XSi Kit or ??

[olds]

After a set back (wife lost her job) and a lot of research, my wife has settled on a camera. She is going to get the Canon Rebel XSi. She has never owned a SLR or a DSLR so she will be learning with it. How are the included lenses for a hobby shooter taking landscapes and family gathering shots? I assume she will get better at photography and may want better equipment. We will need a telephoto for landscapes and something for indoor shooting at family events.
I am leaning towards just buying a body and a lens or two and a flash but want to stay under $1500 if that's possible.
Or just get the kit and a flash.
Camera example:
http://www.ritzcamera.com/product/SLR1197.htm

Or get a body and buy separate lenses? Is this upgrade worth the cost?
Lens examples:
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8
I know it's plastic but seems like nice glass and cheap enough to replace.

Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM

Eventually we'll add a wide angle and a macro.
TIA

 

[pdo]

Does it have to be Canon? You can get a Pentax kit for cheap and it has in body shake reduction.

Pentax kit 18-55mm and 50-200mm

oops this forums doesn't allowed links to EBBAY

 

[jpeyton]

XSi kit is less on Amazon.

 

[olds]

Originally posted by: pdo
Does it have to be Canon? You can get a Pentax kit for cheap and it has in body shake reduction.

Pentax kit 18-55mm and 50-200mm

oops this forums doesn't allowed links to EBBAY

The "Ebay" problem should be fixed soon.

She likes the Xsi, fits her hands well, menu is easy to use and it has live view.

 

[randomlinh]

if she's deadset on the canon, get the kit, or at least the 18-55 IS. that and the 55-250 are very good kit lenses. 50/1.8 is nice too, small, cheap, light, good quality images. But it's a little long for your only lens on a crop body. And unless she knows she likes primes, get the zooms.

 

[ghostman]

I can't argue against getting the camera kit with two lenses. I think the 18-55mm and 55-250mm kit lenses will become very limiting if your wife starts to really take her photography more seriously (outside of treating it as a big P&S), but it's a great value to cover your typical focal range. If your wife does outgrow the kit lenses, she can likely resell them at a decent price. If her interest never goes very far, those two lenses are decent enough for most occasions.

The 50 f/1.8 is a good lens. It's great for low-light shots, but be aware that it's not all that great focusing in those low-light environments. I also think it's should complement your lens collection, not replace one of your two kit lenses. The 18-55mm range is very useful. There are some situations where 50mm is just not wide enough.

Some people hate flash. Those people aren't using it correctly. Your kit lenses do not perform well in low light. Eventually, you may find a flash to be necessary. I'd recommend a Canon 420EX/430EX/550EX/580EX or a Sigma Super. You need a flash that can swivel/tilt so you can bounce the flash off ceilings and walls. Don't waste money on a flash that can fire forward only or is too weak to bounce. It'll be hardly better than your on-camera flash.

If you do plan to upgrade and spend a bit over $1500, I think a (relatively) cheap, but high quality set of lenses would be:
Super-Wide: Tokina 12-24mm
Normal: Tamron 28-75mm
Telephoto: Canon 70-200mm F4L

 

[olds]

Originally posted by: ghostman
I can't argue against getting the camera kit with two lenses. I think the 18-55mm and 55-250mm kit lenses will become very limiting if your wife starts to really take her photography more seriously (outside of treating it as a big P&S), but it's a great value to cover your typical focal range. If your wife does outgrow the kit lenses, she can likely resell them at a decent price. If her interest never goes very far, those two lenses are decent enough for most occasions.

The 50 f/1.8 is a good lens. It's great for low-light shots, but be aware that it's not all that great focusing in those low-light environments. I also think it's should complement your lens collection, not replace one of your two kit lenses. The 18-55mm range is very useful. There are some situations where 50mm is just not wide enough.

Some people hate flash. Those people aren't using it correctly. Your kit lenses do not perform well in low light. Eventually, you may find a flash to be necessary. I'd recommend a Canon 420EX/430EX/550EX/580EX or a Sigma Super. You need a flash that can swivel/tilt so you can bounce the flash off ceilings and walls. Don't waste money on a flash that can fire forward only or is too weak to bounce. It'll be hardly better than your on-camera flash.

If you do plan to upgrade and spend a bit over $1500, I think a (relatively) cheap, but high quality set of lenses would be:
Super-Wide: Tokina 12-24mm
Normal: Tamron 28-75mm
Telephoto: Canon 70-200mm F4L

Thanks for the info.

 

[extra]

I would say:

--18-55mm IS has great image quality, it's only downside is (relatively) slow aperture
--55-250mm IS has *fantastic* image quality, it's only downside is (once again) relatively slow aperture. The 70-300mm is not worth the added cost imho. It's worth getting the 55-250mm, trust me. Even if you eventually want to get an expensive 70-200mm f2.8L IS. It's still worth it. You won't get rid of it. It's TINY for what it does and the image quality is amazing. The IS is amazing. I disagree with ghostman, I don't think those two lenses are a limit to being a serious photographer at all *DEPENDING ON WHAT YOUR NEEDS ARE*.

They DO limit your ability to do some things where you would need a faster lens though (ie low light motion stuff like indoor sports)...if that is what you want to do, then they would not meet your needs.

It's all just different tools for different jobs. When I go hiking do I carry the 400mm prime that I have? Hell no. I carry the 55-250mm IS. It weighs nothing.

If you desire an upgrade for that try to get the Canon 17-55mm F2.8 IS. If not, Ghost's Tamron recommendation is a good one. Avoid the Canon 17-85, it has worse image quality than the 18-55mm IS and despite being USM still focuses slowly.

For wide angle, the Canon 10-22mm is good. HOWEVER I'd recommend the Tokina 11-16 because it is F2.8 .

Find a used 50mm f1.8 on craigslist, you can find them for approx $50 (is what I got mine for). Image quality is great at f2.8 and above, good at lower. Yes, the build quality and focus are horrible, but meh.

Get a Canon 430ex II flash for starters. It's worth getting the II model to be able to control it from the camera and the mount is much more secure. Yes, the 580 is better, but is also much more expensive. Get the 430 for now and then when you buy a 580 later you can use the 430 as a slave.

For macro, before you buy a real macro lens go to deal extreme and pick up the $10 extension tubes. Great way to explore macro! (For example, I took this with the 50mm F1.8 @ F8, and the small and medium extension tubes stacked: http://www.flickr.com/photos/a...yn/3171941315/sizes/l/ ).

Edit: one more thing... to eventually enlarge your prime lens collection, after a few months of having the slr go through the pictures taken with the zooms. Look at your style of photography. What focal length do you use most? If you find yourself using 100mm a lot, might be time to pick up the 100mm macro or the 135l..etc.

 

[akugami]

I just ordered a Canon 50D from Amazon. There's a special going on. It's $1241 for the Canon 50D along with a 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6. The bad part is the shipping date is estimated at 1 week to 4 weeks. So if you're not in a hurry, you can order this and just let it ship whenever. I found the price to be pretty good considering a used 50D cost about $900-950'ish and a used 28-135mm lens cost about $250. New the 50D typically runs $1200 and the lens $400.

Buy the 430EX II flash for $235 (instant rebate ends in a few days) and you should be set as far as a starter set goes. Just fits under your $1500 threshold. The kit lens should be good enough to get you started and you have plenty of room on the 50D to grow when you want better lenses later on. At least that was my thinking since I ordered the 430EX flash & Canon 50D kit last week. My brother has a 70-200mm f/4 L that I'll borrow later on and I plan to get more lenses, especially a few good primes for indoor photo work of my baby daughter.

 

[randomlinh]

Originally posted by: akugami
I just ordered a Canon 50D from Amazon. There's a special going on. It's $1241 for the Canon 50D along with a 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6. The bad part is the shipping date is estimated at 1 week to 4 weeks. So if you're not in a hurry, you can order this and just let it ship whenever. I found the price to be pretty good considering a used 50D cost about $900-950'ish and a used 28-135mm lens cost about $250. New the 50D typically runs $1200 and the lens $400.

Buy the 430EX II flash for $235 (instant rebate ends in a few days) and you should be set as far as a starter set goes. Just fits under your $1500 threshold. The kit lens should be good enough to get you started and you have plenty of room on the 50D to grow when you want better lenses later on. At least that was my thinking since I ordered the 430EX flash & Canon 50D kit last week. My brother has a 70-200mm f/4 L that I'll borrow later on and I plan to get more lenses, especially a few good primes for indoor photo work of my baby daughter.

I dunno, I think the XSi is a smarter buy for the OP's wife. The extra money can go to lenses later... or just the bank for now. The 50D is a pretty good deal though.

 

[akugami]

Originally posted by: randomlinh
I dunno, I think the XSi is a smarter buy for the OP's wife. The extra money can go to lenses later... or just the bank for now. The 50D is a pretty good deal though.

True, the XSi will definitely save you some money you can put towards more lenses later on. The 50D is still a very good deal on a pricey camera. My thinking was the 50D is a better camera that can allow me to grow as I learn more about photography.

I also save time by not having to try to sell the lower end camera body since I already have a camera that I should be happy with for years to come. I played around with my brother's Rebel and while I liked some of the shots that came out (some were horrible too), the Rebel felt a little light and not too solid. Not sure I'll upgrade to a full frame camera so this 50D will probably be my first and last camera for years to come.

Knowing full well that it's the artist and not the tools that creates good art, it's still a plus to have good tools. Besides, the wife doesn't know how much I spent on the camera.