Confused over which lense does what... please help buying new camera and lense

Okay so I have a film slr and have finally decided to go digital. I have decided on the rebel xti and have found several different kits on ebay that I have been looking at. My questing is which lenses would I be looking for in the kits, some kits have standard 18-55 some have 28 - something and some 70-300 I think. What do these lenses do and when looking for a kit that has extra lenses what lense should I be looking for. I would like to do some close ups of my children and pets and just vacation shots like beach, lighthouse, I would also be doing shots of animals some times. If that helps at all. I would like one with the most zoom I guess.

 

it would help if you posted some links to the kits you are looking at.

the most zoom would be the 70-300mm, but there are many other factors to consider as well.

like:

aperture of the lens.
your purpose or what you are going to be photographing.
quality.

i own the xt and shot with the kit lens for about a year. i bought a prime lens (50mm f1.8 no zoom) and all i can say is wow!! it blew away the kit lens. better colors. sharper photos, etc

i am now going to upgrade to the 70-200mm f4.0 L

the lens is what makes your photos......remember that.

 

one more thing

the 18-55mm kit is the kit lens i had. it took great photos.

the kit that has the 28mm: this could be a prime lens. if so, the zoom is your feet.

 

get the 18-55 kit lens. 70 to whatever is too long for a begginer probably, and the quality probably blows with a range like that.

 

A lot of those kits on ebay just have a bunch of extra junk and counterfeit lenses thrown in with them. Just start with the basic kit lens and maybe a 50mm prime. so find out what specifically they come with and let us know.