Lens for my 60D

[ChefCanon]

In the market for a new lens for my 60D. Been looking quite a bit; however, I need some more advice/thoughts on the matter. I currently have a 18-135 f/3.5-5.6 IS and 55-250 f/4-5.6 IS lens. I tend to use the former more than the latter. I am looking for something that will do wide shots but maybe not go out quite as far as my first lens. Maybe a 24-70? The main thing i'm looking for is a quick lens. Not sure where my budget will leave that. Would not be opposed to going USM either. Budget = ~~$500~~~~~~ lol...

 

[Natalie]

What do you plan on shooting mostly? Are you considering prime lenses too or only zoom lenses?

 

[ChefCanon]

No sure whether prime or zoom. Shooting food / closeups - So a short focal length( correct?) Being able to focus more closely. The lens I have now have a few feet - making closeups on food... not impossible but diffucult. Would anything double as a good landscape lens? or should I stick with my 18-135 for that... or consider something else for that? Thanks.

 

[ChefCanon]

Any other opinions on this?

 

[analog.universe]

Focal length determines the field of view of the lens, shorter being wider... It sounds like you're looking for a macro lens, as they are designed to focus at close distances. Canon makes a $500 100mm f/2.8 macro, and Sigma makes a lot of Macro lenses at various focal lengths. I shoot food for my blog with a 50mm f/2.0 macro.

 

[analog.universe]

You can shoot landscape with anything, but usually wide angles are what come to mind when I hear landscape lens, which would not be my first choice for food, and also generally have limited macro capability.

 

[ChefCanon]

First question - What is the word (is there one) to describe the minimum distance required to focus?

 

[analog.universe]

"Minimum focus distance", believe it or not. Even more surprising it's often abbreviated MFD!

 

[analog.universe]

Also the minimum focus distance is measured from the sensor plane, not the front of the lens. Usually there's a little circle with a line through it printed on top of your camera to indicate where the sensor plane is.

 

[ChefCanon]

Well don't I feel stupid lol. Ok so wide angle versus say my 18-135 lens ? would a 28mm Wide Angle lens be different? Should I stick with what I have for that... Like to be able to zoom in. and not necessarily go that wide... though I can always crop

 

[ChefCanon]

I guess I have a lot of different needs for a camera lens - A lot of things I would like to do... and perhaps I can achieve most of them with what I have... The close focus would be nice and having a camera with a low f-rate ... ~1.8 to allow me to shoot a little better in low light situations.? any ideas on a possible combination of the two... would a 100m | 2.8 USM macro lens do that... Macro for shooting say a face??? bad idea. Sorry lots of questions lol.

 

[analog.universe]

18 is wider than 28, so in that comparison you're better off with what you've got. The lenses I was thinking of that folks get for landscapes would be an 11-16mm or a 10-20mm etc...

 

[analog.universe]

100mm is a fairly long lens, excellent for portraits if you can stand far enough away, but it wouldn't be my first choice for low light at f/2.8. Large aperture lenses and Macro lenses are both pushing engineering limits, so getting the two together tends to be pricey. I use a Zeiss 50mm f/2.0 Macro which is nice in low light, but over twice your budget, and no auto-focus. If you want low light performance, I'd be looking for f/2.0 or faster. Have a look through Sigma's lineup as they tend to put a lot of emphasis on Macro, they might offer something that suits your needs.

 

[Natalie]

For food I would actually recommend Canon's 60mm f/2.8 macro... I use the 100mm macro for reptile photography, and I know when a snake is coiled into the size of a dinner plate, I need to be at least four feet back to get the whole animal in frame. This works out well for things like rattlesnakes when I'd want to be that far back anyway, but if you're shooting food (which hopefully isn't as dangerous), you'd probably want to be a bit closer so it's easier to play around with angles and whatnot. Their 60mm macro is a great lens, and has a minimum focus distance of about 6" (keep in mind that's 6" from the sensor, not the end of the lens), so in addition to taking shots of the whole dish, you can also get up close and capture fine details with true macro (1:1) magnification.

 

[ChefCanon]

excellent! thanks much for the help. ill check 2mrw