Moving Beyond The Kit Lens

[TiffanyW]

This might be kind of a short answer, might not be. I kind of have no idea what I am talking about so if I say something wrong people correct me.

I'm looking to move up to a higher quality lens than the 18-55 mm kit lens that came with my Canon Rebel T3.

I am really not sure what I should be looking for when it comes to a quality lens, but I have taken an interest in portraits (including full body shots), so I guess my question is what lens is going to be the best tool for me to learn how to achieve a high quality portrait?

Thanks in advance.

 

[jsecordphoto]

A 50mm 1.8 or 1.4 would be a good focal length on a crop sensor for portraits.

 

[frommrstomommy]

I agree ^^ the 50 1.8 is what I have now and both it and the 35 1.8 were the two I got when moving up from the kit lens. Both great lenses! The 50 is what I shoot with now all the time... until I get my next "upgrade" lens soon. lol

 

[Designer]

What you are looking for is a lens that has a wider maximum aperture than the one you already have. You don't always shoot at the maximum aperture, but it can come in handy from time to time. The 50 and the 35 are both affordable but the longer lens (the 50mm) will be better for portraiture.

 

[astroNikon]

my first lens after my kit lens was a 50mm f/1.8
It taught me alot about aperture control and Depth of Field. before that I heard all about it but never really understand it until I fiddled around with f 1.8 vs f22

So I definitely recommend at 50mm/1.8 or 1.4 for learning how to control the camera/;ens better and to improve your understanding alot more.

Plus its the best focal length for doing portraits on a crop camera

 

[PropilotBW]

I agree with getting a prime lens. They're cheap and very useful!

 

[Bobby Ironsights]

I too vote nifty fifty. Keep in mind though, that you can take a great lens and make boring uninspired pictures. I'm reading light science and magic right now. Will follow with The Essential Guide to Portraits - 4th Edition which is on my hard drive and next in the queue

 

[pthrift]

Echo for effect- 50mm 1.8 makes a great <very affordable> first step away from the kit lens

 

[Village Idiot]

85 f/1.8. The 50 is so pedestrian.


It was my first lens that I purchased after buying the camera and the cheap price makes it nice, but the focal length is still within the range of your kit and the only advantage you're getting is f/1.8. I thought I was hot **** shooting my friend playing at a local bar/restaurant the night I got that lens just to find out only 2-3 photos came out and it was definitely the technique more so than the lens.

If you really want to jump like 15 levels of photography and take a step in the right direction, IMHO, buy a flash. I feel as if I could do so much more with a kit lens, 300D (my first camera) and a flash I could get off camera than most amatuers with a $3000 camera dn $2500 lens could. Light is what makes picture shine. /pun

 

[KmH]

When shooting portraits I usually wanted to use the longest focal length I could.
There are benefits, like background compression, that longer focal lengths offer.

My go to portrait lens was a professional grade 200 mm f/2 prime lens, but I also used 85 mm f/1.4, 105 mm DC f/2, and 135 mm DC f/2 also. I used a 50 mm f/1.4 - but not very often. For sport teams I shot outside, I often used a 300 mm lens.

The 50 mm f/1.8 lenses get recommend often mostly because both Canon and Nikon make inexpensive consumer grade versions.
The faster, higher quality, more expensive f/1.4 and f/1.2 50 mm lenses don't get recommended near as often.

 

[Corsair-V]

I feel like I'm beating this dead horse with the stick now, but the 50mm lens is more than likely your best bet for your next lens. If you know where to look, a decent EF-mount 50mm lens can be had pretty cheap too.

 

[Ido]

Contradicting what others have posted in this thread, I personally believe that one shouldn't buy any lens when they already have a lens, unless they know what they're looking for.

This may be a shocker, but most 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lenses currently in production aren't bad optically. They're decently sharp, especially when stopped down a bit. So what do you want the new lens to improve upon? Do you see any lack of sharpness or any other optical quality attribute in your photos, or do you find you're struggling in low light? Do you need a lens that can get far-away subjects to appear closer, or perhaps throw the background out of focus?

 

[weepete]

The Canon EF-S 15-85mm f3.5-5.6 looks like a good step up to me as a general purpose lens. It does have a few drawbacks (can only be used on crop sensor cameras and it's slow especially fully zoomed in) but it's probably the sharpest consumer zoom lens. Outside of that you'll need to look towards a prime lens as the guys have suggested or an L series for better quality.

What do you find limiting with the kit lens?

 

[JohnnyWrench]

Another vote for the fast 50.

 

[astroNikon]

Contradicting what others have posted in this thread, I personally believe that one shouldn't buy any lens when they already have a lens, unless they know what they're looking for.

This may be a shocker, but most 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lenses currently in production aren't bad optically. They're decently sharp, especially when stopped down a bit. So what do you want the new lens to improve upon? Do you see any lack of sharpness or any other optical quality attribute in your photos, or do you find you're struggling in low light? Do you need a lens that can get far-away subjects to appear closer, or perhaps throw the background out of focus?

One can learn alot having an inexpensive 50/1.8
I "understood" what DOF was but i never saw it on my kit lens photos, even trying going from 4 to 11
i definitely saw it on the 50/1.8 ... going from 1.8 to 11. It was then obvious. I then saw the minor differences of the aperture in the kit lens. There's alot of learning that can be had from a larger aperture lens that isn't obvious until you have one. At least for me there was .. YMMV