Canon EOS 500D Digital SLR Camera Body

[Kayleigh]

Its my 50th birthday soon and I am lucky enough to get a new lens..and was thinking of this camera..Canon EOS 500D Digital SLR Camera (Body only). ..

What I need is a lens TO FIT IT...I have no clue what would fit and what wont I want it for everyday general long shots landscapes birds ect then one for macro to fit the body..
I have a fugi atm and is really simple to use so please dont use too technical terms.
Is this camera OK for a beginner or would you recommend something else.
I want to be able to photograph the birds in the garden and also insects and land landscapes..
So any advice would be welcomed..

Thank you
Elaine

[Jim Ford]

The camera body is just an accessory to the lens. The lens quality determines at least 90% of the final image quality. Lenses last for years, whereas the body soon gets superseded.

For the above reasons, choose the lens(es) you need first and then the body to utilise them. Choose an indifferent lens (eg the notorious old 18-55mm 'coke bottle' Canon kit lens) and no matter what body you fit it to, it will produce indifferent images.

Jim

[glsammy]

I'm sure the 500D would be a very good camera body.
Here's a good place to start: Canon EOS 500D / Digital Rebel T1i Review: 1. Introduction: Digital Photography Review

Don't get too concerned re all the specifications. I'd certainly recommend you go down to your local dealer and try on in the hand as the handling is one area this camera has come into some criticism, not suiting large hands. That shouldn't be too much of a problem for you though.
As for lenses, this is where you'll end up spending the vast majority of your money. There's no magic lens that does it all unfortunately. For birds you need a lens with a good range, 300mm at minimum. For landscapes you often want a lens that will go down to a minimum of 28mm.
Have a look here: Canon EF 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 L IS USM Lens Review
You can read reviews of all the lenses, and see how much you may end up needing to pay.

[Jim Ford]

dpreview is _the_ review site:

Digital Camera Product Reviews: Digital Photography Review

Here's the review for the 500D:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos500d/

Jim

[squishy]

Lenses that will fit canon bodies are called EF mount.

The 500D is a crop sensor DSLR, so will also fit EF-s lenses (lenses designed for crop sensors).

Like Glsammy said, with DSLR's there aren't any do anything lenses. One of the advantages with DSLR's is that you have separate lenses for different applications, so they can be more specialised and better at what they do. This is also a disadvantage in some ways, because you need a few lenses if you want to cover different types of photography.

The closest you'll get to a 'do everything' lens is an 18-200 or 18-270mm lens. These will go wide enough for landscapes, and long enough for some telephoto applications. But the disadvantage is that they won't produce images as good as with a more specialised lens for whatever you are photographing at the time.
Your fuji is an S9600 isn't it? That has a 28-300mm fixed lens. The 500D is a crop body, so in effect you multiply the focal length of a lens on it by 1.6x. So an 18-200 becomes a 28-320mm, about the same range as you get now.
But to get a more drastic improvement in image quality, you are better off splitting that into two lenses, say, an 18-55mm IS (The old canon 18-55mm NON-IS was the infamously poor quality one, the newer IS version is improved to a reasonable quality level) and a 55-250mm IS.
Like Jim and Glsammy have said, you can read reviews of various lenses on sites like DPreview and The-digital-picture to give you an idea of how well they perform.

For a macro lens, something like the tamron 90mm or the sigma 105mm might suit you? Any macro lens is going to be sharp.
One thing to bare in mind is that some lenses with 'macro' in the name aren't actually true macro lenses. With very few exceptions, all macro lenses are primes (only have one fixed focal length), so a zoom labelled macro won't actually be a macro lens, it'll just focus quite close.

Hope that helps?

[MeadsMan]

If you keep your Fuji for back up,you can add lenses to your SLR later down the line.I think the lenses are the things to consider most,get the best you can budget for.I would have thought something along the lines of canons 17-85 and there 75-300 with image stabiliser would be a very good starter set.You can use your fuji for macro stuff which I would think it`s very capable of ? Till you can afford a proper macro lens.It might be worth having a look on the auction site for lenses,it could well save you a couple of hundred pounds or more,if you find a trustworthy seller.

[nutmeg]

The 500D would be fine for a beginner - and I'd probably buy it body only as you suggested you'd do so that you don't buy a kit lens with it that you don't have a need for. My first DSLR was the 400D and I came to it knowing very little and got to grips with the basics quite quickly... especially after I ditched the kit lens that came with it and gave me nothing but frustration as it just didn't meet my photography needs!

You seem to want to photograph pretty much the full range of situations I don't think you'll find a single lens that will allow that without making compromises. Macro is my love, so the first lens I bought was a Sigma 105 (you have to buy third party lenses in Canon fit if you have a Canon - hope this isn't patronising, but you did sound a bit confused about which lenses would fit ). I've found it absolutely fine for most of my macro needs, although the real tiny stuff like springtails is a bit small and either needs huge cropping or using extension tubes etc.

I continue to use a point and shoot for most landscape, groups of people etc. because I don't often do this type of photography and can't run to the expense of a good lens in that range.

I have a 300mm lens for birds etc. Be aware that 300mm might sound quite 'long', but for frame-filling images of robins and the like you have to be close! I know some people who have been extremely disappointed even with 500mm lenses when discovering that birds are beyond range and barely make an impact in the frame. Long lenses also tend to be pretty heavy (and expensive) and I wouldn't want to lug one around!

Any chance of you trying out friends' gear and seeing for yourself what might suit you best?

Hope this helps (a bit!).

[marvin]

hi

nikon's new entry level dslr the d3100 is supposed to be very good and it includes an on-screen guide which looks very helpful and accessible.

Nikon D3100 Review: 1. Introduction: Digital Photography Review

Compare the Canon EOS 500D vs Nikon D3100

nikon's 18-55mm with vr is very good for a kit lens and the 55-200vr and 55-300vr get good reviews too.

DX Dream Team Lenses

Nikon D3100 Digital SLR 18-55mm VR and 55-200 VR Twin Kit (£40 cashback!!!)

thats a pretty good start and you can begin adding specialist lenses once you've got more experience and know exactly what you want.

good luck

tim

[darrenm]

the 75-300mm IS lens is very good with it and nice sharp images. Have also tried a fixed 400mm IS with mine and again good results.

The 500D may not be has fast as the higher end Canon models but it is fast enough for a lot of situations and with good light you should get some very nice results but be sure to get a back up battery with any camera you decide to buy so not to be caught short if out shooting pics all day.

The other good thing about the 500D is it is very light and on a monopod even with a fairly chunky lens it is ok to carry around all day.

[Kayleigh]

Thank you all for the advice so far I need to do some reading up and will have to go out and try the camera body in hand.
I was going to get it from warehouse express but I will need to feel and see it with various lenses to get a feel of what it will be like out and about.
I will have to print this thread off and take it with me to the shop I noticed Jessops do a special offer on a kit.
Now going what nutmeg has said will go for separate lenses.
Maybe just 2 to start with a macro is a must thanks Adam I will keep this in mind.

I will read up on the canon V Nicon
and yes I am keeping my Fugi I am quite attached to it.

Thank you all..
I will be back with the questions in future..after I have handle a few no doubt..