Photographer Assistance: Need opinion: What lens i need to buy?

[Chaitanya Addagiri]

Hi All,

This is chaitanya and i recently bought Canon 5D mark II camera and i am very new to photography and now i am planning to buy a lens. right now i have 50mm 1.8.

My budget is $1000 to $1500. I mainly interest in Portrait photography and landscape.

I am not a professional photographer just started learning. Please let me know which is the best lens for me with in my budget.

When i checked in internet i found 70-200 f4 with IS and f2.8 with out IS. Please give me a suggestion which one i need to pick.

thanks,
Chaitanya

[Asher Kelman]

Welcome to OPF, Chaitanya!

Originally Posted by Chaitanya Addagiri

Hi All,

This is chaitanya and i recently bought Canon 5D mark II camera and i am very new to photography and now i am planning to buy a lens. right now I have 50mm 1.8.

The good thing about this place is that everyone is learning! We're delighted to share with you our experience. You will share your journey, that's how it works! First let me assure you that your current combination is more than adequate for your needs, until you hit some technical issue that will cause you to look for a new gadget. Actually the 50mm lens, (or with a Leica perhaps the 35mm), has been the standard for many photographers. I had a Pentax Spotmatic for a decade with just the 50mm f1.4 supper Takamur lens. The 50mm Canon f 1.8 lens is surprisingly good. Just use it from about f2.5 to f 8 and you will be able to do wonderful portraits and landscape. If the scene is wide, just take two overlapping adjacent shots by swing the camera though the front of the lens.

My advice would be to save your money and wait until your pictures need another lens as you hit some limit in the size of your pictures or contrast and sharpness. Frankly, from f2.5 to f 8.0 you will have to print larger than 8x10 to notice any difference and in any cases, simple adjustments in any photo editing software would make differences essentially undetectable by almost any observer.

Originally Posted by Chaitanya Addagiri

My budget is $1000 to $1500. I mainly interest in Portrait photography and landscape.

All the lenses can be gotten used. KEH.com is reliable and their "ugly" is still pretty good! Instead of buying anything, just shoot with your wonderful set up and then post up to 5 images at a time. Just get the URL of the image, (from the server it's stored on) and place it between [IMG]and [/IMG]. that way, we can both enjoy your work and at the same time be in a better position to suggest a new lens.

I use the 50 1.8 sometimes, although I have the 1.4 and 1.2 L. It's light and sharp enough! BTW, I'll be selling some lenses shortly, including a non IS 70-200 f4.0, but that's not just yet and you just need to take pictures, LOL!

Asher

[George Holroyd]

I'd suggest spending a period of time with the lens you have say, one year before deciding on a new lens. By the end, you'll probably have a better feel for what you like to shoot and what your focal length needs are. You might also consider that the addition of an external flash and/or sturdy tripod will add more to your photography than another lens.

[fahim mohammed]

Back in the old days ( ok the 60s then ), when one bought a slr, a lens was usually provided as standard.
This was, in my experience, usually the 50mm ( 35mm full frame equiv ) lens.

My first serious camera ( besides the Brownie and variations ) was also the Pentax Spotmatic. What a camera. And the lens also was the Super Takumar 50mm. It was my most cherised possession. I used only that combination till the 70s. I never missed for another lens ( I could not afford one! ).

Fast forward to 2012..the 50mm. I have more 50mm lenses than you can shake a stick at!!

The advice given by Asher and George is sound. Canon..I had a 5D classic for a few months. The lens I had on it was the 135mm f/2. I would not hesitate to buy a Canon Camera just for that lens.

Good Luck with your hobby.

[Asher Kelman]

Fahim,

This fellow, Chaitna, has asked the same question July 1st in photo.net. By july 16th he had 11 replies. The answers were perfect. He has not replied to a single one of them there, either! Also has the usual "should I buy the 7D instead? thread previously in the same forum.

I wonder about such folk. Could be a spammer to harvest info, but here, he's have no access to email addresses, just to names. In Photo.net, however, as a member, he can email anyone!

Such a pity! I have resisted the temptation to exclude all registrations from Nigeria, India, China, any part of the former Soviet block, Philippines and Vietnam, but that would get rid of a lot of wasted time on thousands of spammers. This fellow, however, is registered in the USA!

His name is not associated with spamming, dictionary attacking etc, but still, my senses tell me this guy is most likely harvesting emails, and just came to the wrong place.

Still, why he needed to post twice on Photo.net puzzles me. He could be just bad-mannered, but then why bother to ask here when the replies at photo.net were fine?

Go figure!!!!!

At least I know he can'r get to our emails!

Asher