Looking for advice on updating my DSLR. I currently only have a 50mm lens and fancy a telephoto one for wildlife photography and a portrait lens, but no idea where to start.
Any helpful fabbers willing to offer advice?
Camera is a Canon 1100D, so not the worlds most expensive, so I don't need lenses that cost mega bucks, just something for my amateur skills.  |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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I have a canon 1100d currently i have a tamron 75-300 and looking to get a sigma 600 which is telephoto! Both lense brands are compatible with canon but you will be looking between £600 to £900 for a decent telephoto lense
Try london camera exchange website as they have preowned ones you can buy at times but not always |
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It depends on several factors what to choose.
Your budget?
How often you plan on using the lens?
Are the pictures just for your own use?
Is photography a long term hobby, not just something you're having a play with?
Are you planning to upgrade your camera body in the future?
For wildlife- if you plan on investing for the future, the Canon 70-200mm L lenses are your best initial bet. You have a choice of the F4L, the F4L IS (image stabilisation) or if you're looking to shoot around dusk/dawn, then the F2.8L gives you a bigger F-stop range (if your camera allows it). It can also give some nice portrait images due to the depth of field from it. There are decent ones on eBay if you choose your seller wisely with prices around £330 (F4) £500 (Is version) and £700 for the F2.8- not cheap, but always invest in good glass and look after it- it will serve you well.
I have the basic F4 and it a lovely lens, I also have the wildlife and sports tog favourite, the Canon 100-400mm L. At around £600-700 second hand, you really need to love your long distance photography- but it's a hell of a good lens. There are similar length lenses not in the pro series and from different manufacturers, so look at those depending on your budget. The lenses above are EF, your camera is a crop sensor model so they have a 1.6x magnification, EF-S lenses will give you a true 1-1 magnification, but you won't be able to use them if you ever go full frame.
For portraits, a fixed 50mm is lovely. Canon do an entry level F1.8 one for under a ton. Build quality isn't the best but it takes a decent image.
The 24-105 F4L is another cracking EF lens (this is what I keep on my camera as the default lens), just over £300 used, the 24-70mm F2.8L is even better, but add another £200 to your budget. If you want to keep costs down, try and test out the newish STM lenses from Canon- EF-S units which come as kit lenses quite often now, so often get sold on new if people already have a lens kit of their own.
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If you want to spend next to nothing, get the Canon 55-250 kit lens. It's cheap as chips, has IS and produces great images as long as you're not looking for a fast lens. In fact you can probably get the 18-55 and the 55-250 for less than £200 brand new, if you shop around. |
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"It depends on several factors what to choose.
Your budget?
How often you plan on using the lens?
Are the pictures just for your own use?
Is photography a long term hobby, not just something you're having a play with?
Are you planning to upgrade your camera body in the future?
For wildlife- if you plan on investing for the future, the Canon 70-200mm L lenses are your best initial bet. You have a choice of the F4L, the F4L IS (image stabilisation) or if you're looking to shoot around dusk/dawn, then the F2.8L gives you a bigger F-stop range (if your camera allows it). It can also give some nice portrait images due to the depth of field from it. There are decent ones on eBay if you choose your seller wisely with prices around £330 (F4) £500 (Is version) and £700 for the F2.8- not cheap, but always invest in good glass and look after it- it will serve you well.
I have the basic F4 and it a lovely lens, I also have the wildlife and sports tog favourite, the Canon 100-400mm L. At around £600-700 second hand, you really need to love your long distance photography- but it's a hell of a good lens. There are similar length lenses not in the pro series and from different manufacturers, so look at those depending on your budget. The lenses above are EF, your camera is a crop sensor model so they have a 1.6x magnification, EF-S lenses will give you a true 1-1 magnification, but you won't be able to use them if you ever go full frame.
For portraits, a fixed 50mm is lovely. Canon do an entry level F1.8 one for under a ton. Build quality isn't the best but it takes a decent image.
The 24-105 F4L is another cracking EF lens (this is what I keep on my camera as the default lens), just over £300 used, the 24-70mm F2.8L is even better, but add another £200 to your budget. If you want to keep costs down, try and test out the newish STM lenses from Canon- EF-S units which come as kit lenses quite often now, so often get sold on new if people already have a lens kit of their own.
"
 very helpful, thank you kindly.  |
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"If you want to spend next to nothing, get the Canon 55-250 kit lens. It's cheap as chips, has IS and produces great images as long as you're not looking for a fast lens. In fact you can probably get the 18-55 and the 55-250 for less than £200 brand new, if you shop around."
cheers |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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I've got a 7D with several EF and EFS lenses. I can't remember the exact specs but I have one that goes from about 30-70 at 2.8F, which I spent the most money on, about £1000, but its an amazing portrait lens. I have a cheap wide angle EF, about 10-30 at probably 4-6F which was cheap, about £200, but lovely and super wide for big landscape shots. Then I have a 50mm prime at 2.8F, again about £200, but probably one of the best lenses money can buy. Finally I have a crappy EF zoom lens, noisy and goes from about 150-300 at about 5.6F. It was about £150... and unfortunately I learnt that telephoto is definitely my favourite lens so I probably should have spent my big bucks on that lens instead. Anyway... saving up for the big white EFS which is something like 150-250 at 2.8F... very nice lens but about £2000 ouch!
The quality of the lens makes a BIG difference. Spend as much as you can afford. The lower the F number the shallower the depth of field you can get, which adds a lot of emotional impact to shots imo (although some people can over use it lol)  |
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There's some great advice above on various lenses. But I think the best advice is to buy the best lens you can afford. The L series is the one to get really. The quality is better especially if you want to enlarge you images. |
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"Sigma lenses are pretty good for bird watching you really need a X500 lens, I have a 300 that's useless for that!
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i have the 70-200 ex dg cracking lense. Sound advise i was given was always go for full frame lense incase you did uprgade to one. Tried the 2x sigma converter on sunday was alright. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"There's some great advice above on various lenses. But I think the best advice is to buy the best lens you can afford. The L series is the one to get really. The quality is better especially if you want to enlarge you images. "
Yes, sorry forgot about the L bit. My portrait lens is an L and the one I'm saving up for is too. My prime is also top of the range, although it isn't an L. So my weak spot is my telephoto... but it's also the most expensive lens for me to upgrade. |
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All my lenses are L Series or Sigma Art...my advice was based purely on price (and diminishing returns, unless the OP is planning on upgrading the body in the very near future).
Of course L Series and high-end Sigma's are way better lenses but taking budgets into consideration, the two Canon kit lenses represent great value for money. I took my 55-250 to Glastonbury with a knackered old 50D a couple of years ago and got some brilliant images, particularly in the Acoustic Tent where the light is always beautiful. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"Looking for advice on updating my DSLR. I currently only have a 50mm lens and fancy a telephoto one for wildlife photography and a portrait lens, but no idea where to start.
Any helpful fabbers willing to offer advice?
Camera is a Canon 1100D, so not the worlds most expensive, so I don't need lenses that cost mega bucks, just something for my amateur skills. "
Define 'mega bucks'. You can often pick up the 100-400 in great condition on eBay for under £700.
For portraits I'd suggest something around the 70mm mark (due to the crop factor on your camera). Your 50mm is a great portrait lens on your camera already though, if a tiny bit wide. I use a 100mm f2.8 Macro for the portraits I shoot - again you can pick them up reasonably on eBay second hand. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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I echo the previous couple of remarks. Although a 35mm, with sensor crop taken into account, will give you something around a 50mm, which is the equivalent of what the human eye sees and is therefore the most "realistic" of the lenses... a telephoto tends to create more flattering portraits imo. It essentially adds some of that film look... some of that magic
Some people swear by lenses with a big range i.e. 35-150mm. This allows them to keep the same lens on the camera and be quick at getting a range of different type of shots, from wide to telephoto. It's perfect for events, weddings, etc. However, I'm more of a film maker... so I tend to set up my shots, thinking about what lens I want before hand. Most of the time wides are really only useful for landscapes... and telephotos are only really viable when you've got space to step back from the subject. That's why I plumped for spending most of my cash on a 35-70mm lens for indoor work. It's basically the bread and butter lens. Probably more info than you need to know.. but just had a coffee and felt like rambling lol  |
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