Canon EOS 1000D - 18-55mm lens - not very happy

voodoo

Hi there,

I wonder if you can help. I am new to DLSR and recently I purchased a new Canon 2 weeks ago with the accompanying lense and I have to say I am disappointed with it... It doesnt seem like it has got a very good "zoom" on it. Am I doing something wrong or is it not great?

If it's not great. Can you suggest a good lense that I can use for this. I am going to a wedding abroad next week and I wanted to be able to capture some really good shots with it. I just dont think that the current lense is good enough to get some good close up shots from far out!

Cheers

Borderfox

Have a look here at what is possible with the lens you have
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=185522&highlight=kit+lens

Probably best starter lens is the 50mm f1.8 lens

Rb

http://www.amazon.com/Opteka-650-2600mm-Definition-Telephoto-Canon/dp/B000HGK80Y/ref=pd_bbs_3?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1239812270&sr=8-3

wersal gummage

Rb wrote: »

http://www.amazon.com/Opteka-650-2600mm-Definition-Telephoto-Canon/dp/B000HGK80Y/ref=pd_bbs_3?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1239812270&sr=8-3

ha! could prob take the pictures of the wedding without going abroad with that yoke!

AnCatDubh

Not sure if previously you've used P&S cameras - sometimes up to perhaps 10x optical which are enormous zooms. If so then you will find that a kit lens zoom will be poor by comparison (on the ability to zoom front). There is an old adage used normally on primes (which have no zoom capacity at all) about zooming with your feet! Seriously it works(!).

What you are looking through @ 18-55 in a lens is the equivalent of about a 3x optical zoom ie. at its widest 18mm X 3 = 54mm. So it may not compare at all if you had previously used a P&S with 6x or 10x zoom (in pure X times zoom)

Now that you are in the DSLR world you are probably better think in terms of the focal length of what it is that you want to capture. You can go from very wide focal length's (about 12mm) to very long telephotos (1000mm and more perhaps). But you more narrowly tune what it is that you want to do. As your lens collection grows you will fill in the blanks.

At the moment, I have the 18-55, and a 50mm prime, and a 28-80, and a 70-300. So i'm some way covered anywhere between 18mm - 300mm depending on what I want to do. Generally with DSLR's one lens won't fit all situations so you'll gather a collection to suit different situations.

There's a nice range on some lens of 28-200 or even 28-300 but remember with zooms that they will have their sweet spots where the resulting image passed through to the sensor is at its best - you need to fiddle to find where this is but as a guide at about half way through the focal length and about mid way through the aperture. Your image quality wouldn't be as good at either of the extremes (28mm or 200mm). Then again the more you are willing to spend the better the quality can be with the right choice of lens. Aperture also comes into play in terms of what you want to do with your new lens and what you are prepared to pay for it.

Sorry, but I'm not a Canon shooter so i've no specific recommendations but hopefully the above will give you the jist of what to look out for. Also check lens reviews. Even the best of brands Canon included have produced some dogs of lens in the past which are pretty poor (also happens to Nikon and basically every brand) - but they all have fantastic ones too.

Good luck with it.

voodoo

Hi all,

Thanks for the responses. Very useful although I do think that the "telescope" recommended would be a little overkill/heavy and estethically not very pretty

If anyone had any suggestions on a good lens to go for, I would appreciate it or if anyone has any that they are looking to offload

rameire

Probably best starter lens is the 50mm f1.8 lens

Good choice Borderfox, or maybe the 75-300 USM f4.0-5.6 as another affordable starter option.
You could get a decent lens secondhand in some stores to which you could swap out once you decide what type of lenses you need...

voodoo

Guys, is this the lens you were talking about -

http://www.adverts.ie/showproduct.php?product=107926

I made an offer to secure it! It would seem a good price?

Ciaran_Dub

voodoo wrote: »

Guys, is this the lens you were talking about -

http://www.adverts.ie/showproduct.php?product=107926

I made an offer to secure it! It would seem a good price?

There is another version of this lens its the APO version and it is the one recommended by most. Not trying to put you off that lens jsut giving my advice. Search for reviews on both.

silverside

the 18-55 is not a great quality lens, but it sounds like you are complaining about the lack of zoom rather than the optical quality / speed

for a good walkabout replacement you could get the sigma 17-70 or canon 17-85, second hand from 200 quid up which give slightly longer zoom but much better optical quality. beyond that you are looking at semi-pro ( canon L series ) for 400 blips upwards.

the 50mm f1.8 is cheap (80 quid odd) and amazing quality though as it is a fixed zoom it needs some care in framing. check out the aquarium pictures on my flickr for an idea what its capable of.

AnCatDubh

It's a great value lens - bang for buck its probably one of the best in the focal range. I have it in a Pentax mount.

Being value means that you'll get nice results with it but maybe not astounding results. It's not as sharp as the more expensive guys and suffers a little at the extremes 70mm or in my case in particular out at 300mm. Needs a good bit of light too. Still very usable.

Mine gets used very regularly - a good sign.

Price is pretty average s/h for that kind of lens tbh - not a great bargain but not being had either. New, I think you'd pay about €150ish for it.

Oh yeah, it is a heavy beast too. Guaranteed to build muscles

Howitzer

50mm 1.8 will get you your best interior (church) wedding shots. (on your current budget)

The sigma you've just bought is a great lens and will be good for sport /wildlife and outdoor wedding shots. Also good for macro close up shots.
It will struggle in a church at the telephoto 300mm end. That's the nature of moving into slr's. I have a similar canon lens and wouldn't even bother mounting it in a church.

A point and shoot will give a better zoom shot in a church for less cost. But wouldn't be a greatly sellable photo to a wedding couple - would look noisy compared to using slr + good lens. (That said bring your p+s with you to supplement your shots.

If you have a few more quid anything in the 18-55 kind of range with a 2.8 aperture will give good indoor shots.

Next on your list is flashes...

God does it ever end?!