Advice on lens needed

[Bazzauk]

Hi All

Im a newbie here.

Is there anyone out there that can advise me on the following issue.

I have just purchased a Canon EOS 350d with a 18-55mm lens which comes as standard. Apparently this lens is just a standard lens and I wish to upgrade the lens to a better quality lens. I used the camera last night I didn’t feel I could get the shots I wanted. May I have been restricted with the type of lens I was using?

The question is which type of lens I should be looking for.

I am looking for a good all round lens. I would like to try night scenes and portraits, but like most other people I do have a budget. Let’s say no more than £400.

As you might have guessed I am pretty new to this so lay man language with good explanations would be most gratefully received.

I have heard that the L series lens is the higher quality. Should this be a consideration for me?

Any advice would be gratefully received. :dunno

[mrmatt]

I just picked up a Canon 50mm f/1.8 II for US $75 and I love it. It's not an all around lens but it's cheap and it takes very good portrait pictures in my opinion. Only drawback (besides it being noisy and plastic) is that it's a prime lens and can't zoom.

I was going to post a sample but I'm getting bad response time from my site right now.

[ChrisJ]

Hi All
If you want flexibility and decent quality, consider the 17-85 IS EF-S lens. I bought mine with my 20D and have not regretted it. US $525.

For about the same price, you can go "L" with the 17-40 f/4L. Higher quality optics, but you sacrifice range.

Also, Please (!) do not change your font color from the default... it makes it very hard to read depending on which Dgrin template you use. I use the grey background, so black does not show up well at all.

Cheers

[Bazzauk]

Thanks for your advice. It's appreciatedIf you want flexibility and decent quality, consider the 17-85 IS EF-S lens. I bought mine with my 20D and have not regretted it. US $525.

For about the same price, you can go "L" with the 17-40 f/4L. Higher quality optics, but you sacrifice range.

Also, Please (!) do not change your font color from the default... it makes it very hard to read depending on which Dgrin template you use. I use the grey background, so black does not show up well at all.

Cheers

[mrmatt]

I almost forgot, there's a few sites that I found very useful for my analysis of lenses:

http://www.fredmiranda.com/ - I use this site for the customer reviews of the lenses. It provides a decent estimate of how the lenses rate.

http://the-digital-picture.com/Default.aspx - I use this site for the review but also the galleries for each lens.

[claudermilk]

Don't forget http://www.photodo.com and http://www.photozone.de Both excellent resources (photodo was recently revived & is becoming a terrific research tool again).

The 50/1.8 is a great next lens if you can handle using a prime. Just get used to foot zoom. That was my kit lens replacement & lived on the camera for hte better part of a year. Canon's L glass is the top-of-the-line, but if hte budget doesn't allow there's usually other options (for example, Sigma's 24-70 and 70-200 are supposed to be 90% of Canon's L for 50% of the price).

Night shots and portraits like fast glass (i.e., lenses with larger apertures--the smaller the number the larger the aperture, thus the "faster" the lens. Intuitive, no?), and unfortunately fast glass is expensive glass in general. Primes help here as they are cheaper than zooms with similar apertures.