New DSLR for beginner

[Paul_S]

I'm looking at buying a Canon DSLR and lenses one day (not soon though).
Wild life photography seems to be an expensive hobby when it comes to lenses.

What I don't understand is why the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM lens is almost the same price as the Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L USM lens.
The prime lens is about R13000 and the zoom lens about R15000.
I'd have thought that the zoom lens would have been a lot more expensive than the prime.
Is it maybe because it's so popular that mass production has managed to allow Canon to manufacture the lenses more cheaply?

I did notice that the prime is much sharper than the 100-400mm at the same focal length at the mid and outer edges of the frame when looking at the following comparison.
http://www.the-digital-picture.com/...meraComp=453&SampleComp=0&FLIComp=0&APIComp=0

Would a prime be a worthwhile choice for wild life photography or would the fixed focal length and lack of IS make it a pain to use compared to the 100-400mm lens?

 

[bwana]

I'm looking at buying a Canon DSLR and lenses one day (not soon though).
Wild life photography seems to be an expensive hobby when it comes to lenses.

Have you thought about the 300mm f/4 with a 1.4xTC in hand if you need it?

 

[Paul_S]

Have you thought about the 300mm f/4 with a 1.4xTC in hand if you need it?

I thought about using a TC but it seems to have a rather large impact on image quality and slows the lenses down a lot from what I've read.
Also causes AF problems in some cases.
Maybe I don't really need 400mm if I stick to big subjects and use my feet more.

 

[Dolby]

I thought about using a TC but it seems to have a rather large impact on image quality and slows the lenses down a lot from what I've read.
Also causes AF problems in some cases.
Maybe I don't really need 400mm if I stick to big subjects and use my feet more.

I've actually read you should only use a TC on a 2.8 and above (or below? wider!).

IQ degredation was - from what I hear - quite small :/

 

[undesign]

Maybe I don't really need 400mm if I stick to big subjects and use my feet more.

I can see the lions collectively nodding their heads in agreement.

 

[Paul_S]

I've actually read you should only use a TC on a 2.8 and above (or below? wider!).

Yip, it is preferable to us a TC on a wide aperture lens like a F/2.8
When you add a 2x TC to a F/4 lens you end up with an equivalent of F/8
Most EOS bodies cannot auto focus at F8 so you end up with a slow lens that is only really useful in good lighting conditions and you have to manually focus.
Using the 1.4x TC is a bit better but still narrows the aperture.

Wikipedia has a nice table of conversions when using Canon teleconvertors.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canon_Extender_EF
It doesn't have the 3rd generation extenders listed so I'm not sure how much better they will be - probably only a marginal improvement seeing as the Canon extenders are already of a very high quality.

 

[bwana]

I thought about using a TC but it seems to have a rather large impact on image quality and slows the lenses down a lot from what I've read.
Also causes AF problems in some cases.
Maybe I don't really need 400mm if I stick to big subjects and use my feet more.

I don't have the 300 f/4 myself but I do regularly use the 1.4tc on my 70-200 f/4 and it yields great results so I wouldn't expect otherwise on that 300.

 

[James]

Just bought all the kit. Went out and felt and tried out various cameras and got the following (and am now broke too)

Canon 550D (with 18-55mm standard lens)
Canon 50 mm - f/1.4 USM (Bwana, took your advise here)
16Gb Class 10 card
Lowpro SlingShot bag
LP-E8 Battery Grip + 2 batteries

Super stoked, will be updating with some pics when I deem them worthy of the forum

 

[bwana]

Just bought all the kit. Went out and felt and tried out various cameras and got the following (and am now broke too)

Canon 550D (with 18-55mm standard lens)
Canon 50 mm - f/1.4 USM (Bwana, took your advise here)
16Gb Class 10 card
Lowpro SlingShot bag
LP-E8 Battery Grip + 2 batteries

Super stoked, will be updating with some pics when I deem them worthy of the forum

Enjoy!

My first shot with a new camera is always a foot shot, just to get it out of the way.

 

[undesign]

Just bought all the kit. Went out and felt and tried out various cameras and got the following (and am now broke too)

Canon 550D (with 18-55mm standard lens)
Canon 50 mm - f/1.4 USM (Bwana, took your advise here)
16Gb Class 10 card
Lowpro SlingShot bag
LP-E8 Battery Grip + 2 batteries

Super stoked, will be updating with some pics when I deem them worthy of the forum

Congrats - and happy shooting.

 

[koffiejunkie]

Nice, congrats!

 

[Mr K]

I have bought a Nikon D3100 with 18-55mm lense. I am not a professional photographer. I am going to use it for vacation purposes. Is 18-55mm lease good enough for me or do i need bigger lense?

 

[koffiejunkie]

The 18-55mm is like 3x optical zoom. If you want to take pictures of things further away - birds, say - you might want to add one of the following:

Nikon 55-200mm f4.5-5.6 G AF-S DX
Nikon 55-300mm f4.5-5.6 G AF-S DX VR
Nikon 55-200mm f4-5.6 G AF-S DX VR IF-ED
Nikon 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 G AF-S VR IF-ED

 

[Paul_S]

I have bought a Nikon D3100 with 18-55mm lense. I am not a professional photographer. I am going to use it for vacation purposes. Is 18-55mm lease good enough for me or do i need bigger lense?

It depends on what you plan to photograph but 18-55mm is should be perfect for landscape photography and portraits.

For wild life photography you'll need a lens with a longer focal length as koffiejunkie has pointed out, unless your subjects are really close up (in enclosures).
A longer focal length lens is useful in landscape photography if you're trying to take a photo of a particular feature that is far away.
You may want to use a longer focal length lens for portrait photos if you want to play with certain effects such as flattening the depth of field so that the background is out of focus (subject in focus but background is strongly blurred).
However I'd recommend first playing with the 18-55mm until you've got the basics of aperture and focal length nailed and then get a longer focal length lens when you really need it.

BTW: In the world of photography the term "bigger lens" doesn't mean anything useful. We use the term "focal length" to describe the "zooming" capability of a lens.
An 18-55mm f/1.4 lens is physically a lot bigger than a 18-55mm f/3.5 lens but they both have the same focal length (maximum aperture is different).

 

[hilton]

and of course the 18-55 at the widest isn't the greatest for wide angle shots, that's the one downside of a FOVCF body. The Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5 EX DC HSM Lens will cover this shortcoming.

 

[bwana]

I have bought a Nikon D3100 with 18-55mm lense. I am not a professional photographer. I am going to use it for vacation purposes. Is 18-55mm lease good enough for me or do i need bigger lense?

I guess a lot would depend on what kind of vacation you're planning.

Use the kit lens for a while, decide for yourself where it falls short and then rent a series of lenses and figure out what best suits your needs and your wallet.