Which of these two lenses?...

Mike350d · Feb 7, 2006

Hi folks,

I'm fairly new to the Digital SLR scene and I was looking for a bit of impartial advice on a particular lens. Now I know the discussion of lenses is very subjective, but to narrow things down a bit there are two lenses for my Canon 350d which I reckon will suit my 'walk about' requirements:

Canon 28-135 f3.5 / 5.6 IS USM Lens
or
Canon 28-200 f3.5 / 5.6 USM Lens

Basically I'm wondering if the 'IS' is good enough for me to really want it at the expense of an extra 75mm of zoom? or does the 'IS' come at the expense of better quality optics etc?

Cheers,
Mike

Big Mike · Feb 7, 2006

Welcome to the forum.

I have not heard much about the 28-200 but I have heard plenty of people rave about the 28-135 IS lens. It is supposed to be a fairly good lens. IS is supposed to give you an extra two stops of hand-holdability...so if shooting hand held in less than perfect light, is important to you...I'd go for the IS.

Have you considered the EF-S 18-85 F4.5-5.5 IS? It's basically the same lens as the 28-135 IS...only in the EF-S format for the 1.6X crop factor cameras. The bad thing about this lens is that EF-S lenses only work on three cameras currently...not on any of the film EOS cameras...so it may not hold it's value as well as an EF lens.

But if you plan to have your 350D for a long time, and like a wider angle lens...then maybe the EF-S would be a good choice.

Mike350d · Feb 7, 2006

Thanks for that feedback Big Mike.

I reckon I'll have my 350d a long time, so I'll look into the EF-S range of lenses as well.

Cheers,
Mike

Big Mike · Feb 7, 2006

It really depends on your personal taste as well. Would you rather have that extra length for a walk around lens or would you rather have more room on the wide end?

I personally like wider, so I have my EF-S lens with me most of the time (18-55 kit lens). Plus, you can always crop the image later.

Mike350d · Feb 8, 2006

I plan to have my 18-55mm kit lens with me most of the time anyway. So I suppose something that gives me a bit of length might be a better buy than just a straight upgrade that replaces my kit lens.

Cheers.