Which lenses to buy?

[rainmaker]

Well, I've got my Canon 300d coming tomorrow/day after, and I could do with some lens advice.

I want to get a macro-esque lens, e.g. a 50mm, large aperture little number, and I also want a zoom lens - min of 300mm.

My budget is miniscule (maximum £200 the lot, I think, though that may stretch further if I can persuade me parents to donate to an Xmas case!), so I'll be shopping around (maybe even in the states with the state of the dollar vs the pound!). I presume I'm going to be lookng at the Sigma/Tamron 300mm lens (70-300mm?) - the Tamron certainly seems nicer, from interweb sites.

Any clues on a macro lens?

Any advice appreciated!

Chris

[rainmaker]

US sites, for those interested, especially at a conversion of 2:1 ish...!!! : Canon EF 75-300mm F/4-5.6 USM III Lens, With Canon 1-Year USA Warranty |BuyDig.com

[Brocker]

Hi Rainmaker,
If your budget is relatively small, then you will struggle to get a dedicated macro lens of any great shakes for the money you state. You will be leased t know however that your 70-300mm should have a macro facility on it which will enable you to get in real close. My first lens was a Sigma 70-300mm lens and it had a macro setting on it which enabled me to take a shot of a knat on my wifes arm (she was not happy with me asking her to hold still for a coule of minutes whilst this midge was having its dinner). This shot won an award at a local camera club for its detail, so it obviously did a great job. I still use that lens for macros and have gone up to a Canon 100-400mm IS USM lens which is outstanding but not cheap. Hope this helps.......

[mystictonka]

I have used both the tamron & sigma 70-300 lenses & found that the tamron produced slightly sharper images at 300

[Muggsy]

how about this one

EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM at £349

and how much better would this one be than the standard EF75-300 ?

please.
Muggsy

[rainmaker]

EF?

IS??

USM???

!!! TLA's - who needs 'em?!

[Brocker]

I agree on both counts. The Tamron lens does give a slightly sharper image at 300mm but I am not sure of its macro capabilities. I have not used this lens but Digital Camera magazine scores the Tamron higher than the Sigma. As for the Canon lens, that is more superior build and the optics are far better...

[galanthus]

Originally Posted by Muggsy

how about this one

EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM at £349

and how much better would this one be than the standard EF75-300 ?

please.
Muggsy

I originally had the canon 75-300 and then decided to sell it and get the canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM; the differerence is remarkable, I really love it and it's my main walk about lens.

[rainmaker]

Originally Posted by galanthus

I originally had the canon 75-300 and then decided to sell it and get the canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM; the differerence is remarkable, I really love it and it's my main walk about lens.

What're the differences? Purely optics/build quality, or extra gadgetry too?

The difference between the 2 is a lot in price (from a US sit - $550 for the EF IS USM).

[Muggsy]

Originally Posted by galanthus

I originally had the canon 75-300 and then decided to sell it and get the canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM; the differerence is remarkable, I really love it and it's my main walk about lens.

nice one cheers, its the image stabiliser, thats tempting me. I'd like the 100-400 but at £965, well the washing machines playing up and I could buy a new one plus the lense for that money.

[Hobjob]

Have you considered buying screw on macros ??

I've used these with some success and they are very cheap.
Yes they do have some vignetting, but for most thins without
straight lines that really doesn't matter, and there are that
many straight lines in nature !!

[eeyore]

you could also gat a fast 50mm such as the canon f1.8 (circa 80 notes) and use it with a set of extension tubes (79 notes in jessops - probably cheaper on line or secondhand)

the difference between the two 300mm s mentioned above is that the more expensive one has an image stabiliser (IS) built in which enables you to take pictures at lower speeds without image shake- this is useful but not essential so as your budget is tight i'd tend to advise you to go for the cheaper one.

the other abreviations

EF - this is the standard description of the canon lens mlount for all canon eos slr cameras - you also get EFS which indicates that the lens can only be used on certain DSLRs (generally not the full frame models)

USM -Ultrasonicmotor : this describes the motor that drives the foccusing mechanism , it is worth having as the non usm lenses can be very slow and noisy to focus - this is called different things by different companies - on sigma for example it is HSM (hypersonicmotor)

[Muggsy]

Originally Posted by Hobjob

Have you considered buying screw on macros ??

I've used these with some success and they are very cheap.
Yes they do have some vignetting, but for most thins without
straight lines that really doesn't matter, and there are that
many straight lines in nature !!

I was looking at these on that auction site last night, cheap as chips, considering the price of dedicated macro lenses.

For my part now,

I'm going for the IS as its going to be hanging round my neck for some weeks, and on line its now £309

[mystictonka]

The macro on the tamron is very good for larger insects, I have just bought the canon 70-300 is & found it to be far superior, so I can recommend it, as for macro I swear by my tamron 90mm