Camera help, 650D

Carsoneous

TPF Noob!
Joined
Jun 17, 2013
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
Location
United Kingdom
Hello,

After much deliberation i think i have decided on a camera body, Canon 650D. The part that i really want help with is peoples opinion which of the three lens choice I should go for. I would say that i am a complete beginner in photography, looking to do a really wide range of shots initially until i find a niche i really enjoy. I am going travelling in the summer so plan to take the camera an photograph old towns buildings, maybe some wildlife and sports. The following appear to be the lenses that are initially in my price range and come with a deal on eglobaldigitalstore.co.uk

[h=1]Canon EOS 650D kit with 18-55mm IS II Lens - £400[/h]
[h=1]Canon EOS 650D Twin kit with 18-55 IS II and 55-250mm IS II Lens - £500[/h]
[h=1]Canon EOS 650D kit with 18-135mm IS STM - £560[/h]
Also if people have ideas about memory cards, is there really any difference in the ones costing over £50 and the cheaper ones? I do not really care about time it takes to load to a computer to be honest if this is the real difference, also what size do people recommend for a beginner, is bigger always better??

Cheers for any help
 
I'd probably go for option 2 of the 3 you suggest - it gives you an affordable setup with a nice wide range of focal lengths to work with in two lenses - that gives you a good range to experiment and play with and find out what does and doesn't interest you and can later be used to help guide future purchases.

On the memory card front the key thing you want to read is the write speed of the card (note many will advertise the read speed on the packet since its normally faster and thus sounds more impressive). The writing speed is how fast data can be written to the card, for a DSLR this means how fast the camera can write information and then get onto the next shot and will thus affect your frames per second rate. Now each DSLR has a maximum writing speed - so there is an optimal point in the card market for a writing speed - any faster on the card and the camera simply can't take advantage of it. Ideally you want to always get cards that support your cameras fastest writing speed.

Note that for video there is often a threshold writing speed, any slower and you'll get a very short video duration before the cameras buffer fills and the video auto ends.

I don't know the specific writing speed for the 650D, however it should be a specification clearly marked on its product description sheet/in reviews - so do find it out and get cards to match.
 
Also, I think it's better to have several smaller capacity cards than one giant one. If you only have one large capacity card and it goes bad, well, you're done until you get another one and could potentially lose everything on it too.

I have an 8GB card and it holds more than I ever shoot in one outing. I just ordered a couple more just so I can swap them around without having to download to PC.
 
Option 1 or 2. You can always buy the telephoto lens later. Instead of the 55-250, you may instead opt for the more compact 50 mm f/1.8, which lets more light in, for indoor photography such as school plays and events. I use my 50mm much more often than my 55-250mm. The 50mm is a great lens for photographing people. I opted for the f/1.4 version.

I have the 18-55 and it is a great lens. The third option (I think) will be heavier. The advantage of the STM lens is that it has a special silent focusing mode, which is better for shooting video (you don't want the lens motor noise to be heard on the video you shoot).
 

Most reactions

Back
Top