Just another "what lens should I buy" post!

[purpleroan]

Hi everyone! I recently purchased a Canon Rebel T5i, and am looking forward to a bit of equine photography come springtime and show season. I'm afraid the 18-55mm lens it came with just isn't going to cut it, and I'm curious if anyone here has suggestions for a good lens to purchase? I am a student on a budget, so cannot afford to spend a ton at the moment, but am also open to the idea of used products. I have seen the 50mm f/1.8 suggested for equine activities, as well as the Canon 55-250mm...any opinions of these/their suitability? I will mostly be shooting hunter/jumpers, maybe a bit of western but it's not my primary focus. It would also be nice to have a lens that's good for general portraits or shots in the field, that sort of thing. Thanks for your input!!

 

[robbins.photo]

Well if your talking about outdoor photography in good lighting, a decent 70-300 mm 4.5-5.6 would probably do the job nicely. If your talking indoor photography where you'll need a large aperture zoom, well sadly there really aren't any options that are going to work well for that on a limited budget.

 

[purpleroan]

Well if your talking about outdoor photography in good lighting, a decent 70-300 mm 4.5-5.6 would probably do the job nicely. If your talking indoor photography where you'll need a large aperture zoom, well sadly there really aren't any options that are going to work well for that on a limited budget.

Definitely outdoors...do you believe that the 4.5-5.6 aperture would be large enough? Just because I am currently trying to figure out how to shoot water (different post) at the high shutter speeds needed to capture the action and I'm having difficulty getting enough light in my shots (kit lens has similar max aperture) even in outdoor light. I am admittedly new to DSLR's...perhaps I'm trying to relate one situation to another where it's not appropriate? Either way, thank you for your opinion!!

 

[robbins.photo]

Well if your talking about outdoor photography in good lighting, a decent 70-300 mm 4.5-5.6 would probably do the job nicely. If your talking indoor photography where you'll need a large aperture zoom, well sadly there really aren't any options that are going to work well for that on a limited budget.

Definitely outdoors...do you believe that the 4.5-5.6 aperture would be large enough? Just because I am currently trying to figure out how to shoot water (different post) at the high shutter speeds needed to capture the action and I'm having difficulty getting enough light in my shots (kit lens has similar max aperture) even in outdoor light. I am admittedly new to DSLR's...perhaps I'm trying to relate one situation to another where it's not appropriate? Either way, thank you for your opinion!!

As long as you have good lighting you should be able to get some pretty good action shots even with higher shutter speeds, I routinely shoot at those apertures or sometimes even higher with shutter speeds in the 800-1000 range with good lighting with no issues.

I don't use my 70-300 mm all that often to be honest, my bread and butter lens is a 70-200 mm F-2.8, but sadly they aren't really any "budget" versions, you can sometimes find some used non OEM brands like some of the older Tamron's or Sigma's in the $500 range, but these versions will generally be older versions without any sort of image stabilization so that is something to consider, and of course my guess is $500 is most likely more than you were hoping to spend since you mentioned you were on a budget. But sadly to get a decent zoom with a wide aperture is not a cheap endeavor.

I shoot Nikon myself, so maybe one of the Canon folks might know of a couple of lenses to recommend that I might not be all that familiar with myself.

 

[purpleroan]

Well if your talking about outdoor photography in good lighting, a decent 70-300 mm 4.5-5.6 would probably do the job nicely. If your talking indoor photography where you'll need a large aperture zoom, well sadly there really aren't any options that are going to work well for that on a limited budget.

Definitely outdoors...do you believe that the 4.5-5.6 aperture would be large enough? Just because I am currently trying to figure out how to shoot water (different post) at the high shutter speeds needed to capture the action and I'm having difficulty getting enough light in my shots (kit lens has similar max aperture) even in outdoor light. I am admittedly new to DSLR's...perhaps I'm trying to relate one situation to another where it's not appropriate? Either way, thank you for your opinion!!

As long as you have good lighting you should be able to get some pretty good action shots even with higher shutter speeds, I routinely shoot at those apertures or sometimes even higher with shutter speeds in the 800-1000 range with good lighting with no issues.

I don't use my 70-300 mm all that often to be honest, my bread and butter lens is a 70-200 mm F-2.8, but sadly they aren't really any "budget" versions, you can sometimes find some used non OEM brands like some of the older Tamron's or Sigma's in the $500 range, but these versions will generally be older versions without any sort of image stabilization so that is something to consider, and of course my guess is $500 is most likely more than you were hoping to spend since you mentioned you were on a budget. But sadly to get a decent zoom with a wide aperture is not a cheap endeavor.

I shoot Nikon myself, so maybe one of the Canon folks might know of a couple of lenses to recommend that I might not be all that familiar with myself.

Alright, I will definitely check out the 70-300mm you mentioned! Perhaps I can upgrade in the future if all goes well...thanks you again!!

 

[jaomul]

Secondhand 70-200mm f4 non is version

 

[Overread]

If you look in my signature at my photo link I've recently started doing some equine photography myself.

If you are outside then you should have enough light for a regular 70-300mm lens to work with unless its heavily overcast and in the evening. If you can get something like a 70-200mm f4 then that would be a more ideal option - even second hand they are fantastic lenses and the range is more than suitable most of the time.

How much range you need though depends somewhat. Indoors I've not had any trouble with a 70-200mm, outside you might find sometimes that getting up to 300mm is helpful. (it all depends on how close you can and are allowed to get - so always have a chat with the organisers).

1/640sec is the slowest shutterspeed for action - 1/500 in a pinch but you might see hooves and manes/tails getting blurred at that speed.

A smaller aperture isn't bad, horses are quite big all over and when you've got a rider and horses head sometimes a little more depth is a good thing - experiment and find out.

ISO pretty much let it go as high as it needs to. I've given you my rough shutter speed limits, experiment and find out what works for you - after that you've got the aperture on the lens as a limit so that gives you some boundaries to know when its time to just take the ISO higher.

 

[KmH]

You might get some ideas if you look through threads in this TPF forum -
Canon Lenses | Photography Forum