Lens discussion from another thread.

B

bb_matt

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bwana said:
I know - I spent enough time there to know what the weather is like :)

BTW - nice photos - do you only use the kit lens?
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I've got a cheap Tamron 28-120 I sometimes use, but otherwise, stick with the kit lens. I'm keen to get a Sigma 18-200, but it's a bit out of my price range. Would be a great "all rounder"
I also want to get the "nifty fifty" or "plastic fantastic" as it's known - http://www.amazon.com/Canon-50mm-1-8-Camera-Lens/dp/B00007E7JU

It's sunny again today... :D
 
bb_matt said:
I've got a cheap Tamron 28-120 I sometimes use, but otherwise, stick with the kit lens. I'm keen to get a Sigma 18-200, but it's a bit out of my price range. Would be a great "all rounder"
I also want to get the "nifty fifty" or "plastic fantastic" as it's known - http://www.amazon.com/Canon-50mm-1-8-Camera-Lens/dp/B00007E7JU

It's sunny again today... :D
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I've got the 50mm and its a great lens - cant beat it when it comes to bang for buck. I dont know much about the 18-200 but I've had the Sigma 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 DG Macro and its a really nice walkabout.

koffiejunkie said:
Another thread derailed by camera talk - I'm starting to enjoy this :D
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Yes - you should all be ashamed. (NB - Might split this thread if it becomes necessary.) :)
 
UnoPanelvan said:
And by ...................... ?
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Hey don't look at me! I just posted a picture to support my argument that British weather isn't as bad as people believe. By The way, it's sunny today too - looks and feels like mid day on your average wind-still winter day in Jozi...
 
koffiejunkie said:
Hey don't look at me! I just posted a picture to support my argument that British weather isn't as bad as people believe. By The way, it's sunny today too - looks and feels like mid day on your average wind-still winter day in Jozi...
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Tip, I think he is a bot or maybe a MOD madly in love with his camrera (to be confirmed with his wife :D ) which always create a slight but acceptable diversion in any thread containing a photo or reference to a camera, but we love him for it. Normally calms the thread down a bit untill someone shouts.

BACK ON TOPIC. :D
 
bb_matt, have you ever bought kit from the U.S. and dealt with the custom/excise duties?

I found a link saying there is no excise on cameras but 6.7% on lenses. Tax is 17.5% for both.

I'm not sure how up-to-date this is, and if this is the only way they add to the price?

The lens I'm looking at costs between £800 and £1000 in the UK, and a mere £530 from B&H. With that much of a difference, I'm getting on the plane to New York.
 
koffiejunkie said:
The lens I'm looking at costs between £800 and £1000 in the UK, and a mere £530 from B&H. With that much of a difference, I'm getting on the plane to New York.
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My mom goes back and forth across the pond almost monthly - she's bought her last 4 cameras from there without any customs hassles. :D
 
bwana said:
My mom goes back and forth across the pond almost monthly - she's bought her last 4 cameras from there without any customs hassles. :D
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Yeah, but I'm talking about ordering and having it delivered here - that's where I won't be able to escape customs. If I go over there myself (and I'm just looking for reasons to go again...) I can do the same I did with my Mac - mail myself the box, if there's any reason to keep it, stick the lens on the camera, hang it around my neck for all to see.

Thing is, I'm a compulsive buyer. I think about things I want to get, especially electronic equipment, do my research well, but the actual purchase is almost always a spur of the moment thing. If I'm feeding my insomnia at 03:30 in the morning and decide right there and then to buy something, I want to be able to do it and not worry about how to get it here or that customs will make it more expensive than buying from the shop around the corner.

The shop around the corner, by the way (two of them, actually), has everything I want in stock. They're just not realistic with prices. Nifty Fifty goes for £100 at the one and £93 at the other. While I understand that things are bound to be more expensive in smaller shops, I don't understand why something that is imported from Japan to either countries has to be twice the price over here.
 
koffiejunkie said:
Thing is, I'm a compulsive buyer. I think about things I want to get, especially electronic equipment, do my research well, but the actual purchase is almost always a spur of the moment thing. .
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OMW, I thought I am the only one. Same here. No matter how much research is done once the mind is made up to buy then .... well the rest is just what happens but a purchase will be made.
 
I oftend end up buying something other than what I had planned too - in the heat of the moment.

To quote Forest Gump: "It happens..."
 
So I'm perving over the EF 24-70mm f/2.8 USM L as a good all-round lens. I've read every review of every lens in more-or-less that focal range I could find, and this one seems to be simply as good as it gets. My camera will be used most for travelling - pictures of places of interest, etc so buildings. I like them to be upright :) So given the almost non-existent barrel distortion on the 24-70, this pretty much almost eliminates the need for a fairly wide fixed lens. In fact, it's pretty damn close to the Nifty Fifty in that regard.

The alternative is the EF 24-105mm f/4 USM L - a little longer but at the expense of more barrel distortion. The 40-70 I think would go nicely with a regular 70-200 or 30-300. This EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 USM IS gives L-like performance on the benchmarks and comes in at a decent price too.

What do you guys think? Decisions decisions...
 
All of them seem like nice bits of glass - I guess you're sticking with canon and not looking at third party glass?

I'm all done with lens shopping for a while - I need to start taking more photos with what I've got. . . the EF 1.4x II Extender doesnt count does it? :o
 
I haven't really paid too much attention to other lenses, to be honest. I know Sigma has a good reputation. Biggest problem is they're not really available much in shops, so they didn't feature in my hunting expeditions so far.
 
koffiejunkie said:
bb_matt, have you ever bought kit from the U.S. and dealt with the custom/excise duties?

I found a link saying there is no excise on cameras but 6.7% on lenses. Tax is 17.5% for both.

I'm not sure how up-to-date this is, and if this is the only way they add to the price?

The lens I'm looking at costs between £800 and £1000 in the UK, and a mere £530 from B&H. With that much of a difference, I'm getting on the plane to New York.
Click to expand...

Well, with the $ dropping in value, it almost makes sense to save up for three or four big purchases and fly over for a shopping trip.

I've had my 350D for about just over a year now - got that on eBay.
The Tamron lens I got was actually a mistake purchase.
I saw a 300 advertised, complete with hard case and the tamron lens. What I didn't see was that it was a film camera. In my eagerness to get a bargain for £100, I thought it was a 300D - doh!
I still scored though, as I sold the 300 for £60 and kept the camera case plus lens.

I must admit, I'm reluctant to use eBay again for camera related purchases. Now I know more about photography, there's no way you can guarantee a second hand lens is going to be a good purchase.

I also won't buy another Tamron ;)

Sigma, however, is a great buy.
Got my GF a new 18-50 sigma as her kit lens borked out. It's an excellent replacement, better than the standard Canon kit lens imho.

Still loads to learn.

You guys got flickr accounts BTW?
If so, post links!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bb_matt/

I've got into going 90% on manual mode now and have also stopped relying on photoshop so much for cropping/enhancing shots.

Me and the GF go out every other weekend with the cameras, good fun.
 
bb_matt said:
Well, with the $ dropping in value, it almost makes sense to save up for three or four big purchases and fly over for a shopping trip.
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Yeah but I want it NOW. At the moment I have an EOS 40D and no lens :(

I saw a 300 advertised, complete with hard case and the tamron lens. What I didn't see was that it was a film camera.
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Well that's the other reason I haven't paid too much attention to the 3rd party lenses - because the ones I've seen that I like and that have good reviews were all digital only lenses, and I'm most definitely going to get myself a EOS film camera as soon as finances allow. The lenses I' mentioned are all EF, so they'll go nicely on either digital or film bodies.

You guys got flickr accounts BTW?
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I do but I don't have anything in it yet. See my comment about my camera. :D Just opened a flickr account so long because I wanted to check out one group that apparently had adult content (which I never saw, mind you, but it was a group with 60,000 pictures and I didn't look at all of them). Once I have gotten used to the Canon (many buttons!) and got the hang of taking nice pics with it, I'll start adding them to Flickr.

I have some pics I took with a camera I got my dad just to test that it's working OK (it was a demo unit) - they're my first DSLR pics so not the greatest. They're in reverse date order, so newest first. The last one was really just for a Mac buddie in S.A. who wanted to know what the Apple Store looks like. The one after that is my first try at night time, was a horrible mess - I did everything wrong (including working the tripod :o). The first four was my second attempt - much better. I took some more over the weekend, handheld, will post them later.

I've got into going 90% on manual mode now and have also stopped relying on photoshop so much for cropping/enhancing shots.
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Sounds like we have the same idea. I want to be able to take good pictures without needing to work on it afterwards at all. If I wanted a good P&S I would have gotten one, not a DSLR...
 
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koffiejunkie said:
EF 24-105mm f/4 USM L - a little longer but at the expense of more barrel distortion. The 40-70 I think would go nicely with a regular 70-200 or 30-300.
Click to expand...

The 24-105 f4L is probably the finest lump of 35mm glass I've ever had the pleasure of owning.

While it's not the fastest lens ever, it's got IS so that makes up for it and I've hand held down to around 1/4 with really good results.

If I only had to have one lens I'd go with my 24-105 L any day. Couple it with my 17-40mm f4 L and I'm set for everything I ever need (mostly do editorial, PR and magazine work so no need really for my 70-200 F4L, but it's still good to have in case I want separation)
 
schitz011, thanks for the recommendation. The 24-105L looks pretty nice, but for that kinda money I like the fact that the 24-70 can go down to f/2.8. I guess I was just surprised at how deep f/4 is - much deeper than I expected.

The other thing is, I keep having to remind myself that these focal lengths are not what I'm really looking at (1.6x crop on my cam). What are you shooting with? 1.6x, 1.3x or FF?
 
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