Digital Lenses and the different types .??

Question

I have a Canon Digital Rebel and want to get a few different lenses.I have No clue what to get for portraits.I have a friend who was telling me about lenses that are fixed,and they cannot be focused past a certain point.What is He talking about ?Thanks

Answer 1

The Canon Rebels use EF and EF-S lenses... I only buy EF lenses in hopes of getting a Canon full frame DSLR someday.

Fixed lenses can not zoom in or out.

The best Canon lenses to get are from the L series. Fast lenses are best as well... the wider the aperture, the better.

Less than 21 mm (Extreme Wide Angle) is good for Architecture

21-35 mm (Wide Angle) is good for Landscape

35-70 mm (Normal) is good for Street & Documentary

70-135 mm (Medium Telephoto) is good for Portraiture

135 mm or more (Telephoto) is good for Sports, Bird & Wildlife

Answer 2

You have gotten some good answers so far.  I have another opinion as well.   First, you do not say how much you are willing to spend on your new lenses as you could realistically be looking way into the hundreds of dollars.   L Canon lenses are the most expensive and are considered the professional line.   Lenses with low aperture numbers, as the f2.8 - also considered fast lenses because they have a wider aperture and can allow more light in low light situations, are also pretty pricey.   Then there are the fixed lenses, which you don't see to much of because they don't handle the variety of shooting situations that the zooms can.   These are also priced higher and you find that you have to have more of them for your different shooting needs.    I shoot portraits, myself, and find that zoom lenses can offer a good range and provide  good image results.    I like to use an 80-200mm or 70-210mm for portraits.    With a zoom lens I can back up from my subject and get many options.   I can get full length standing,  lying or sitting on the ground,  3/4 length, or a nice head shot... all simply by zooming in or out.   I have been doing this for 20 or so years and don't see any distortion in my pictures.  If you are using a Canon Rebel,  I would assume that you are wanting good, but affordable lenses.   The 18-55mm should be able to handle anything you shoot wide angle and the 70-210mm will be able to take care of the long range stuff.    Affordable lenses will normally have apertures of 3.5 to 4.5.  Hope I was able to help.

Answer 3

Alright, there are a few things you should know about lenses:

- Don't buy off brand lenses. The point of buying an SLR is for the wonderful lenses. If you're cheap on lenses, your pictures will show it. So, stick to Canon lenses.

- The best lenses are the ones with very low apertures. You'll see in the description something like f2.8. This means that it can open much wider than regular lenses, meaning you can use much faster shutter speeds. So, look for low f numbers.

- Zoom lenses are convenient, but distortion is prominent in them. I wouldn't get anything with more than 7x zoom. The best lenses are "prime lenses" and are a fixed focal length.



What I would go with, if you want to get a few, in this order:

- A good standard zoom lens, like 18-80mm (I'm not familar with Canon's lenses lengths, but just somethign along those lines)

- A telephoto zoom, like 70-300mm, preferably with IS (image stablilazition. This reduces blur from your hands shaking)

- A 50mm (around there, maybe less) with a very low aperture.

Hope that that is a good starting point for you!