Next lens? Please help.

[Christina416]

Hi. I am looking to purchase a new lens for my camera. I have the t3i and I still consider myself a beginner...ish. I have the 18-55 and the 55-250 kit lenses that came with my camera as well as the 50 1.4.

I mainly take pics of my toddler and dog, as well as family portraits for my family. We have a lot of fun activities planned this summer (zoo, amusement park, aquarium, etc.) and I am looking for something that will be a good walk around lens for those types of places.

 

[Overread19 7]

A few questions first:

1) You've already a pretty good covering of focal lengths for those subjects with your current lenses, so what is it with your current lenses that is just not quite working well enough for you? Or do you find them ideal and want to increase the quality (if so what lens(s) do you find yourself using most and if its the zooms over roughly what kind of focal length range)).

2) What kind of rough budget are you looking to work with? Even if its just a very rough value an idea of where you're sitting in the market helps a lot. Many times there are cheap through to very expensive options and without some financial guide from yourself you could end up with a load of suggestions that are just not well suited to your personal financial position.

 

[Christina416]

I am looking for better quality, preferably a lower f stop. Also, I like the range I have, but I use the 50 the most because I like its quality the best. It is just too tight inside on my t3i.

I want an inexpensive, yet good quality, zoom lens that performs well in low light. Does one even exist?

I would like to spend less than 800.

 

[bratkinson]

In the $800 range, I'd go with the Canon 24-105 f4L IS. It was my favorite, most used lens on my crop-sensor 60D when I had that camera, and is still my favorite on my 5D3. As an L lens, you'll immediately notice it has a better image quality than with your present lenses. It's also a great walk-around lens. It can be had for as low as $749 right now at Amazon.

There are those that say the 24mm side isn't wide enough for indoors on a crop sensor such as your T3i. Except under the 'tightest' of situations such as 6-7 adults shoulder to shoulder 15' away, I found it quite sufficient for my needs. And for those that think that f4 is too 'slow', I found the IS good enough for hand held shots in the 1/30th of a second range at f4 if the subject stays still long enough. Under those conditions, I simply took 5 or more shots, to ensure at least one had 'frozen' the subject.

Unfortunately, the 24-105 'overlaps' the ranges of all 3 lenses you currently own. I'd consider selling the 18-55. Keep in mind, however, that the angle-of-view of the 24-105 mounted on a T3i is like that of a theoretical 38mm-168mm lens, so you may find times the 18 end of the 18-55 is needed. Likewise, there may also be times you'll want to go beyond 105mm, so I'd consider keeping the 55-250. And the 50? When you need low light performance without a flash, its' f1.8 will more than justify keeping it in your bag.

Use all 4 lenses for a while. See what ranges you use most, which lenses give the best results, etc. Then decide what to keep and what to sell...

One word of warning, however...L lenses can become addictive. They have that unusual property about them.

 

[IByte]

Hi. I am looking to purchase a new lens for my camera. I have the t3i and I still consider myself a beginner...ish. I have the 18-55 and the 55-250 kit lenses that came with my camera as well as the 50 1.4.

I mainly take pics of my toddler and dog, as well as family portraits for my family. We have a lot of fun activities planned this summer (zoo, amusement park, aquarium, etc.) and I am looking for something that will be a good walk around lens for those types of places.

Rent before you buy to see what fits your needs.

 

[Buckster]

You should experiment with using the ISO on your camera to deal with low light situations first. It won't take long and it's like getting a free upgrade, and most important, you really need to understand your camera's REAL limitations so that you can be more effective with it. In a typically "dark" situation indoors that you now want to solve with a faster lens, crank up the ISO incrementally with your current lenses to get faster shutter speeds, and then review the photos to see where your acceptable threshold is - not at 100% pixel-peeping level either - at regular viewing size levels. You might be surprised how well they'll turn out.

When you've established where exactly your noise gets to the point where it's unacceptable you're armed with the actual info, and can then work with it. You can work up to that threshold without worry, for one. But it's also important to understand that the minimum amounts of noise generated by cranking the ISO that just cross over that threshold for you can be dealt with very effectively in post processing with software. Lightroom has a good noise cancelling module and 3rd party software like Noise Ninja works great.

You've already got a pretty good range, from 18mm to 250mm. If you want more, especially for wider shots indoors, you're looking at one of the ultra-wides in the 10-22mm range. Canon's 10-22mm is a terrific lens and fits into your budget last time I checked. Third party variations on that from Sigma and Tamron are said to be quite good as well from their users, and will save you some money.

I recommend to new shooters that they work on their shooting technique and post processing abilities before buying more lenses, unless they need focal lengths they don't have covered yet by their current lenses.

See this thread as a reference: http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/canon-lenses/324746-prime-lens-dilema.html#post2931820 I think it might help you understand where I'm coming from.

 

[Christina416]

Thanks for the suggestions. I have lightroom and I am slowly getting to know it. I've been watching a ton of the adobe tutorials as well as tutorials posted by other people. I'll look into noise canceling tutorials.

I was messing around with my 55-250 last night, and I think that one will be good enough for the zoo.

I've read so many conflicting things about iso. I've read to never shoot above 1600, but when I take pictures of our assemblies (HS journalism instructor here), I get decent enough shots for the online site at 6400 with my kit lens.

 

[KmH]

I want an inexpensive, yet good quality, zoom lens that performs well in low light.

An oxymoron.

Good quality and low light performance together in a zoom lens make the lens expensive.
Something that can help with learning the ins-and-outs of all of Lightroom's modules, tools, features, functions, and various settings is a good reference book, like - Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Book: The Complete Guide for Photographers

Video tutorials leave out a lot of the background details, but videos do help to see someone else doing a specific task.

 

[O'Rork]

Hi. I am looking to purchase a new lens for my camera. I have the t3i and I still consider myself a beginner...ish. I have the 18-55 and the 55-250 kit lenses that came with my camera as well as the 50 1.4.

I mainly take pics of my toddler and dog, as well as family portraits for my family. We have a lot of fun activities planned this summer (zoo, amusement park, aquarium, etc.) and I am looking for something that will be a good walk around lens for those types of places.

Rent before you buy to see what fits your needs.

This is probably the best advise you've gotten.