Looking for a new lens, extra zoom

garlad

Hi,
I have a Canon Eos 400 D. Use it mainly for family/landscape photos. Have the stock 18-55 lens.
I have a Sigma 100-300mm lens I bought for an old Canon 500 N, but unfortunately this does not always work on the EOS 400D. Get a Generic Error most of the time. Probably coz its too old?
I'd like to get another lens which works.
Ideally would like something in the range 18-200. Then I dont have to keep swapping lenses. Looking at 200-300 quid.
Any ideas/advise?

Sleepy

I have the 55-250 IS which is a decent budget zoom lens for my 450D. It's not great in low light but absolutely fine in outdoor conditions.

BTW - if you're thinking of getting rid of the Sigma, throw it up on adverts - I'm in the market for a cheap Canon zoom for a 300v

garlad

Cheers for the reply.
Is that the canon 55-250? Just saw it on Grafton st for 279.
Definitely will put it up on adverts. Whats a fair price you reckon?

Sleepy

I've no idea, would need to know more about the lens to get a rough price from ebay! Maybe someone else here knows?

Steve Reddin

Hi Garlad,

I'm taking the assumption that you'd like to stick with Sigma, so in the focal length / price range you're talking about Sigma do a 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 DG, on eBay for around €250 and they also do a 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 DC OS (image stabilisation), on eBay for around €300.

Whether these lens are compatible with the Canon 400D I'd not like to say, I'm fairly sure they are but I know Sigma will answer that for you very quickly.

Just as a side note, if you can put up with changing the lens as required, would you consider getting a longer focal length to supplement your current lens? If you do this you're not paying out extra for the new lens to cover the focal length you already have, so you can pay for the new lens to have a longer focal length, or have a faster aperture (the latter probably being more useful for you).

On another side note, the 500N was my first SLR....sigh....I miss the sound it made when it wound the film on.

Hope this helps you somewhat.

Steve

garlad

Hi Steve,
Thanks for reply.
Dont need to stick with Sigma.
Also had a look at the Canon 28-135 IS USM, looks nice too, but someone said its not recommended for a 1.6x body. I think this means the wide wont be wide enough, more like 44mm on the EOS 400D. Am I right ?

I miss that sound too.

Steve Reddin

Hi Garlad,

garlad wrote: »

Dont need to stick with Sigma.

That's fair enough, but I've found that for lens with varying aperture (that is an aperture that gets smaller at it's maximum size when you zoom out) Sigma and Canon are fairly like for like, except for the price. I've really only noticed a major difference in the faster or fixed aperture lens; the lens does appear to focus much faster.

For the lens you are looking at if you go with Canon you'll probably end up paying more just to have the Canon name on the lens, although I'm certain there may be subtle differences that I've missed out on so I'm open to correction here.

garlad wrote: »

Hi Steve,
Also had a look at the Canon 28-135 IS USM, looks nice too, but someone said its not recommended for a 1.6x body. I think this means the wide wont be wide enough, more like 44mm on the EOS 400D. Am I right ?

In a word yes, or more correctly 45mm.

Basically what this refers to is the crop factor. The lens focal length, in this case 28mm to 135mm, is given based on a full size sensor, i.e. one that has a sensor the same size or dimensions as a 35mm film frame. These are also called full frame cameras. As far as I know full frame in Canon only comes in the 1D and 5D series. Other more common sensor sizes are 1.6x, which is a consumer or prosumer size, and 1.3x, which is a semi / full professional size.

To get the equivalent focal length, as you said correctly above, you multiply the focal lenght by the crop factor. The lens above then becomes a 45mm to 216mm lens (28mm * 1.6 = 44.8mm and 135mm * 1.6 = 216mm). Why this happens is a little difficult to explain in words so I've done a quick image below to help.

[IMG]http://captureit.ie/boards/Crop factor.jpg[/IMG]

Ok, so the full size image represents the full frame and the greyed out area represents the difference in size between the full frame and a cropped frame. You can see here how a cropped frame, because it's smaller, can't see the extremities of the full frame, this is how you loose the wideness so to speak. It does however focus on the centre of the image, this is why you get greater equivalent zoom.

So, depending on the crop factor of the camera you are using, you loose the wide angle ability, but you pick up greater zoom, it's a bit robbing one hand to pay the other.

Ignore my signature on the photograph, that'll not appear on your sensor, I just pulled an image quickly to show you....unbelievably blatant self promotion, God, I'm terrible

Hope this helps a bit.

Steve

Sleepy

Yep, you're right there garland, you'd have no real wide angle coverage with that.

There's a Sigma 18-200 that works okay on the 400d but gives Er99 on later bodies - you might be able to pick up one of them quite cheaply now?

garlad

Sleepy wrote: »

I have the 55-250 IS which is a decent budget zoom lens for my 450D. It's not great in low light but absolutely fine in outdoor conditions.

BTW - if you're thinking of getting rid of the Sigma, throw it up on adverts - I'm in the market for a cheap Canon zoom for a 300v

Stuck that lens up on adverts !

Sleepy

I see it there but don't want to thread spoil or insult you with a low ball offer... the same lens is about half the price you're looking for on ebay - I'd be confident of picking up a more recent Canon 70-300 that would work on digitals for around 140 second hand...

garlad

Nice one sleepy.
To be honest I saw them in Conns second hand for 80, and they weren't in as good a nick as mine.
110 is only a starting point. It can always go down !
Make an offer

garlad

Price drop on this if anyone interested
http://adverts.ie/256048
also
18-55 kit lens
http://adverts.ie/260021