About to buy a Canon XTi

[Carlos Cané]

Hello everyone! I've been saving the last few months and finally I got enough money to buy a XTi I'm a photography beginner so I hope this is a good choice. I would prefer buying it online since it's a lot cheaper than here in Mexico. I was wondering what would be best for me, buying the camera body only or with the 18-55 mm lens that it comes with? I like to shoot all kinds of things like planes, portraits, cars, landscapes, etc. Obviously that lens won't be enough for all that but I guess it's something ot start with. Do you recommend buying it with the lens or just the body and save for another lens?

Also I've been looking through different online stores and I was wondering where can I find the best price. So far I found this site: (camera with lens) http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/457541-REG/Canon_1236B001_EOS_Digital_Rebel_XTi.html

Can I trust that site? Any other suggestions? Thanks a lot!!

 

[Don Simon]

Do you recommend buying it with the lens or just the body and save for another lens?

I guess the answer is... buy the body only if you can afford a better lens at the same time, or if not then buy it with the kit lens. Just as long as you have a lens with the body - not much point having one without the other.

B&H are definitely trustworthy. Though based in New York, they are good enough that people in various countries around the world buy from them too. Definitely a safe choice.

 

[soylentgreen]

B&H is a good vendor. Great support and pretty fast processing. You should have no problems dealing with them. As ZaphodB stated, get the body if you can get a better lens. Really depends on what sort of image quality you are after. See if you can test a kit at a local store to see if it is worth your while. A better kit lens will be the 17-85 f/4-5.6 IS USM, but it is about $500. Newer kits come with the 28-135 f3.5-5.6 IS USM but it seems a short on the wide-end on a crop sensor. Canon does have an updated 17-55 IS coming out, but dunno streetprice on it yet. Should be significantly better than the stock 17-55 though.

 

[Carlos Cané]

Thanks a lot for your replies!

So you think that the stock lens should make it for now? I'm just a beginner. I would like to take pictures of people, planes, cars, landscapes, etc. Nothing really really proffesional bu with good quality. Of course Im going to save money in order to get a better lens later.

 

[neea]

I used my kit lens (Canon Rebel 35mm) for a long time. Just got a new lens in May for my trip to Mexico.

I would highly recomment B&H!!!!
I was extremley impressed with how fast the shipping was.
The price was the cheapest out there.
Didn't have a single problem at all with them.

 

[soylentgreen]

Personnally, I would reccommend the EF-S 17-85 f/4-5.6 IS as a good starter lens. I used it for my everyday walk-around lens for over 2 years before I upgraded. It has great range, IS and image quality is pretty good. Still having difficulty replacing it with a faster version that retains the IS. Only downside is the slower aperature, but as you get better, you can upgrade to faster lenses as you decide what you will need.