Zoom lens suggestion

benjilafouine wrote:

My only suggestion is: buy the fastest lens you can buy and for a crop sensor. Here’s what I have:

1. Sigma 18-200 f3.5-f6.3. Not a bad lens but a bit slow for birds and a bit dark for concerts (low light). At f6.3, it would probably work if you accept higher ISO. And the rage is good. My copy is a bit soft I must admit though. My concert days are over so I can’t tell you more!

2. Canon 70-200 L f2.8. Great lens but very expensive. It comes with or without IS. This one rocks!

3. Canon extender 2x, bringing the above lens to 400mm at f5.6. Fast enough for birds and boats and sports and definitely concerts. A little high on the ISO but plenty of software to fix that. This one will slow down a bit the above but it still rocks! You can also get the 1.4x extender.

Here’s what I don’t have (but I wish I had): a fast 400 mm zoom, like the 100-400mm L lens f5.6. This is the ultimate of course.

But I am afraid all the above lens are not in your price range.

There are some third party lens (Tokina I believe) that will be more suited for you.

Or you could get an external flash but i concerts, you may get into some trouble.

Thanks so much !

The Sigma could work - I don't think he will be too concerned with noise at his current level, general framing and captured action would be preferred. I've done a lot of concert / low light shooting but had the low light Sony and 2.8 lenses so will have to get him to experiment how the Canon fairs at 6.3

70-200 L f2.8 is very attractive and he can always upgrade the body at a later date, but possibly still too early days to stretch that far budget-wise just now. I'll check out some 3rd party offerings - Tokina, etc....also it looks like Sigma might have a 2.8 if we stretch just towards 4 figures which might be doable for the perfect option.

I doubt flash will be an option, not just from the annoyance factor but I've found the ambient lighting in concerts adds so much to the feel and I see flash getting in the way.

Thanks again.