Lens Help!

[photoguy912]

Hey everyone. I jsut signed up for this site, and it looks like thier is a wealth of information here! I have been taking taking photographs with a 35mm slr for a long time, and this christmas i upgraded to a caon digital rebel XTi. I love the camera, and most of my older lenses work on it, including a macro. I have two questions that i am hoping i get many answers on......

1) How do Sigma, Tamarac, and Quantary lenses rate? I know the differences of elements, groups, fast vs. slow lenses.... what i dont know his how individual brands are????

2) seeing as how i am now shooting digital w/o a full sized sensor, do people think that a 300mm telephoto will be enough zoom for nature/wildlife photography?

Thanks everyone... glad to be a part of this site!

 

[EOS_JD]

Hey everyone. I jsut signed up for this site, and it looks like thier is a wealth of information here! I have been taking taking photographs with a 35mm slr for a long time, and this christmas i upgraded to a caon digital rebel XTi. I love the camera, and most of my older lenses work on it, including a macro. I have two questions that i am hoping i get many answers on......

1) How do Sigma, Tamarac, and Quantary lenses rate? I know the differences of elements, groups, fast vs. slow lenses.... what i dont know his how individual brands are????

2) seeing as how i am now shooting digital w/o a full sized sensor, do people think that a 300mm telephoto will be enough zoom for nature/wildlife photography?

Thanks everyone... glad to be a part of this site!

Tamron, sigma and Tokina all make nice lenses (not sure about the others). To be honest you get what you pay for.

300mm focal length is quite long on a digital body however it depends what you shoot. A friend of mine has a 600mm f4L IS and still craves for more magnification for small birds in particular. For me 300mm is plenty although I added a 1.4x for when I need that little bit more.

It's all down to how you shoot and your budget

 

[Big Mike]

Welcome to the forum.

As mentioned, 'off brand' lens manufactures can and do make some great lenses...they also have some that aren't so good. That being said, Canon makes some crappy lenses as well as some of the best avaliable.

It can't really generalize the quality of a lens by the brand. The price is a much easier way to generalize....you get what you pay for.