Prime vs Zoom - debatable, I'd go with zoom. In the good quality end of the lens range you will be hard pressed to notice a difference (if you can). I believe the Prime better than Zoom comparison only lingers form days when Zooms were lower quality than now and less popular than now. Zoom usually have slower F-stop's but that's not a huge issue with digital and "non-pro" work in my opinnion. Can't beat zoom for convenience.
I have a 70-200 F4L & 17 - 40 F4L. The 70-200 is considerred a portrait lens but with digital I think it's a bit long for that, I'd agree with your 70-100 but suggest maybe 28-100 range. The 17-40 is great for everything.
For landscape I use my 70-200 as much as the 17-40, for various reasons - DOF, framing, whatever. Often a wide angle like 17-40 isn't helpful, only making a scene clutterred. Same for astro, both prove very useful.
Cheaper alternatives:
- Sigma
- Tamron
I'd always buy Canon or Sigma personally. Sigma's range can be confusing - do some research I'd suggest.
The Sigma 70-200 F2.8 used to be a good buy, haven't looked at it for a long time. I'd expect they have a good range of wide angle's, but haven't looked for over a year or 2 (last lens I bought was the 17-40 a couple of years back).
Roger.
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Originally Posted by iceman
Hi all.
I'm after some advice and opinions on what extra lenses I could buy for my 350D..
I've heard (and it's understandable) that prime lenses are generally better quality than zoom lenses, so i'm after a lens or two that I could use for
a) portraits
b) landscapes
I've heard that for portraits, longer focal lengths are better, so i'm guessing around 70-100mm might be appropriate? Helps with depth of field etc.
For landscapes, generally I'd imagine wider field/shorter focal length would be best to capture the scene, so something around 15-25mm.
I *might* use these lenses for widefield astrophotography in the future, but it's not a main concern at this stage.
What are the best lenses for these purposes?
What are the best value for money lenses for these purposes?
Apart from genuine canon lenses, what other (cheaper) brands would fit the 350D? Do I need any adapters or equivalent?
I was at camera house the other day, and pretty much most (if not all) of the genuine canon lenses were over $1000, some significantly more than $1000. Is that what I should expect to pay? That's an awful lot of money 
Has anyone got any comparison shots of the same scene taken with the same camera, with a good quality lens versus a cheaper lens? I want to see why they cost so much!
Thanks for your help. |