looking for a lens for rebel xti. can someone help me please.

goandcook · Jul 1, 2009

i am a beginner to photography and i brought rebel xti four months back along with 50mm f 1.8, with no kit lens. slowly realized the limitations of 50mm..they were just good for portraits but if i wanted to take landscape its just impossible. if i made my friends stand in front of a beautiful landscape either i could focus only on the person standing in front or could focus on the landscape behind..then two months back i brought sigma 18-200 with os and realized on the very same day that the outcome was not clear even though the colour and contrast were all fine. so i gave it back very soon.

right now i am looking for a lens that meets my following needs
1)has to be under 600$ max
2) clear and crisp image must!
3) ready to buy canon,
because i live in ny i have a fascination for taking skyline shots in the daylight and night so after taking the pictures, when i zoom it on my laptop, if the details of the faraway buildings comes out clear then i would love it..like the image below (just for reference , found it on the net).

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/48/145844430_526cce201f_b.jpg

so all in all i need a lens that takes far away pics clearly that includes cityscape , should do good for landscapes as i travel a lot to national parks and stuff and take good portraits too.

musicaleCA · Jul 1, 2009

If you want super clear, cutting through metal like a knife through butter crispy photos, you're going to likely have to invest more into the glass you buy. Frankly, I think the 17-55mm f/4-5.6 IS would be a decent enough place to start. It's not a shabby lens. It's not a great lens, but it ain't terrible either.

Lastly, for such super-duper DoF, you need to stop-down the aperture quite far. Around f/22. But then you lose sharpness in the image anyway.

bigtwinky · Jul 1, 2009

goandcook said:
if i made my friends stand in front of a beautiful landscape either i could focus only on the person standing in front or could focus on the landscape behind..

Sounds like you were shooting at f/1.8 or something close to, which creates Depth of Field. Try shooting the same thing at f/11 or f/16 to get more "in focus".

f/1.8 is very shallow DOF and it can be tricky to work with. Unless I am looking for DOF or in low light situations, I'm usually at f/5.6 or f/8 or so with this lens

Samanax · Jul 1, 2009

musicaleCA said:
Frankly, I think the 17-55mm f/4-5.6 IS would be a decent enough place to start. It's not a shabby lens. It's not a great lens, but it ain't terrible either.

17-55mm f/4.0-5.6 IS? Which lens is that? Is this a 3rd party lens? Got a link?

goandcook: I think you need to learn about aperture and how it affects Depth Of Field (DOF). Start here and then read this and this.

Dao · Jul 1, 2009

I agree with others. The problem is not the lens. It is how you use the camera.

Of course, it varies from case to case. Even if you take the photo at F/1.8 on the 50mm, everything can be in focus.
i.e. 50mm F/1.8 and all subjects are at least 250 feet away from the camera.

So, take a look at the links provided above and learn about Depth of Field. Play with the DoF calculator here

Online Depth of Field Calculator

Sachphotography · Jul 1, 2009

For what you are looking for I would recommend the following lens.
Tamron | Zoom Wide Angle-Telephoto AF 28-300mm | AF061C700 | B&H
My buddy swears by this thing. It has a huge zoom and has great glass(not L of course)
He uses it all the time. It is very compact but robust. For your price it would be a good all around lens. Check it out.
With the range it offer, it would be good for portraits at around 85mm and also up close shots as you can zoom to 300mm

Daniel

GeneralBenson · Jul 1, 2009

Tamron 17-50 2.8 or 28-75 2.8? Both are awesome, sharp, fast and well within your price range.

musicaleCA · Jul 1, 2009

Samanax said:
musicaleCA said:

Frankly, I think the 17-55mm f/4-5.6 IS would be a decent enough place to start. It's not a shabby lens. It's not a great lens, but it ain't terrible either.

Click to expand...

17-55mm f/4.0-5.6 IS? Which lens is that? Is this a 3rd party lens? Got a link?

goandcook: I think you need to learn about aperture and how it affects Depth Of Field (DOF). Start here and then read this and this.