Requesting some recommendations

[mimstrel]

Hi!
I'm getting back into photography after a while not taking many photos - partly just because I've had a remarkably unexciting couple of years. But I've got some travel coming up, and some friends with offspring who would make good photography subjects, and so on. But there's some things that I feel are missing from my gear, and I'm looking for some recommendations.

TLDR: Equipment requests are in bold so you can skim through.

I own three SLR cameras. Really, 2 of them are 99% of my shooting - my grandpa's Nikkormat, and my digital Canon Rebel XSi. I also have a Canon T50 but it has some odd light leakage that I haven't tracked down, so I only rarely break it out.

But, the T50 has a couple of decent lenses. My favorite lens is the 50mm Nikon lens that goes with the Nikkormat - it's by far my best glass, so it's my go-to even though I'd prefer a telephoto - and I have an adapter so I can stick it on my Rebel. Most of my lenses are F-mount lenses, actually. My Canon glass is not so great. My first request would be an adapter that would allow me to put my FD lenses on the Rebel. I see a few options on Amazon and eBay and they seem to vary a LOT in price, so I'm not sure exactly what is needed vs. what is overpriced and unnecessary.

Secondly, I'm looking for a reasonably priced, compact-sized external flash for the Rebel. Something not too complicated, travel-friendly, and a generalist.

Third, I'd like to get 3 primes that are actually designed to work with my Rebel, in the price range of "good glass but won't break the bank." I get overwhelmed trying to research and compare all of the options, so if you have something that you use and like which isn't too expensive, let me know. In particular I'd like a wide-angle lens for landscapes, maybe like 18 mm and a decent telephoto lens, longer is better but maybe 300mm, for wildlife. And if I can find an EF mount 50mm lens on par with the Nikon 50mm (Nikkor-S 1:1.4 f=50mm), I would like one of those, too. Sometimes, it's just nice to have autofocus as an option, but right now my EF mount lenses are both zoom lenses that just don't have the quality to be sharp.

 

[Overread]

Put a value to "good glass that won't break the bank" because that's not really enough for us to work with. You might have enough for 3 good lenses or just enough for one good lens. You sound like you want a lot of gear all at once so we need some guide on the total budget for all this.


For the FD to EF mount there aren't any good ones. Well Canon did actually make some; but they are like gold dust as they didn't make many and those who have them hold onto them. The way they changed the mount means that any adaptor has to have glass in it to account for the differences; and in general many of the 3rd party options are poorly made. There's just not a huge demand for high end adaptors as those with high end demands generally sold up and re-bought in EF mount.

 

[mimstrel]

The problem with giving a specific dollar amount is that my timeline is flexible. I generally don't want to spend more than a couple hundred dollars at a time, but I can be a little bit flexible on that. I'd like to at least get the 50mm prime by October, when I'm going to NYC, but the rest can be spread out over the next year. Next October my whole family is going to Iceland, so I definitely want to have everything by then.

 

[zombiesniper]

300mm prime in the couple of hundred range is not doable at all.
The 300mm f4 from Canon is about $1400USD and the 400mm F5.6 is about $1200USD.

If you're not going to be getting into wildlife/sports photography and just want the reach for a trip I would say rent one.

If you do still require the reach Sigma and Tamron make some darn good zooms that may fit the bill without draining the bank.