Buying my next lens

Question

Currently I have Canon 500D with following lenses.

1. Canon 18-55 IS.
2. Canon 55-250 IS.
3. Canon 50 1.8.
4. Tokina 100 2.8 Macro.

These days I'm thinking of adding another lens to my armory. And my choices are as follows.

1. Canon 15-85 IS. ( for its range )
2. Canon 10-22. ( for its UWA capabilities )
3. Tamron 17-50. ( for its fastness )

Even after reading large number of forum entries and reviews, I still can't make up my mind on one lens. Basically I have trouble with 18-55 and I am pretty satisfied with other 3 lenses. My problems with it includes not sharp enough, not fast enough and not wide enough at times. But when I analysed pictures I have taken using exposureplot, I got to know that I am shooting in either wide end or tele end most of the time. Therefore 15-85 seems logical choice as it extends range in both ends. But strictly speaking in lens speed terms it wouldn't give me a much of speed performance over current setup.

Other option I'm thinking about is go for a 10-22 and extend my range in wide range and use 10-22+55-250 setup. But it will involve constant lens swapping.

Final option is to go for Tamron 17-50 non VC and possibly drop 18-55 and 50 1.8 from current setup. It's the cheapest option, will provide sharp pics, but current range restriction will be there.

I will really appreciate if you guys can provide me with some advice as it will make my decision process an easy one.

Asked by user1133477

Answer

It seems to me, you’re at the point where really it’s more about what works for you, so it’s going to be hard for anybody to give a definitive answer. As you’ve said, each decision has different tradeoffs and really it’s about which one’s you want to make.

Taking your current setup, you already have a Cannon 50-1.8 which is towards the upper end of your zoom for the 18-55 (where you’ve said you take a lot of your shots) and it can let in significantly more light than your kit lens. So using this lens more would seem to tick your ‘not fast enough’ requirement, it may also match your ‘not sharp enough’, as you’ve not mentioned that you’re unhappy with this lens. So, my question is why don’t you use this lens more? I’d guess it’s because you don’t like having to change lenses often and you feel restricted by it. If this is the case, then I suspect going for the Canon 10-22 would result in you keeping the kit lens (for flexibility) and rarely using the wide lens unless you had a particular series of shots in mind.

I like the Canon 15-85, it’s a reliable lens with great flexibility, however as you’ve said, it’s basically the same f-range as your kit lens. How much of a limiting factor is that in your photography. If it’s the driving force for you buying a new lens, then I’d suggest trying the Tamron. But really it’s about which lens is actually going to make the most difference to you (be it because it gets the most use because it’s a great walk-about lens, or because it makes you excited because you can get that wide shot you’ve been looking for).

Answered by forsvarir

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what type and capacity of memory card is supported by canon 500D

Question

I was going to buy a new memory card for my Canon 500D and i was wondering if SanDisk Extreme III SDHC Card 8GB which has a write speed of 30MB/s would be a good buy. How can i find out if my camera supports 8GB card and can make use of 30MB/s speed. The price difference is not really that much.

Asked by intoTHEwild

Answer

The Canon 500D takes SDHC cards up to 32gb. Any Class 6 or above will make sure that there is never a slow down from the cameras buffer filling up, and the 30MB/s card you mention is a Class 10 card so plenty fast. I just bought two of those myself to replace my 16gb PNY as I get a bit of slow down shooting raw occasionally

Answered by Dreamager

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Is it worth spending more to buy the Canon 500D vs the Canon 450D?

Question

I would like to get into photography but I'd like to gather more information about the topic first. I'm thinking about buying a starter D-SLR camera, and am leaning heavily towards a Canon (most of my friends are using Canon).

Budget is important for me, so do think is it worth it to spend more money to a buy the Canon 500D instead of the Canon 450D? I don't think I will use video feature...

Answer

The 450D is plenty camera for anyone taking up photography. I would spend the money saved on better lenses.

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Will my Canon 500D with 18-55mm lens kit fit in a Crumpler Jimmy Bo 300 case?

Question

Someone recommended Crumpler camera bags to me, I've just bought a Canon 500D with the standard (18-55mm) lens kit.

I want to the bag to be as small as possible. Crumpler says this one is for a SLR and short lens:

http://www.crumpler.co.uk/?product=Jimmy_Bo_300&page=details&product_line=843

I'm not sure if my lens qualifies as "short". Is anyone using this bag with a similar Canon? Does it fit and still protect the camera?

Answer

One of the product shots actually uses a Canon body:

the kit lens is also one of the shortest in the current product line (the only one that is physically smaller that I can think of is the 50/1.8; so I would expect it to fit. Of course, it is always worth visiting your local friendly retailer if you're unsure about ordering online.

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Why is my Canon 500D with kit lens having trouble focusing at higher focal lengths?

Question

I have a Canon 500D with the kit lens. Recently I have observed that its not able to focus at higher zooms but it works at min zoom. To get it to focus, I have to zoom out or recompose and it works. Why would this happen?

Answer

If this is the f/3.5-5.6 lens, then as you zoom out the max aperture is reduced ( f/3.5 at 18mm, but f/5.6 at 55mm). Autofocus will struggle in lower light at the f/5.6 end.

You can try to find something high contrast to focus on, or use manual focus if you have to.

If you focus at 18mm then lock focus and zoom in, that won't necessarily still be in perfect focus at 55mm.

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Why is my Canon 500D with kit lens having trouble focusing at higher focal lengths?

Question

I have a Canon 500D with the kit lens. Recently I have observed that its not able to focus at higher zooms but it works at min zoom. To get it to focus, I have to zoom out or recompose and it works. Why would this happen?

Answer

If this is the f/3.5-5.6 lens, then as you zoom out the max aperture is reduced ( f/3.5 at 18mm, but f/5.6 at 55mm). Autofocus will struggle in lower light at the f/5.6 end.

You can try to find something high contrast to focus on, or use manual focus if you have to.

If you focus at 18mm then lock focus and zoom in, that won't necessarily still be in perfect focus at 55mm.

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How can I get the shutter actuation count for Canon EOS 500D/550D?

Question

How can I get the actual shutter actuation count for a Canon EOS 500D or 550D (Digital Rebel T1i or T2i)?

Two popular solutions for most earlier Canon cameras don't work:

1. I peeked at location 0x9d-9e in a raw file but for the EOS 550 a constant value 0x0001 is stored there. (This worked for pre-500 bodies.)

2. The EOSInfo software fails to detect the camera (perhaps because I'm running a 64-bit system). (This isn't supposed to work anyway...)

Answer

Have you tried just snapping a shot and previewing the image? The Rebel series usually shows in the upper right corner the number of shots since the last time you reset the image counter. So long as you have not reset the counter, it should be equivalent to the total number of actuations.

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Is there a custom firmware for Canon EOS 500D which will improve AF in video recording?

Question

There is a way to get a custom firmware for this model that improve the video recording? Especially the autofocus, which is extremely slow.

Maybe there are some other good options in a custom firmware that I don't know of.

Answer

I'm not aware of any software to improve the video autofocus performance of the Canon EOS 500D. In general, video recording was added to DSLRs an afterthought (except the Sony Alpha A33, A35), thus the usability generally suffers in comparison to true camcorders / video cameras.

So in light of that, you will have to use the method that all filmmakers live by: focus pulling - in other words, manual focus by hand.

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Why can't I set a partial ISO stop?

Question

On my Canon 500D, I can set aperture and shutter speed in 1/3 stops, however with ISO I appear to be limited to whole stops (100, 200, 400, 800 etc...)

Why is this?

It would appear the camera is capable of partial ISO stops, as if I leave the ISO on Auto, I sometimes see values such as 150, or 320 for the ISO.

Is the reason simply that this is an entry level camera, or is there some other reason I can't set ISO to whatever I want?

Answer

Analogue amplification (pre-digitization) is the best way to implement a variable ISO sensitivity. When you do so you are only amplifying the photon noise. When you amplify the digital data (i.e. by multiplying all the values by a fixed amount) you amplify the photon noise, the read noise and the quantization noise, leading to more noise overall!

Most Canon DSLRs only have analogue amplification circuits for the whole stops (100, 200, 400, 800 etc.), when you select one of the intermediate fractional values (520, 640 etc.) uses the closest analogue amplification stop and then uses digital multiplication to give the correct overall sensitivity. E.g. ISO640 is really ISO800 multiplied by 0.8, ISO500 is really ISO400 multiplied by 1.25 etc.

This is bad as you either end up using a higher analogue ISO and lose highlight headroom, or a lower analogue ISO and get more noise than necessary. For this reason I would advise against using the fractional stops on Cameras that support it.

For an example of how bad digital amplification can be compared to analogue, see this image:

The top image was shot at f/2.8 1/30s and at ISO1600, i.e. 5 stops of analogue amplification. The bottom image was shot at an identical f/2.8 1/30s but ISO100, and then 5 stops of digital amplification were applied in Photoshop. The result is that digital amplification gives a lot more noise.

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What “start up” telephoto lenses do you recommend for Canon for wildlife photography?

Question

I'm sort of a "weekend" photographer who likes to take photos of landscapes/cityscapes and nature/wildlife.

At the moment I'm using Tamron AF 28-300mm F3.5-6.3 XR Di LD Aspherical (IF) Macro that has served me well so far in landscape photography, but it is not sufficient for wildlife photography.

It does not get me as close as I would like. There is too much of the surroundings in the frame. With this lens I have to get close to photographed animal, which I find difficult with wild animals.

So I'm looking at some "start-up" telephoto lenses for wildlife photography, and my options so far are:

• Sigma 50-500mm f/4.5-6.3 DG OS HSM
• Tamron SP AF 200-500mm F/5-6,3 Di LD

What do you think?

Answer

The tamron 28-300 is a fascinating and frustrating lens. It doesn't go wide enough (on a cop sensor camera like the 500d or 7d, I'd want the wide angle for landscape to be more liky 15-17 and not 28; it makes me want to add the sigma 10-20 to my arsenal). And at the telephoto end, it goes soft like most super zooms do. I try not to use it much past 28-150 except in an emergency. This week I had that emergency (ran across a bear in yosemite with the "wrong" lens in hand) and realized just how much I wish I'd had my other lens available. Oh well.

But it's a perfectly nice street lens, especially for what it is, once you learn its weaknesses and work around them.

Having said that, for landscape, 28mm isn't wide enough, and 300mm isn't telephoto enough for wildlife or birds. IMHO. You will find that no matter how powerful a telephoto you buhy, you'll run into situations where you want more. There are days when 800mm isn't enough. This implies that as you progress, technique and planning become as important, or more important, than raw lens power. So don't overbuy lenses expecting it to solve things magically, it won't.

300mm, however, isn't powerful enough for most bird photography and most wild animals. 400mm on a crop sensor can be used very successfully. I use the canon 100-400 a lot; I use the canon 300/F4 + 1.4x tele some and I'm leaning on that combo more because it's sharper than the zoom but not as flexible; basically, I use the 100-400 handheld, the 300+tele mostly on a tripod. Either will run you roughly $1500 out the door. ($US).

Art Morris his shifted to using the canon 70-200 F2.8 IS USM (you want IS) with a 2x Tele instead of the 100-400. That's a big hunk of glass, it's much sharper, and it'll run you twice the cost of the 100-400. But that combo is very powerful and flexible and good, and it's something I'm considering experimenting with, not that I can afford it any time soon.

I've read a number of reports on the sigma 50-500 indicating it's a good lens, but like most megazooms, goes soft at the top magnification. You should rent and test these lenses before buying them, to see if they're acceptable. some photos I've read think it is, others don't. That's really true of any lens: rent and test before buying.

You won't cover all the ranges you want happily with one lens. Maybe not two. And lenses bigger than 300mm get expensive, although the canon 400 F4 is surprisingly affordable amd would probably tolerate a 1.4x tele on it fairly well. I haven't tried yet.

If getting closer is your primary wish, then I'd suggest looking at the 400F4. It's a bit more expensive than the Sigma but it'll be a much higher quality lens. Add in a 1.4x tele at some point to push it further. Or plan to upgrade your lenses over time. I have as I've gotten better at this moved away from zooms that cover larger ranges in favor of higher quality zooms that don't zoom as much, but are sharper and crisper and faster. Faster gives you options in the field to shoot in poorer llight or use teleconverters to leverage your lens collection.

In a perfect world, the Sigma 10-20, Canon 24-70 F2.8, Canon 70-200 F2.8 IS USM, Tele 1.4, Tele 2x and the Canon 400 F2.8 would make me happy. That's ONLY $4000 US in glass, not including the $8000 US for the canon 400 F2.8. Here in the real world, not gonna happen. and I haven't asked for a macro, fisheye, or tilt shift yet... (grin)

But with the lens you have, the Canon 400/F4 adds range. Over time, you can add in a better wide angle (canon 15-85, maybe?) and then the 70-200 F4. Not sure I'd use that with a 2x tele, but the 1.4x would cover your rang up to the 400. and the 1.4x on the 400 pushes you out over time from 15-500mm coverage with reasonably fast, sharp glass. That's still $4000 US, but it's a lot better than $12,000 US for being about a stop slower across the range. Going from F4 to F2.8 is expensive.

One other option to consider: upgrade your body. the Canon 7d sucks in a lot of pixels. One thing that lets you do is CROP without losing your detail, and you still keep the crop sensor which is useful for leveraging your glass for wildlife. So instead of pushing more powerful glass, get a more powerful body that captures more pixels so you can crop them away and still have usable images. or do some combination of all of this. Over time. Remember, buying GOOD glass over time is a nice investment because lenses should last you a long time if cared for, where bodies are going to get upgraded more often. So it's usually better (IMHO) to buy better glass and lesser bodies, or wait a bit and buy better lenses later than a cheaper one now...

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