A complete beginner needs suggestions for a lens

[Vesanius]

Hello all,

I'm new to the forums and I just got an old Canon EOS 1000D from a friend of mine. I realize that it's a very old body, but as it cost me pretty much nothing (a nominal 20€) I figured it would be more than enough for me to start this wonderful hobby. The issue I'm having now though is, that I have no clue what kind of lens I should be looking for as the kit lens is obviously not very good. I believe that it's much more important to have a solid lens than have a newer model body for my basic needs and that a lens is a better investment right now. Is that correct?

Since I am just starting, I have no idea what my focus will be, but at this moment it's mostly landscape photographing. My focus might and probably will change once I learn some basics and I figure what interests me the most.

So what kind of lens would you guys suggest me to look for? Something that would be good for a general use and if possible with a decent amount of low light performance. Although I guess anything will be better than the kit lens and will feel like a major upgrade. My financial situation is not the best at the moment so I'm looking for a second hand options and preferably an affordable one.

Thanks for your time to read my post and I'm hoping to hear some suggestions.

 

[Overread]

Whilst the EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 (kit lens) that typically comes with the 1000D is not an outstanding lens, it is still a very solid performer. It has limitations to be sure, but at your current stage the greater limit is likely going to be operator based than lens based.

Plus if money is very tight you might find it better to wait a little longer and to hone your skills with the kit lens and get to a point where you can more specifically say what you are missing in a lens besides "I just want something better". Once you can start putting down criteria, weaknesses and issues that are specific then it can better help in making meaningful choices - esp when your budget is tight and thus you've not the luxury of bad investments.


As you are mostly interested in landscape, many of the weaknesses of the 18-55mm - such as its aperture range, af speed etc.... are going to be non-issues for you (by and large). So I'd wager if you were to post up a couple of photos for critique you could fast learn some tips and get ideas to improve way beyond what you currently can with the kit lens and 1000D (check my signature below for a link to some helpful info on how to get critique).

 

[Vesanius]

Thanks for your honest advice. Sometimes I feel like it would be nice to zoom in for birds and other animals while I'm trying to take a photo of a landscape. But as you said, the biggest limitation at the moment is me myself and not the camera or the lens. Another problem I have sometimes noticed is the weak low light performance as the lightning here in Finland is not that great all the time. Especially during the autumn and winter. It's most likely also party because of the limitations of my own abilities, but a better low light performer is definitely something I am after at some point. But as you said, it's probably better to learn to work with the kit lens first until I know exactly what I want from the lens. I'm definitely looking to those links you mentioned.

 

[Overread]

Low light performance is both a lens and camera affair, though I would say that if you are doing landscapes you can often use a good tripod to overcome weaker lighting conditions. By having a slower shutter speed, thus letting in more light, you can shoot even in dimmer conditions - though that can induce blur. Of course sometimes that blur is desirable such as if you were doing misty flowing water (say at a waterfall or beach).

 

[petrochemist]

Low light performance is one place that older cameras show their age. For landscapes a tripod will allow you to use longer exposures to help compensate, but branches & leaves etc will blur from this.
A lens with a wider aperture would allow faster shutter speeds, but at the cost off depth of field (Most landscape shots want high DOF).

There are some affordable lenses that will improve your chances with wildlife, but the best lenses for birds (quality lenses with long focal lengths & fast apertures) can cost more than a car. Most of us hobbyists have to make do with much lesser gear. Despite the limitations of your current hardware people have managed to take excellent shots with it, and even with much inferior gear.

I very much agree with @Overread that you should learn with the kit you have before getting anything else. I would suggest taking the camera off fully automatic & using the semi automatic modes instead. Av is the one I find most useful. Experiment for yourself with different apertures, without re-framing the shot, and look at the differences on a large screen. Do a similar exercise with shutter speed & ISO (The three are interrelated). There are plenty of on-line sources discussing the effects of these, but they tend to mean more with your own experience to back them up.

Don't buy anything without knowing what it will enable you to do - you don't want to end up like me with 20+ cameras, 200+ lenses....

 

[Vesanius]

I'm already using the camera in full manual mode as otherwise I see it just as a big compact camera. I know what all (or at least most) of the settings do in theory and it's just about practicing and experimenting them while taking the actual photos. I'm also a color freak in terms of accurate colors on all of my monitors and screens and they are all well calibrated, so I guess that will also help me to learn differences between different setting as I know that what I see is what they truly look like.

And again, thank you for your kind and informative replies. It feels good that a complete beginner like myself can get that important help and support that will for sure keep me interested to this wonderful hobby. For now I will keep learning and experimenting.

 

[ac12]

Back when I first started, with 35mm film, I went for a long time with just the 50mm normal lens, no tele or wide lens.
Yes I was limited, in that I could not take a close up of a bird 30 meters away, with the 50mm lens.
You learn to make do with what you have, and in the process learn more.
There will ALWAYS be something that you want to do, which may require a different piece of gear, and spending more money.

So, learn with what you have, and keep notes to determine what additional piece of gear will help you the most.
Example, you may think you want a tele, but if you keep notes, you may find you only needed it a few times. Is it worth spending the money for only a few times of use? Maybe a wide angle or tripod would be of more value to you. Again, keeping notes will help you make that decision better.

 

[photoflyer]

you might find it better to wait a little longer and to hone your skills with the kit lens and get to a point where you can more specifically say what you are missing in a lens

This is very good advice. Figure out what you cannot do with what you have while developing your skills and then make the plunge. In order of priority: 1) Skills 2) Glass 3) Body.

 

[Solarflare]

The kit lens is actually perfectly fine for landscape. You will stop it down to f/8 or f/11 anyway for maximum depth of field and after that it aint too bad.

The first "lens" you want to add after that is a tripod (I suggest a Manfrotto BeFree Aluminium as the "ultimate" compact travel tripod) and the second lens you want to add is a polarizer (a cheap Hoya will do perfectly, just make sure its multicoated).

Only then I would start thinking about adding a telephoto lens.

For color accuracy I would suggest a color checker. You'll need a post production software, too, then.

Bird photography is very specialized and very expensive. You want a good crop sensor camera, i.e. with very good autofocus, and extreme telephoto lenses.

 

[cooltouch]

Your 1000D was my first DSLR. I received it as a Christmas present for Christmas, 2008. I used it a lot until I bought my NEX 7 about five years ago. Mine came with the Series II 18-55 kit lens. I've read often that the first version was rubbish, but the II was actually a decent lens. It certainly worked well for me.

Since your interest is landscape photography, most of the time you'll find, I think, that you'll be favoring wide angle lenses for your landscape shots. Given that 18mm is roughly the equivalent to a 35mm camera's 28mm lens, I'd recommend you look for something wider. I'm not familiar with the various zoom offerings that will work on that camera, but I do know that there are some extreme wide angle zooms available. And when it comes to wide, it almost always seems like the wider the better. So I recommend you take a look at some of the lenses that have a rather extreme wide end as long as the long end meets or somewhat overlaps the 18mm end to your current kit lens.

But you're gonna run into situations where you'll be wanting a telephoto -- maybe even a very long telephoto. The EF 70-300 is an excellent zoom, but don't forget another option you have as a Canon EF user, and that is, with the use of adapters, the ability to mount a variety of lenses made by other Camera makers. Like Nikon, for example. I have a large selection of Nikon-mount lenses that I used a lot with my Canon 1000D. All manual focus lenses, but I didn't mind. I learned photography back in the era of manual focus lenses. So that's something else to keep in mind.