Canon 70d Lens Reco

marinokl

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Hello!
I'm looking for purchase my first dslr and have decided on Canon's new 70d. I'm really excted about the big purchase, but wanted to compliment it right off the bat with some good starter lenses. I've been told to purchase the body only and then get two good lenses to get my started, rather than going with the kits. As a result, I was hoping to get your opinions since many of you probably know far more than most people do about Canon and their lenses :)

Thus far, people have recommended some combination of two of the following. Any thoughts on these? Please feel free to throw any other recommendations out there. Since I'm just getting started, I'd like to stay around $1,000 for my first two lenses until I get more familiar with my camera, etc.

EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5
50mm 1.8
35 mm 1.8
18-200 mm

Thank you!
Kristen
 
Hi Kristen, lens choice depends on what you intend to photograph. I don't see any super zooms on your list so I'm assuming you don't intend to photograph wild animals. I used the Sigma 18-250mm macro which focuses to 14 inches. The Canon 18-200mm focuses to 18 inches. That's not much difference until one day you decide you want to get a good close up of strange little bug. The Sigma is significantly more powerful too. I was very, very happy with my Sigma 18-250 and I took thousands of photos with it and my 7D. For wide angle photography I used the Tokina 11-16mm. The only other lens I used was the Sigma 50-500mm for wildlife. Hope this helps. Good luck.
 
Thank you! Ah, yes. I knew I was forgetting some important information for you all!

I'll bug you guys again when I decide to take that safari or Alaskan cruise and will want to shoot wildlife like that :) but for now, I'll mostly be taking pictures of my nephews (1 year and 3 years old), so I'd like a lens that will get me great candids with them and other family members. I also want to be able to easily shoot landscapes (cityscapes, natural forests, mountain ranges, etc.) when I travel, and also be able to practice taking pictures of flowers and things like that.
 
Why you want such a expensive camera, to do what you looking to do. There are plenty of cameras that cost a lot less, save your money for the better glass, thats where its really at.
Don't fall far all that media hype. I have a nikon d-70 I bought back in feb. of 2004. And to this day it still takes great pictures. What i di is upgrade my glass.http://www.flickr.com/photos/11495939@N05/page1/?details=1
 
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Why you want such a expensive camera, to do what you looking to do. There are plenty of cameras that cost a lot less, save your money for the better glass, thats where its really at.
Don't fall far all that media hype. I have a nikon d-70 I bought back in feb. of 2004. And to this day it still takes great pictures. What i di is upgrade my glass.Flickr: aviatordj's Photostream

Investing in a good camera is not a bad idea especially a newer one such as the 70D. The OP can expect to have a good camera for at least 3-4 years before looking to upgrade. I value a good deal but why out-date yourself already by puchasing a camera that is 8 years old? I do agree with getting nice glass but someone has to start somewhere.
 
Why you want such a expensive camera, to do what you looking to do. There are plenty of cameras that cost a lot less, save your money for the better glass, thats where its really at.
Don't fall far all that media hype. I have a nikon d-70 I bought back in feb. of 2004. And to this day it still takes great pictures. What i di is upgrade my glass.Flickr: aviatordj's Photostream

Investing in a good camera is not a bad idea especially a newer one such as the 70D. The OP can expect to have a good camera for at least 3-4 years before looking to upgrade. I value a good deal but why out-date yourself already by puchasing a camera that is 8 years old? I do agree with getting nice glass but someone has to start somewhere.

DITTO! She has the bucks to get a good start in photography. I used my 7D ever since it first came out until just recently. I may still use it for wildlife photography and just use the 6D for indoor work such as museums where the light is poor. She's doing the right thing in my opinion.
 
Why you want such a expensive camera, to do what you looking to do. There are plenty of cameras that cost a lot less, save your money for the better glass, thats where its really at.
Don't fall far all that media hype. I have a nikon d-70 I bought back in feb. of 2004. And to this day it still takes great pictures. What i di is upgrade my glass.Flickr: aviatordj's Photostream

Investing in a good camera is not a bad idea especially a newer one such as the 70D. The OP can expect to have a good camera for at least 3-4 years before looking to upgrade. I value a good deal but why out-date yourself already by puchasing a camera that is 8 years old? I do agree with getting nice glass but someone has to start somewhere.

DITTO! She has the bucks to get a good start in photography. I used my 7D ever since it first came out until just recently. I may still use it for wildlife photography and just use the 6D for indoor work such as museums where the light is poor. She's doing the right thing in my opinion.

I agree...smart decision.

As far as lens choices I would actually suggest this time to get the kit lens 18-135 or the 18-200 as you mentioned. Reason being is that it is a good focal range from a moderate wide to telephone until you can find out which focal range you are using most. So for instance you get the EF-S 10-22mm and EF 50mm and you find that you want more reach then you are somewhat stuck.
 
I think if you do not know what lens to get, then


Get the 18-135mm kit lens to start with. The focal length range covers most of the shooting.

Or

Get the body and get a fast standard zoom lens such as the Tamron 17-50mm.


Either case, I will pick up a external flash with it. So a body with one lens and one flash to start with. And then decide what to get later on once you know more.
 
Looking at amazon.com, you can get the 18-135 in a kit with the 70D for about 350 dollars, compared to 500 dollars for buying the lens separately. If you're set on the 70D and don't yet have any canon lenses, the kit lens looks like a smart spend to me, to use on 'general photography'.

We've yet to see what the 70D's low light performance is like, but if you'll be taking a lot of pictures of fast-moving nephews indoors, to get the best results you may also want to get either a faster lens than that kit (something like the Sigma 30mm 1.4 could be useful, but try before you buy in a camera shop as Sigmas sometimes have focusing issues. Unfortunately Canon's equivalent 35mm 1.4 is VERY expensive. Canon's 50 1.8 is a great lens for the low price, but tight on a crop-body indoors. However my 50 1.8 got me many lovely pictures of my children - just in confined space don't expect to get much more than a head shot.), or a flash that can be bounced (which can be had very cheaply if you learn to use them manually - Yongnuo's 460-ii is around 50 dollars).
 
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You guys are awesome! So very helpful and that all definitely makes sense. I appreciate your thoughts on the body too and thinking the 70d could be a good place to start. For that general lens I heard you all talk about - 15-85 IS USM or the 18-135 IS STM? I'm confused about the new STM stuff and USM...and wasn't sure which is a smarter choice. Those of you who suggested to start with a general lens like the 18-135 and learn the camera before buying other specific lenses--that makes perfect sense and is the way I'll go. But let me know your thoughts on these two options for that first lens, maybe with the 50 mm 1.8 just to get started...? Set price aside for a second.

thank you!!
 
Thank you! Ah, yes. I knew I was forgetting some important information for you all!

I'll bug you guys again when I decide to take that safari or Alaskan cruise and will want to shoot wildlife like that :) but for now, I'll mostly be taking pictures of my nephews (1 year and 3 years old), so I'd like a lens that will get me great candids with them and other family members. I also want to be able to easily shoot landscapes (cityscapes, natural forests, mountain ranges, etc.) when I travel, and also be able to practice taking pictures of flowers and things like that.

For nephews, flowers, and travel scenes, with no existing lenses, and also wanting to learn about lenses in general and their various tradeoffs, etc., I recommend:

1) a wide range zoom. Personally my favorite is the 18-135 IS STM as a good compromise on zoom range (useful, but if you go to too extreme a range you gradually lose quality), but anything starting at 18ish to 50ish going up to 100ish to 200ish is probably reasonably decent.

2) A very fast wide-medium prime lens. 50mm f/1.8 or 35mm f/2 for instance (def. go for 35 or even 28 if your zoom starts high, like at 50). To give you an option in lower light and to let you experiment with nicely blurred backgrounds for portraits when you shoot these wide open (35 and 50 would be a little wide for many kinds of portraiture, but with kids running around, you will normally be shooting most of their body / them in context, and slightly wider than traditional portrait lenses like this will work great). Either would also be great for fairly standard "not extreme in either direction" photos in a variety of situations on vacation, and both would be very lightweight to carry around.



It will also give you a good appreciation of the differences in lenses in general, between a prime and a zoom, fast versus slow, a reasonable range of focal lengths, etc. to help inform future purchases.
 
I'm confused about the new STM stuff and USM...and wasn't sure which is a smarter choice.
Oh btw, USM = ultrasonic motor, STM = stepper motor. No acronym at all = standard servo motor type thing

Standard motors are loudest and slowest. USM are much quieter and faster but not silent, and they are very "jerky." STM is the latest and most advanced autofocus technology from Canon. It is so quiet that you can't even hear it with your ear up to the camera usually, and it is less "jerky" and thus less distracting in video.

STM is debatably faster or slower by a tiny margin than USM. Probably about the same in most instances. Also note that STM is less effective on bodies prior to the release of the t4i. It is still quieter and such, but stepper motors benefit the most from digital software optimizations that are not included on older models, and their full potential in fast and intelligent re-focusing as in video will not be realized on older models. But that doesn't make it "bad" on any body by any means. My feeling from having shot it on an older and a newer body is that it seems to maybe be a taaaaaaaad slower than USM on old bodies, and a taaaaad faster on newer bodies (supposedly because it overshoots less and therefore hunts less due to its "soft landing" when it has proper control software)

Also, the image stabilization is also a tad quieter in STM lenses, since they are intended to be silent for video, and the whole lens has to be silent for this to make sense.




TL;DR: USM and STM are both way nicer than normal autofocus. But not significantly different from one another unless you shoot video, in which case STM is way nicer for that in particular.
 

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