FF Nikon Shooter, looking to help GF with some Crop Sensor lenses...

[gconnoyer]

Yeah I guess we'll just have to test and see.

I told her we'd test it out this weekend before she convinces herself she needs one lol

 

[07Vios]

Nice. I think she can make do with with the 50mm 1.8. She can always crop the pic a little to make the car(s) fill more of the frame, right?

 

[gconnoyer]

Yeah we'll see lol

 

[bigal1000]

So my girlfriend just recently got a 60D. It came with the 18-135 Kit lens. She immediately wanted to buy something new and better but I told her to wait, see what she got into shooting, and what kind of lens she would need. Since I shoot Nikon, I couldnt really recommend anything for her off the top of my head (other than the Canon L series stuff, which she can't justify spending the money)

She's going to be shooting with me this year at the racetrack (drag strip and road course) and I almost exclusively use my 24-70 and 70-200 on my Nikon D700 (full frame)
As I understand it, the 60D is a crop sensor body.
So I'm trying to narrow down what are some good upgrades to the Canon kit lens, that will put her in the same range as my lenses. (that arent $3000 canon glass)

Thanks in advance!

Canon EF70-200L f4 that will give her a 112-320 f4 with the crop factor on the tele end,Canon EFS 15-85 that will give you 24-136 a little overlap.but not too bad.These will give great IQ,the 70-200 is a bargain for the price.Good luck in your decisions. B@H has the 70-200 f4 L for $679.00 that is a steal for that lens.You could also get the Canon 24-105L a great lens that will give you 38-168 not bad and it's great glass for the money.

 

[SCraig]

I love my 70-300 on a crop-sensor camera for drag racing. Pics are Here. These were all shot from the front row of the bleachers and maybe 75' from the tree, so not terribly close. All of These Bike Shots were shot with the 70-300 as well but I was a LOT closer for them, probably 15' from the edge of the track.

 

[TCampbell]

The 18-135mm is the "kit" lens for the pro-sumer bodies like the 60D and 7D. The 18-55 is the "kit" lens for the Rebel bodies. The 24-105mm f/4L (which is actually a VERY nice lens) is the "kit" lens for most pro bodies.

The 18-135mm doesn't have the snappy "USM" focusing motors -- but apart from that it's a decent extended walk-around zoom.

The 55-250mm would be a downgrade... it's also among the cheapest of the consumer-grade zooms for entry-level bodies (lacks internal focusing, lacks USM focusing motors and designed to complement the 18-55mm lens at the lowest entry price.)

On Canon, like Nikon, the 70-200mm is a bread-n-butter lens. Canon makes several variations. You can get it in f/4 or f/2.8 and you can get it with or without the image stabilization. So the high end lens would be the same as yours... a 70-200mm f/2.8 (Canon puts the letter "L" suffix on to designate that it's their premium "Luxury" series. Anything with an "L" in the name is high-end glass. Also it's the only lens made by Canon that gets a red "stripe" around the end of the lens barrel.)

A decent, but less expensive option, would be the 70-300 lenses with "USM" in the name. There are a few. There's the basic EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM, there's also a "DO" version (Diffractive Optics - it's a shorter lens because of how the optics work and it has a green stripe around the end of the barrel. Canon only makes a few DO lenses. I've never used one. Their differentiating feature is that they're much more compact considering the focal length and yet still have good optical quality.) They also make an "L" series version -- but it's still a variable focal ratio (whereas I think most "L" series glass tends to have fixed focal ratio zooms.)

If she's using it for sports and primarily daytime then probably the EF 70-200mm f/4L would be a pretty decent lens for her needs. You can go with or without the "IS" but keep in mind that even when the shutter speed is fast enough that you don't need IS, the focusing will get a better and faster lock if the computer can use "IS" while it's trying to focus the shot.

 

[play18now]

Depending on her telephoto needs and how much weight she's willing to carry around, I would go with the EF-S 15-85. I've never owned one of these but used one on several occasions and it is excellent compared to the 18-135, which I do own. The optics are superior to the 18-135 throughout the focal range. I believe it's somewhere around 700 new. If she wants more range than that, I would look at the 70-200 f/4L, as TCampbell mentioned above. Without IS, I believe that lens runs about 700 as well. Close to twice that with the IS. For the price, the non-IS 70-200 f/4L is probably Canon's best telephoto bargain, with their top-end glass, and constant f/4. If she only wants to carry once lens and 85mm isn't quite enough, I would look for the 24-105 f/4L. I do own that one and have used it on both crop and FF bodies and its fantastic. The only drawback on her body is that the wide angle is very limited. However if she isn't shooting a lot of landscapes or cityscapes, it's probably the best all around lens. Check Amazon for that one, that's where I got mine and I got a heck of a deal on a new one. I wish you luck in your search.