First Post, New Photographer! Questions Questions Questions...

MadMartigan · Apr 16, 2012

Hello everyone,

This will be my first post on this forum or any photography forum for that matter. I recently decided to take up photography thanks to my job that affords me the opportunity to work only 3 days a week with 15 hour shifts. This means that as a single guy I have 4 days out of the week where I sit at home and watch so much TV, that by the end of the day I wanna run 100 miles just to have a reason to move my legs.

Therefore, I decided that I should pursue my love of media arts and start learning some photography! I have always loved searching for amazing photos in books, magazines and online, so the jump from SPECtator to CREator seemed logical. Enough with the intro...On to my question!

I went a bit overboard for a FIRST camera purchase, but after about a month of research via Amazon, Youtube, Vimeo, DigitalRev, and the Fro, I bought a used Canon 7D on eBay for $1000, body only. What types of middle-class lenses should I get for it? I've used a D3100 35mm lens before and absolutely loved it! I want the first lens to be either a 35mm or 50mm. I can't afford their "L-Class" lenses, and I'm not sure how good the less expensive ones are compared to the camera they'll be used for. Also, does Canon have 3rd party lenses that are high quality at a lower cost?

Thanks for reading!

P.S.
Good deal on the camera right?

cgipson1 · Apr 16, 2012

I assume you mean 7D?

On lenses.. you get what you pay for!

Welcome, btw!

analog.universe · Apr 16, 2012

Congratulations! That is a good deal

And if you really want to learn, I don't think you went overboard. The better your equipment is, the more it has to teach you...

The Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM is a really nice lens, especially considering the price. The 35mm f/2.0 gets the job done, but that's about it. Unfortunately a bunch of the lenses around this focal length are alright but not spectacular. The Sigma 30mm 1.4 gets a lot of praise, but certainly won't compete with L-series glass. The price of wide lenses at a given performance point tends to be a lot higher than that of normal's and short tele's of similar performance.

What kind of stuff do you want to shoot?

MadMartigan · Apr 16, 2012

Yes the 7D. Thanks.

MadMartigan · Apr 16, 2012

analog.universe said:
Congratulations! That is a good deal And if you really want to learn, I don't think you went overboard. The better your equipment is, the more it has to teach you...

The Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM is a really nice lens, especially considering the price. The 35mm f/2.0 gets the job done, but that's about it. Unfortunately a bunch of the lenses around this focal length are alright but not spectacular. The Sigma 30mm 1.4 gets a lot of praise, but certainly won't compete with L-series glass. The price of wide lenses at a given performance point tends to be a lot higher than that of normal's and short tele's of similar performance.

What kind of stuff do you want to shoot?

I would like to learn with portraits and landscapes, but would eventually strive for sports and live performances.

analog.universe · Apr 16, 2012

A 50 is great for portraits, and if you got the 1.4 it would be great for live performances as well (provided you're close enough). Landscapes can be shot with anything, but typically ultra-wide lenses are the goto. The Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8, Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5, and Sigma 8-16mm f/4.5-5.6 are leading the way in that department. Each have their strengths and they're all pretty close to the same price.

The glass for sports is another animal altogether, and there are other members here that can give a better picture of that than I can...