Good beginner lenses.. Need opinions...

[saharac]

Hi,

I am new to DSLR photography and I am just amazed by the lens options... I just bought the Canon T3i body (delivered today), and I was looking through some of the lenses to get started...
I dont want to spend big $$, but still want some quality..

The few of them I looked at and need your opinions on are:
Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II
Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4.0-5.6 IS
Canon EFS 18-55mm - standard kit lens
Canon EF-S 17-85mm 4-5.6 IS USM

I'm open to getting them used as well and am kinda leaning towards the Canon EF 28-135mm & Canon EF 50mm (used).

I do a mix of landscapes and portraits.. I want something that is a bit multi-purpose and good to travel with...

Appreciate your comments.

Cheers....

 

[Nikon_Josh]

Hi,

I am new to DSLR photography and I am just amazed by the lens options... I just bought the Canon T3i body (delivered today), and I was looking through some of the lenses to get started...
I dont want to spend big $$, but still want some quality..

The few of them I looked at and need your opinions on are:
Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II
Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4.0-5.6 IS
Canon EFS 18-55mm - standard kit lens
Canon EF-S 17-85mm 4-5.6 IS USM

I'm open to getting them used as well and am kinda leaning towards the Canon EF 28-135mm & Canon EF 50mm (used).

I do a mix of landscapes and portraits.. I want something that is a bit multi-purpose and good to travel with...

Appreciate your comments.

Cheers....

From some of my reading, Canon consumer lenses are not always very good. Canon make some fantastic L lenses but some of the kit lenses seem to be very lacking. Nikon's consumer glass seems to have quite a bit of an edge in my opinion! Then again Canon pro lenses are cheaper than Nikon's so I guess it evens out.

You may be better off looking at lenses such as the Tamron 17-50 or Sigma 17-70. Which are both decently rated! Welcome to Photozone! does some great reviews and it really does not rate lenses such as the 17-85. If you want a cheap and high quality Canon prime, the 85 1.8 is very highly rated by just about all.

 

[MReid]

Look at a Tamron 28-75, these lenses are very sharp from f4 on and can also be used for macro...and get the 50 1.8.
Variable aperture lenses are usually not the best.

 

[saharac]

Thanks for the advice.. I'll look into those Tamron lenses..

 

[KmH]

There is no avoiding the fact that quality 'glass' is not inexpensive.

 

[Dao]

Hi,

I am new to DSLR photography and I am just amazed by the lens options... I just bought the Canon T3i body (delivered today), and I was looking through some of the lenses to get started...
I dont want to spend big $$, but still want some quality..

The few of them I looked at and need your opinions on are:
Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II
Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4.0-5.6 IS
Canon EFS 18-55mm - standard kit lens
Canon EF-S 17-85mm 4-5.6 IS USM

I'm open to getting them used as well and am kinda leaning towards the Canon EF 28-135mm & Canon EF 50mm (used).

I do a mix of landscapes and portraits.. I want something that is a bit multi-purpose and good to travel with...

Appreciate your comments.

Cheers....

Out of all the listed lens, I will pick the 50mm + the 18-55mm kit lens. The newer Canon kit lens is not bad. There are a lot of lenses out there better than the Canon kit lens, but it is not bad at all . Quoted from Photozone about the Canon kit lens.

"There were a few moments when I considered not to publish the results due to "political correctness" because to date it was a quite absurd thought that such a cheap, or better "affordable", lens can perform this good and I'm sure that some will not believe the findings even though they're supported by the published field images."

And the cost of a used EF 28-135mm IS lens should be about the same as a used 50mm and 18-55mm kit lens combine. ( I sold 2 EF 28-135mm IS lens for $300 each in the past - lens looks like brand new)

For walk around lens, I prefer using the Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 lens. I think it is around $300 to $350 in used market.