Canon Lenses - Need Help PLEASE!!

[Crystal]

I’m trying to figure out what lenses to buy my budget is around $3000 I’m looking at the canon 70-300 f4-5.6 DO kind of comparing it to the 70-200 f2.8. I have been looking through the threads and its quite clear that the L Series 70-200 comes out on top but I’m only considering the 70-300 because of its size, I want good quality but i really can’t see myself lugging around the 70-200 and I don’t like to stand out. I would mainly use it for family portraits, pets and family trips, on the other hand my favourite shots are close-ups with bokeh so the aperture is important is there anything else I can compare it to that still has the quality & not so large? Also comparing the 24-105 f4 to the 24-70 f2. Would LOVE LOVE LOVE some help – I have spent hours reading reviews and would really appreciate some personal opinions.

P.S I'm a total noob - so be nice to me:blushing:

Thanks
Crystal

 

[UUilliam]

first off:
buy third party.
by that, I mean, buy Sigma or tamron.
they are much cheaper than canon most the time and still have good quality

£400 ($600) = sigma 105mm Macro - unless you are going to do a lot of macro photography, i would stray away from that.

£110 ($160) = sigma 70-300mm

£400 ($600) = sigma 10-20mm

£120 ($175) = sigma 18-50mm

£400 ($600) = sigma 24 - 70mm + macro (its a switch that allows it to focus closer)

thats your full range covered by pretty good glass + money to spare.

 

[pbelarge]

I’m trying to figure out what lenses to buy my budget is around $3000 I’m looking at the canon 70-300 f4-5.6 DO kind of comparing it to the 70-200 f2.8. I have been looking through the threads and its quite clear that the L Series 70-200 comes out on top but I’m only considering the 70-300 because of its size, I want good quality but i really can’t see myself lugging around the 70-200 and I don’t like to stand out. I would mainly use it for family portraits, pets and family trips, on the other hand my favourite shots are close-ups with bokeh so the aperture is important is there anything else I can compare it to that still has the quality & not so large? Also comparing the 24-105 f4 to the 24-70 f2. Would LOVE LOVE LOVE some help – I have spent hours reading reviews and would really appreciate some personal opinions.

P.S I'm a total noob - so be nice to me:blushing:

Thanks
Crystal

You have a good budget to start with, but I would purchase one lens at a time and work with it to see if you like it or not. If you want to go with Canon I would start with one of the two above.

Do you have other lenses?

 

[Lightspeedfoto]

I’m trying to figure out what lenses to buy my budget is around $3000 I’m looking at the canon 70-300 f4-5.6 DO kind of comparing it to the 70-200 f2.8. I have been looking through the threads and its quite clear that the L Series 70-200 comes out on top but I’m only considering the 70-300 because of its size, I want good quality but i really can’t see myself lugging around the 70-200 and I don’t like to stand out. I would mainly use it for family portraits, pets and family trips, on the other hand my favourite shots are close-ups with bokeh so the aperture is important is there anything else I can compare it to that still has the quality & not so large? Also comparing the 24-105 f4 to the 24-70 f2. Would LOVE LOVE LOVE some help – I have spent hours reading reviews and would really appreciate some personal opinions.

P.S I'm a total noob - so be nice to me:blushing:

Thanks
Crystal

I'm in the same situation as you right now. My first L lens was the 24-105L which I had paired with an older rebel xti. I bought that mainly for the focal length reach. It was more than the 24-70, and has the IS (image stabilization) which is really great. If your pictures are mainly travel, outdoors, family type, you can shoot at 5.6 and get tack sharp images and even nice background blur. Not crazy like a f1.2 or anything, but really nice. For indoor w/flash, you can shoot f4 or 4.5 and be fine. W/O flash, you can get down to a slower shutter speed with the help of IS as long as your subject doesn't move. Overall it's been a great lens.

Now, my decision has been made that I need more low light performance. With that in mind, I just bought the 50 1.2, but am returning it for the 35 1.4L and the 50 1.4. The reason for this is that I don't feel that the 50 1.2L gives me MUCH better images than my $80 50mm1.8.

I also have the 70-200 2.8IS which is AWESOME! Granted, it's a beast! But it's a fabulous lens. So I can go from 24-200 with 2 lenses,and then I have a few primes in there. One day I'll get the 16-35L, but I don't have much use for that wide right now. You can just take a few more steps back with the 24-105 and you're probably using a high aperture like f16 anyway for a landscape, so there you go! Good luck!

Let us know what you go with!

 

[Toybreaker]

I was in the exact same position. I took the route of renting almost all of the lenses mentioned to find what worked for me. I settled on the 70-200 2.8L and the 24-70 2.8L and could not be happier. Agreed like mentioned above the 70-200 is a beast but oh man, I can't leave home with our it. You should be able to get them both used in mint condition for $2500, 1500 for the 70-200 and 1000 for the 24-70. Beautiful sharp images with the Flexibility of working in pretty low light situations with no flash. I personally don't like the effect flash creates on subjects. Good luck and yeah, keep us posted.

 

[Big Mike]

The DO lenses are overly expensive. So unless you really, really need to conserve on the physical size of the lens, I wouldn't bother with DO lenses.

I highly recommend the 70-200mm lenses. The F4 version is very sharp, an excellent lens. The older version of the F2.8 L IS, (the one I have) is a beast of a lens but very good. There is a new version (II) which improves on the few flaws it does have. Very expensive though. The Sigma 70-200mm F2.8 is a lot less expensive and is said to be pretty good.

 

[Crystal]

Hey Guys, Thanks for all your advice! Just thought I'd give you an update as I just ordered the 24-105 YAY!!!! Should receive it early next week - will post pics!

 

[Feezor]

I just got the same lens and although I am very new I love it and can notice a difference in my pictures