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A decent lens for a decent price - T1I EF-S

C

compguy786

Platinum Member
Guys,

I have the stock 18-55 MM, and its a decent lens, but im looking for something that takes more professional looking pictures, rather than just better than a p and S. What are some decent lenses for under 250-200. Im a college student, and just looking around to see what i can afford.

Thanks.
 
Professional looking pictures? What are you looking for though? What are you wanting to take pictures of? What kind of situation? I'm pretty sure there's quite a few capable lenses (especially used) in your price range, but people can list a bunch and have no idea what you're looking to do with it.
 
For that price I would just recommend getting the 50mm f1.8 prime lens. It is prime so you won't be able to zoom. It is $100-150 depending on if you buy new or used.

As a side note - Your t1i is a crop body with a factor of 1.6 times. This means you have to account for that crop factor when selecting a lens, because it will have a magnifying effect. You have to multiply 1.6 times the mm of your lens (in this case 50mm). So on your t1i body, the 50mm 1.8 prime is actually more like an 80mm. Try sticking your 18-55 lens on 50 mm and go shoot pictures for a whole day without moving the zoom, you'll find out what it's like having the 50mm prime.

pro side to the lens is that it's dirt cheap, but is still nice glass. The price does affect the quality in some cases though. It's made out of plastic, so be extra careful not to drop it. A lot of people complain about the build quality, but I see no problem for the amount of money I spent on it.

con side is that the bokeh can be not perfectly circular. This is due to the aperature only having 5 "blades." The bokeh kinda looks pentagonal for this reason. Autofocus seems a little slow for me sometimes, but that's okay because I mainly just use manual focus. People have said the focus ring is loud, which is mostly true. It doesn't annoy me though, because of how much I spent on it.
 
Canon 50mm f/1.8
Canon 35mm f/2
Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 (non VC)...used for $300 ish

Take your pick. All are quite sharp; the Tamron is the most versatile.
 
but im looking for something that takes more professional looking pictures
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Replace the photographer.

Your gear doesn't take great pictures. You do.

A bit less bitchy response - try a prime lens. Doesn't necessarily need to be an L, but just about anything without zoom is > than a zoom lens. Try the Canon 85mm - orders of magnitude sharper at 85mm than the 28-135 kit.

http://www.amazon.com/Canon-85mm-Med.../dp/B00007GQLU

However it comes with its own set of issues: 85mm is preeeeety narrow and practically unusable indoors.

Again - reread the first part of this post. That 18-55 is decent and one of the most useful I've used for "one-lens" outings outdoors.
 
After testing quite a few lenses as an aspiring photographer, I've come to the conclusion that the kit lens is already very good in sharpness compared to many lenses under $500. The major shortcoming is low-light performance (when handheld) and maybe not shallow enough depth of field for portraits.

Look at the samples on this page: http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=445986 There are some impressive professional shots taken with the kit lens. The difference is in shooting/lighting technique and post-processing.

For your budget there are only a couple lenses you should consider: the 50mm 1.8 and maybe the 55-250 for more reach.
 
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compguy786 said:
Here is a pic i took with stock lens :

http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hpho...46696812611_1392630173_31455150_1871347_n.jpg

Here is a picture that i want mine to look like :

http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hpho...00184055692768_5725635_54533189_6731668_n.jpg

Help any ?
Click to expand...

Uhh...I don't see anything in that photo that you cannot do with your T1i and 18-55 kit lens.

The left part of the fence is blurred because the camera was very close to it. If you positioned your 18-55 just a foot or two away from a fence, focused on the person, and used a moderately large aperture of f/4.5 or so, you'd get a very similar picture.

I think it might be more beneficial to read up about the basics of photography (e.g. depth of field, perspective, composition, exposure) before investing in new gear. You'd be amazed at the things that you can do with the kit lens!

Buy new gear only when you're limited by what you have, not because you think that buying new gear alone will improve your photography. At the end of the day it is a person who takes the picture, not the gear.
 
996GT2 said:
Uhh...I don't see anything in that photo that you cannot do with your T1i and 18-55 kit lens.

The left part of the fence is blurred because the camera was very close to it. If you positioned your 18-55 just a foot or two away from a fence, focused on the person, and used a moderately large aperture of f/4.5 or so, you'd get a very similar picture.

I think it might be more beneficial to read up about the basics of photography (e.g. depth of field, perspective, composition, exposure) before investing in new gear. You'd be amazed at the things that you can do with the kit lens!

Buy new gear only when you're limited by what you have, not because you think that buying new gear alone will improve your photography. At the end of the day it is a person who takes the picture, not the gear.
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Agree with what you can do. Here are all the pics i have taken with the DSLR (both XS and T1i)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25647848@N00/

Check it out and tell me what you guys think ?
 
compguy786 said:
Here is a picture that i want mine to look like :

Help any ?
Click to expand...

I think what attracts you to this photo is the lighting. It appears to be taken during the morning hours when the sun is at a lower angle.

"Amateurs worry about equipment, pros worry about money, masters worry about light."
 
Man was I pissed when I realized what I considered "awesome" photos can only happen about 2 hours per day. The Golden Hour really is.

Seriously, don't try to buy this. You can't. It'll cost a lot and you'll just end up frustrated. It really is the "photographer" that makes the pictures. It takes a certain kind of person to be able to shoot awesome saleable photographs all the time. It's after all an art form.

I've learned that some people are just "artists". Just like some people are born programmers, some people are born with the inate ability to just bust out some great creative goodness. Now that doesn't stop you from being able to make something just as good. I think some people just have to work harder at it, while for an artist it sort of pours out of them. My brother in law is a physical artist. He does sculptures, props, stage stuff, murals, etc. One day we were hanging out and working on some clay, he was working on a skull, that in 30 minutes he whipped up the most realistic diabolical looking freaking awesome skull I've ever seen. In that time frame I made a goofy looking ashtray and worked my ass off on it. I also know a couple of pro photographers. It isn't the gear that gets them paid, its that they can see the picture in their head, and utilize the equipment they have to capture that. The eye and learning to see is probably the most important part of photography.

A great place to help you learn to see - is to read a book called "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Patterson.
 
compguy786 said:
Ok i was browsing ebay and found amazing lenses. Well, I want to know your opinions on these..

http://cgi.ebay.com/Canon-EF-EFs-EO...24992183?pt=Camera_Lenses&hash=item1e63e552b7

http://cgi.ebay.com/CANON-EF-90-300...90522118?pt=Camera_Lenses&hash=item3368240106

http://cgi.ebay.com/Canon-EOS-EF-28...04166843?pt=Camera_Lenses&hash=item4aab753bbb

Looking at these three. Really interested in getting a USM lesn !
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Your first link for the 28-70mm is probably going to be the best bang for the money, because it's aperture gets down to f3.5, but still that's not any more than your kit lens. I would recommend getting the 50mm 1.8 lens even though it has no zoom, you still can get down to f1/8.

The other two lenses are not that great in my opinion, and I'll explain why. Both of those lenses have apertures that do not get very wide open, which means you will be letting less light in. Those bottom lenses in your list are F/4.5-5.6 on the aperture, so you'll get the best pictures outside, or where there is a ton of light. If you want to start taking really pro photos, you should also invest a little more money in your gear. You can take some great photos with the lenses you've listed, but it will be easier to take even better photos by spending more on your glass.

A lot of people will be saying it's not the equipment that makes the photographer great, it's the photographer's knowledge that will make him/her great. I believe it is a mix though, you need knowledge of how your camera works, and you also need some higher rated equipment.

To understand more about how your aperture, ISO, and shutter speed settings will affect your pictures, take a look at this great simulator: http://www.kamerasimulator.se/eng/?page_id=2

Also, in the image you posted above with the glass sculpture thing, It seems as though you might need to learn to adjust your white balance. I think you're in tungsten light there (yellow or orange light) so you should set your white balance to Tungsten and it will give you more accurate colors.
 
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In my mind this is simply a question about the differences between a DSLR and a point and shoot camera.

With a DSLR camera not only do you see exactly what the lens sees, you have the advantage of choosing the right lens for the right job.

With the basic point and shoot camera, the el cheapies don't have much focal length range and the sharpness of the image is not very good. Spend more on a point and shoot, and you get a greater focal length range set of options, but still in the choice no focal length will be really sharp.

But when you choose a large set of prime primes lens with auto focus on a DSLR, you basically get the best out of your DSLR, but the cost is enormous to have a prime lens to fit every need. Especially when I have Charlemagne tastes with a beer budget because I want the ability to shoot from all focal length ranges from macro to telephoto, and everything in between.

The other things to note is that best lens sharpness most matters in only the large blow up photo display sizes. Its a big difference between viewing 3x5 prints v 16x20. But the big uncorrectable problems are improper exposure, out of focus, or blur due to subject motion or camera shake.

In short, OP, choose what types of photo situations you are interested in and buy lens that fit those situations.
 
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