family pics, etc). Budget is a huge factor. I don't know if I
would like the extra zoom of the 135 or the higher (much??) quality
of the 28-70.

If you guys were starting out and only wanted ONE lens for know
what would you go for? Would you be happy with the lower priced EF
28-135 to start out w/?

Thanks in advance folks!

-Brian
Click to expand...
 
Hi Brian,

I just moved from the G2 to the D60 a week ago. AF is light years ahead on the D60. No match. Last sunday I was photographing my dog. She was running outside, the sky was overcast and it was about 3:30 PM and the sun was setting. I had noe problem following here around and capturing great, in focus image. I was using the 50 MK II 1.8 at 2.2. I got great results, don't worry about the AF, try the camera and you'll see. Sure, it's not a 1D, 1V or EOS 3, but its good enough for alot of situations.

--
Joel
http://www.pbase.com/joels/galleries
http://www.pbase.com/joels/my_favorites

'A common mistake people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.'
 
hoang nguyen said:
I have both of those Brian, the 28-135 first then the 28-70L. I
like the 28-70L alot, but it's more cumbersome and more serious (I
know the D60 is serious). The 28-135 is more compact and has a
longer reach, the AF is not much off compared to the 28-70L. Save
the money and get the 28-135. Then if and when you get the 28-70L
you will have a spare/backup still.

What you will find is that at 2.8 on the 28-70L you can take some
very nice outdoor portraits available light shots with very narrow
depth of field, better than the 28-135.
Click to expand...
Comming from a point-and-shoot to the D60, I found that I shied away from a narrow depth of field in the beginning. The p&s's try to get everything in focus, and I was used to that. Even now, I don't miss the narrow depth of 28-70 - and grab my 50 1.8 when I want to experiment.

As far as low-light shooting goes, the 28-135 does seek a bit. Simple solution: Put a 420EX or 550EX flash on it. Configure the camera to use the Flash's AF assist without firing the flash, when you want to use available light. With the flash's af assist, indoor low-light autofocus is improved dramatically on the D60.

Also, the EX flash AF assist uses a red/infared lamp which is not as bright and less annoying than the D60 AF assist lamp. I always hated how my dogs would get up or turn their heads when the D60 was flashing the AF assist - ruined many a cute pose.

As far as outdoor low-light is concerned: When out of range of the AF assist, I am usually able to find something with a sharp contrast or hard edge to use to focus - any subject can be siloetted against the sky. If the sky is dark, then we are into long exposures - a whole different ball game. No AF will work there.

28-135 = 400
50 1.8 = 70
420EX = 180
------------

Total = 650, leaving 250 left over for video games or photoshop upgrade.

-Andy
 
Forgot to mention:

For 28-135 samples, see:

http:\\www.sonic.net~andrewt

Look at wipeout.JPG. This is a 1-1 Crop, whereas the other images are down-sampled for the web. You cannot really see how sharp a picture is when it is down-sampled.

I had to manual focus the Jellies (didn't have the speedlight flash at that time) which accounts for slight loss of focus. I upped the camera to ISO 400. Fortunately, even at ISO 400 the noise is little and very easy to remove with neatimage.
 
i have the 28-70 and a 24-85 which are in the range you are looking for. I have to tell you the 24-85 is one hell of a lense also. It is hard to tell the difference between the two.. It is also alot lighter then the 28-70 so i wind up using it more often. just another choice.

todd
 
Brian,

You'll need to keep in mind the multiplier factor of the D60's smaller sensor compared to a 35mm frame of film. It's 1.6, so the 28 at the wide is really 45mm, and the 135 goes to 216mm.

The smaller sensor is great for making your lenses longer, but getting wide angle becomes a challenge.

Still saving for a D-SLR,
Bryan Lin
Brian47366 said:
--I am coming from a Canon G2 and the lens is only 34mm at is
widest (I believe) so the 28mm should be fine for now. I'm pretty
sure I'll want more zoom than the 70mm though.
Click to expand...
 
Brian Smith said:
I have a D60 on order and need a lens. After reading this board
I've narrowed it down to 2 lens:

Canon EF 28-70mm f/2.8 USM L $900.00
Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 USM IS $400

Since I'm new to this hobby I'm not sure which lens would work for
me. I want the best all round lens (i.e indoor shots, landscapes,
family pics, etc). Budget is a huge factor. I don't know if I
would like the extra zoom of the 135 or the higher (much??) quality
of the 28-70.

If you guys were starting out and only wanted ONE lens for know
what would you go for? Would you be happy with the lower priced EF
28-135 to start out w/?

Thanks in advance folks!

-Brian
Click to expand...
For family and indoor, get the 28-135 IS,
but for landscapes get the 24-70, for lanscapes the sharpeness is the first.
And for god, get a 24-70 new lens, the extra 4mm is very good for the D60.
28 = 45mm
24 = 38mm
And better lens
 
Bryan Lin said:
You'll need to keep in mind the multiplier factor of the D60's
smaller sensor compared to a 35mm frame of film. It's 1.6, so the
28 at the wide is really 45mm, and the 135 goes to 216mm.

The smaller sensor is great for making your lenses longer, but
getting wide angle becomes a challenge.

Still saving for a D-SLR,
Bryan Lin
Bryan Lin said:
--I am coming from a Canon G2 and the lens is only 34mm at is
widest (I believe) so the 28mm should be fine for now. I'm pretty
sure I'll want more zoom than the 70mm though.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
--

Does that mean the lens I purchased, 28-70mm, will really be like 45-112mm? Seems like that would make it a decent zoom w/ a fairly narrow angle.
 
Get a lens fast. When mine was on order from B & H, they said 2-4 weeks. It arrived in one week. :-) Luckily, I had the CF media and a spare battery and a couple of lenses waiting.

I have the 20-35mm, the 75-300IS and the 28-135IS is due tomorrow or the next day. I also have the 50mm 1.8 lens which is a super bargain. I returned the 28-70EX Sigma because I'm not the steadiest. It's a great value at 2.8 if you are steady handed.
 
Brian,

I'm not an expert nor have I used a 28-70L lens. My first lens was a Sigma 29-105. Major whoops there. I sold it in a week and bought the 28-135 IS which I use on a regular basis. Lost some money on the deal and decided never to do something silly like that again. Well, I try not to, anyway.

The 28-135 IS is a good all around lens and is great for walking around. I use it on hikes, walking around parks, on vacations, at parades, etc.. I also have purchased some F2.8 lenses of different varieties because after a while, I decided I wanted the contrast and better colors that some of the other lenses offered for pictures of the family, etc. I still use the 28-135 because of the reach, size and weight. Lugging around any of the 2.8 lenses gets to be a strain on my back so I use them for specific purposes (ok, I'm a bit of a lightweight.... must be my age). I'd like to get the 28-70L from what I've seen but settled on the Tokina 28-70 ATX PRO F2.8 which is rated just a bit lower and priced considerably less.

You have to make the call. One good thing about the 28-135 is the extra reach. I'm more of a zoom person and for the difference in price between the two, you can add another lens or two to "expand your horizon's" so to speak. Look for a used 80-200 2.8L and you'll have a good set.

Just my opinion for what it's worth. On the other hand, you certainly won't regret the 28-70L (but maybe, just maybe, you will the 28-135 IS). Your call.

Enjoy.
Brian Smith said:
I have a D60 on order and need a lens. After reading this board
I've narrowed it down to 2 lens:

Canon EF 28-70mm f/2.8 USM L $900.00
Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 USM IS $400

Since I'm new to this hobby I'm not sure which lens would work for
me. I want the best all round lens (i.e indoor shots, landscapes,
family pics, etc). Budget is a huge factor. I don't know if I
would like the extra zoom of the 135 or the higher (much??) quality
of the 28-70.

If you guys were starting out and only wanted ONE lens for know
what would you go for? Would you be happy with the lower priced EF
28-135 to start out w/?

Thanks in advance folks!

-Brian
Click to expand...
 
No, I don't know anything about them. I just thought if this was a very low price, it might be well to be careful.
 
I just did some price comparisons. The "L" lenses seem to carry quite a price premium. Is the only difference the glass, or is their overall construction better than the "commoner's lenses"?

Are there any places online that show direct, same-camera comparisons between equivalent L and Non-L Canon lenses?
 
http://www.photodo.com/prod/lens/canon.shtml
Compares lens qualities
Doug Warner said:
I just did some price comparisons. The "L" lenses seem to carry
quite a price premium. Is the only difference the glass, or is
their overall construction better than the "commoner's lenses"?

Are there any places online that show direct, same-camera
comparisons between equivalent L and Non-L Canon lenses?
Click to expand...
--
Minolta F100 Gallery: [ http://www.backroadsracing.com/minolta/]
Nikon N80 Gallery: [ http://www.backroadsracing.com/images/n80_scans/]
 
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