Help-Confusion Abounds

[sashie]

Hi Everyone. Very new to digital photography and recently purchased a Canon xTI with the common lens that comes with the kit. I love taking landscapes and some portraits and would like to explore some additional lenses that would give me a good advice on what to purchase as a good place to start. Any questions or information that you can impart would be appreciated.

Thanks
Steve

 

[Overread]

Well firstly how much do you have to spend on this new lens?

Many people suggest the "nifty 50" or "plastic fantastic" which is to day the 50mm f1.8 Mark 2 - which is a very cheap, but also very good lens.

 

[sashie]

Thanks for the reply. I'll have around $200-$500 to spend. I take mostly landscapes and some portraits.

 

[Mav]

I'd get the 50mm f/1.8 (nifty fifty) as a starter portrait lens.

For landscapes, the typical combo is an ultra-wide zoom lens and then a telephoto zoom. Just shoot with your 18-55 for the time being and see where you end up shooting it the most. If you're always at 55mm and wanting to go longer, get something like the EF 70-300 IS (~$500), or the EF-S 50-250mm IS lens (~$250??). if you always want to go wider, go for the EF-S 10-22mm f/4 lens ($600-700). All three of these should be great lenses.

Here's what you can do with an ultra-wide lens.

And here's a sample telephoto zoom landscape shot (300mm)

If you look very closely, the small area where the sun is setting in the first ultra-wide shot is the same area that I've zoomed into at 300mm on the second shot.

 

[sashie]

Thanks Mav for the info, I really appreciate you taking the time to respond and give examples..