Help me buy my next lens!

[jterry85]

Hello everyone,

I am faced with an impossible dillemna and was hoping y'all could help me out. I have a choice of lenses to buy and I for the life of me can't make my mind up so I thought I would see if you guys could help me out. My choices are as follows:

Tamron 70-200mm F/2.8 ($615.20) and Tamron 28-75mm F/2.8 ($399.20) for a total of $1014.40

OR

Canon 70-200mm F/4L USM for a total of $699

OR

Sigma 150-500mm F/5.6-6.3 APO DG OS HSM for a total of $899.99

I shoot mainly travel photos and outdoors as I'm currently living in Europe with my family (SW Germany which is castle photography heaven!). I'm leaning towards the Sigma mainly because its a range I don't have yet and could find useful shooting stuff from far away at more unique angles, but at the same time it would be nice to upgrade the glass I already have to the f/2.8 since Europe can be pretty cloudy most of the time. Here is a list of my current lenses:

Canon 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS UD
Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM
Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM
Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II

All help is greatly appreciated! Thanks!
Joe

 

[DiskoJoe]

Id go with the tamron and get a lens teleconverter to add range. 70-200 is a nice range to work with. Coupled with the 28-75 you only need a wide angle and you would have alomost all of 10-200 covered.

 

[jterry85]

Thanks for the advice, I must admit when I saw 500mm I lost a little bit of common sense. The more reviews I read of the two Tamrons the more and more I like them, they'll give me the low light ability that's always useful.

 

[DiskoJoe]

The only thing I have read negative about tamron is that the color balance of the glass could be better. Colors tend to be a bit flat but it more then makes up for this in price and sharpness. You can fix color easily in post of maybe with filters. ive had my eye on the 17-50 they make. About the same price as the 28-75.

 

[DiskoJoe]

TAMRON 2X MC7 BBAR AF AUTOFOCUS 7 ELEMENT TELECONVERTER LENS fr CANON EOS CAMERA (725211207016) | eBay

 

[creisinger]

The 500mm is tempting but most telezooms in that price range won't deliver exceptional photos.

What's wrong with your 70-300mm lens that you already own? Can't you use a teleconverter for that one as well?

Therefore I'd rather save up the money to get good glass (tele) later instead of just getting something new now.

 

[Buckster]

What body are you shooting on, and what's your current normally used ISO using the 70-300mm f/4-5.6 in those cloudy conditions?

 

[jterry85]

I'm using a Canon 7D. As for ISO I usually try to stay as low as possible with 800-1600 being the highest I go.

 

[Buckster]

I'm using a Canon 7D. As for ISO I usually try to stay as low as possible with 800-1600 being the highest I go.

Same here, but I "normally" find myself shooting in the 100-400 range. Are you "normally" shooting in the 800-1600 range in those conditions?

 

[jterry85]

No, usually it's 100 unless the meter is showing it to be severely underexposed.

 

[Buckster]

Warning: You're not going to like what I'm about to tell you. I don't do it to try to offend you in any way. Just giving you my straight thoughts on the matter. Feel free to completely disregard. :thumbup:

No, usually it's 100 unless the meter is showing it to be severely underexposed.

In that case, this statement makes no sense:

it would be nice to upgrade the glass I already have to the f/2.8 since Europe can be pretty cloudy most of the time.

You're nowhere near needing f/2.8, especially not for landscapes of castles, no matter what the weather, especially if you're still shooting ISO 100. So, either you're just making excuses to buy more glass and you don't know why other than you want it, or you don't quite know what you're doing yet and want to buy more glass hoping it will help you figure out later why it's useful to you.

That usually means the person asking just wants to buy some glass and is looking for justification when they don't actually have any, and they want the support group to give them the "okay! Yes! You should DO IT!!" cheer.

In looking at your present list of lenses, taking into consideration that you're using them on a 7D, and also taking into consideration what you say you're interested in shooting, I'm not seeing a reason to get another lens yet, especially not in a mm range you already have covered.

Step one, numero-uno, no two ways about it, when considering the purchase of a lens is this: HOW EXACTLY am I being limited by my present lenses? That usually means you can't get wide enough to get the shots you want (common for budding landscape photographers), or you can't get long enough to bring in the subjects you want to shoot (common for budding wildlife photographers), or you're cranked wide open on the aperture and still can't get the DOF you want (common for budding portrait photographers). There can be other reasons, but those are the main ones.

So, first, there's a problem. It goes like this, "DARN IT! I can't get a shot of _____ because my lens' _____ is too ______!!!"

Is that something that's been hitting you in the brain? Cuz if it's not, you're just looking to spend some money here, which, trust me, I have NOTHING against! But it's important to be honest with ourselves at times like this. If we don't NEED something, maybe it's better to wait, save, and get something even better later, than to just rush right into a purchase because the cash is burning a hole in our pockets.

Again, just give you my thoughts on it. Now then, to sum up. I don't see a need for you to buy a new lens at all, especially not from the list you provided. I don't see how any of them would really benefit you in any tangeble way... However, If you just need the cheer, I'm more than happy to provide it:

Okay! Yes! You should DO IT!! WOOT!!!! :smileys::cheers:

 

[jterry85]

I will not deny the desire to purchase a new lens because with all honesty I love buying new lenses! However I guess I should have added this while I was traveling in Paris with my family there were several places, mostly indoors,, that I was not able to take great pictures because it was too dark and when using my 50mm f/1.8 the focal length was too long forcing me to back up away from my subject more than I wanted or was able to. This is my reasoning for the 28-75mm f/2.8, I'm hoping that it will allow me to capture those shots. The 70-200mm is just a bonus want because I can and it's a nice lens and my wife's also into photography and could use my other lens on her camera. So one lens is useful to me I believe but the other one is one of those "I want! I want!" kinda things.

 

[jterry85]

Alas! Dillemna solved I believe. I have decided on two lenses that were not even on my list to begin with. The Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 to resolve the issue of low light and focal length and the Tamron 200-500mm f/5-6.3 to satisfy the the over 300mm range aka the "I want a big a$$ lens" requirement.