Need help with digital camera lenses!?

Question

I'm buying a Canon Rebel XTi body, but I need help choosing a lens.

I really don't understand all the differences!

I need a lens for shooting landscape/nature/portraits and one for action shots.

I'm taking a photography class in the Spring, but am buying my camera now. Can you explain the different TYPES of lenses, how/why they are used?

Nothing super pricey, I'm on a budget to stay under $1500.

Any help/advice would be very much appreciated.

Thanks!

Answer 1

Here's a great article about different lenses
http://www.naturephotographers.net/articles1202/dp1202-1.html

Mainly, a shorter focal length shows more of a scene, has less zoom, and can cause distortion.

A longer focal length shows less, but has higher zoom, and less distortion.

For action photography, you'll need a lens with a high focal length. But that's not the only important thing. It needs to be fast (ie, have a wide aperture) or else there won't be enough light and the picture will be blurred. Very fast lenses with very long focal lengths can get expensive, so you have to compromise between zoom and light. A moderate zoom lens (of about 105 mm) is considered the classic portrait lens.

A normal to low focal length will be good for landscape and nature, but if you begin getting shorter and shorter the distortion can get very great. The absolute most distortion will be with a fish-eye lens.

If you still have questions this is another great article
http://www.photographytips.com/page.cfm/468

Answer 2

Visit shutterbug.com and Search for the Buyer's Guide they have for lenses. You should find a Buyer's Guide at your local library or newsstand - most all the photography magazines publish them.

The selection of lenses is keyed to your photographic interests. You may find that 2 zoom lenses are all you need. You may decide a true macro (a lens designed for extreme close-up photography and with a life-size image - an object 1" long will be 1" long on your sensor) is needed; you may decide a fixed focal length 300 or 400mm telephoto is desirable. Before buying any lens try to determine how much use you'll get from it. A 500mm lens you use once or twice a year might be a poor investment while a lens used daily is a good one. You can do a lot of excellent photography with one quality zoom. When you've exceeded its capabilities then you can begin shopping for that next lens.*

While you're buying, add these filters to your shopping list: A HAZE/UV filter, a Skylight 1A (uncoated) or 1B (coated) filter and a circular polarizer. You'll want the HAZE/UV filter to remove/reduce atmospheric haze, the Skylight to remove the bluish tint seen in distant shaded mountains and in photos taken in open shade, and the polarizer to darken blue skys to make white puffy clouds really "pop" or just for the visual effect. The polarizer also removes glare/reflections from water, glass, snow, sand and painted metal - but not from polished metal.

Another reason for either of the first two filters is to protect the front element of your lens. One scratch or smudge and that expensive lens becomes an expensive paperweight. No lens should face the world naked - it should wear a protective filter.

You should visit these sites as well: cameraarmor.com and bonicadive.com. They offer protective covers for your camera. After reading the horror stories in here - "I got my camera wet" or "I got sand in my camera" - spending a few $$$ for added protection is a good investment.

* I'm an old film guy whose motto is "You can have too many lenses but you can never have enough." Needless to say, in 36 years I've acquired a lot of lenses. I am not a good role model lol!

Answer 3

If you can independently control shutter speed, aperture and ISO settings, then that IS manual control. It has a fixed lens. So you are stuck with it. The rubber band idea is seriously stupid. If you tried putting something over the lens, you'd probably break the mechanism for the zoom/focus. The lens on these types of camera pops out when you switch it on, and moves in and out as you zoom or focus. BTW a Canon SLR lens will probably cost more than your camera is worth.

Answer 4

you should go for a wide angle lense and a long focous lense with 28mm-70mm,and 80mm-300mm,with converters of 0.5X and 2.0X respectively.with vide angle and converter u can fulfill ur landscape requirments though fish eye lenses arec also available but will be bit costly. 50 mm lense is also an ideal choice.all the best .wide angle lenses gives vider coverages while zoom /long focous lense give narrow but closer view of an object.