3 Tips For Buying Your First Canon Eos Lens
What do you suppose is your first decision as a new digital SLR owner
? It should be which lens you want as a walk-around lens. This is not a decision to take lightly. There are many who have lost countless hours of sleep over this one question.
There is a plethora of excellent
Canon EOS lenses to choose from as your all-purpose lens. The problem is just that, the selection is mind boggling! Which one is right for you?
Making one general assumption, let's assume that you are searching for a zoom lens rather than a single focal length lens. If this is you, I congratulate you for not being like many who just get the kit lens with their digital SLR camera. While choosing a kit lens may make sense to you now, you will likely not be happy with the lens down the road. You either think you will just wait and buy a better lens later, or you don't even consider a different lens.
My personal opinion on this matter is different The way I feel is that you should spend your money on the best lens you can get, and if you can't afford the best, wait. Think about it, you are going to upgrade pretty quickly, right? So why not do a little more research up front and get a better lens right out of the starting gate?
Now that we have established the need for a good all purpose lens, what are the criteria for choosing one?
Number one is focal length. Numbers are important, but the exact number is not life-threatening. A zoom lens with the shortest focal length of 17-28mm and a long focal length of 55-75mm will give you a nice variety to work with. So, for example, a lens with 24-70 will give you plenty of flexibility. Some people like more zoom, so they opt for a longer lens such as 105mm. This is fine, too, just certify that the other factors below are in the equation.
What about "super-zoom" lenses? It's true that there are now some lenses in the 18-250mm range that are getting a lot of attention. Canon, Sigma, and Tamron are now in this market. They have gotten good reviews, however just keep in mind that the image quality will not be as good as those lenses with less zoom capability.
The next factor to consider is aperture. The best lenses will have a constant aperture of f/2.8 across all focal lengths. Lenses with a variable aperture such as f/3.5-5.6 will be less expensive, however, these variable aperture lenses do not perform as well in all situations, notably low light environments.
The last thing to consider when buying your first lens is price. This may be your first priority, but it really needs to come after the other two. If you can't afford the best, it is much better to wait until the funds are available, rather than to get a cheap lens. Don't make the same mistake that so many who have gone before you. If good image quality is something you take seriously, you will not be satisfied with a poorly constructed lens. Using an inferior lens leads to frustration and disappointment.
Now, you can save money by using
Canon EOS lenses from third party manufacturers. Some Tamron and Sigma lenses are very good and cost less than a Canon lens that is identical in capabilities.
A word of warning. Digital camera forums can be very confusing when trying to decide on a lens... very confusing. There are lots of well meaning photographers in the forums who will express opinions based on some highly selective criteria just to show how much they know. While this is not always the case, it happens often enough to make your research quite complicated if you are basing it on those forum posts.
User opinions on the Canon USE camera manufacturer site are much more helpful. Then there are other sites that will guide you as well. These are FredMiranda.com and online stores like Amazon.
by: Wayne Rasku
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