Should i bother with the lens kit for the 350d?

Donutboy · May 19, 2005

Hi everyone,
After doing months of reading every mag going, and countless trips to LCE ive made the desision to purchase a Canon 350d. The one thing that everyone keeps telling me though is that the lens starter kit is well, pretty bad. So with this in mind, can anyone advise me on any other canon lenses i could buy, i would rather save money by just buying the body that way i can use the money saved in indulge myself with some sweet glass!! Most of my work would be landscape and shooting my paragliding mates, but next year im on safari so any suggestion gratefully received. Also is the auto focus really that bad on the 350d?? Decisions, decisions!!!

Digital Matt · May 19, 2005

If you want something similar in range to the kit lens, Canon makes a 17-40 f/4 L which is a nice alternative, and not super expensive (around $700 I think). Canon also makes a more expensive 16-35 f/2.8 L, which is around $1200.

I bought a Tamron 17-35 f/2.8 myself, for around $500, and I find it to be sharper than the kit lens, with a slightly better build, but slow af.

etaf · May 19, 2005

the kit lens is around £100 and provides some wide angle facility,
depends on your budget to spend to get an alternative.

Big Mike · May 19, 2005

Welcome to the forum.

The standard advice is to pick up a 50mm F1.8. It's inexpensive, cheaply constructed, but fast (F1.8 ), and tack sharp.

Also, the kit lens is only $100 with the camera. I think that's a pretty good price, even for a consumer grade lens, especially a super wide one. Yes, people are always saying how bad it is...but that's in comparison to more expensive lenses as mentioned by Matt. I'd say it's probably a better lens than anything you will find on a point & shoot digital camera.

westman · May 22, 2005

Big Mike said:
Welcome to the forum.

The standard advice is to pick up a 50mm F1.8. It's inexpensive, cheaply constructed, but fast (F1.8 ), and tack sharp.

Also, the kit lens is only $100 with the camera. I think that's a pretty good price, even for a consumer grade lens, especially a super wide one. Yes, people are always saying how bad it is...but that's in comparison to more expensive lenses as mentioned by Matt. I'd say it's probably a better lens than anything you will find on a point & shoot digital camera.

i don't think a starter should buy a prime lens , i do suggest him to buy a stanard zoom lens first , Sigma is a good choice.
once you tried the standard lens for a period , you will know what kind of lenses you should buy.

Donutboy · May 22, 2005

Cheers for the advice Westman.....just another quick question, can the canon 350d accomodate all the canon lenses or are you resticted??

westman · May 22, 2005

Donutboy said:
Cheers for the advice Westman.....just another quick question, can the canon 350d accomodate all the canon lenses or are you resticted??

EF , EF-S are fine
if u want to use FD , u need a adoptor ^.^

mentos_007 · Jun 1, 2005

my friend bought sigma 18-125 mm and it is a great lens! and in affordable price!

Big Mike · Jun 2, 2005

westman said:
i don't think a starter should buy a prime lens , i do suggest him to buy a stanard zoom lens first , Sigma is a good choice.
once you tried the standard lens for a period , you will know what kind of lenses you should buy.

I disagree,

While a zoom lens is convenient, a prime lens can force the photographer to move around more and thereby to think more about position and perspective. If you are standing in one spot and simply zooming the lens, you can learn about focal lengths but not much else.

Also, the wider apertures available with primes (over consumer zooms) allows for things that just don't work with slower lenses. Things like very shallow DOF and hand held shots in low light situations.

Also, prime lenses can usually produce better quality images for less money. The optical qualities of the 50mm F1.8 should be much better than any zoom under $700.

While you can use an adapter to attach older manual focus Canon lenses (FD) to a Canon EOS (autofocus) camera...it's not recommended and may cause weird problems with the electronics on the digital body.

You can buy third party lenses that are made to fit EOS cameras...Sigma & Tamron are two of the best

colintinto · Jun 13, 2005

I've had the 300d for about 9 months, and had been using the lens that came with it. I then bought a zoom for it (Canon 70-200mm f4.0 L series), and immediately realised that the standard lens is OK, but nowhere near as good as something like an L series.

At that point I decided to upgrade, and bought an EF-S 17-85 f/4-5.6 with IS. I've only had it a week, so not had much of a chance to play with it, but initial results are encouraging, and the extra range and IS should offer more flexibility.

All depends on your budget I guess.

Colin