READ THIS before making "which lens do I get?" threads!

[eknine]

Here's what lens to buy

I answered this question in another forum and decided that the answer warrants it's own thread here too as there are a lot of folks new to photography here.

This question gets asked a lot:

I'm just starting getting into blah blah photography. What lens should I buy?

Here's the answer...

If you have to ask this question, buy the cheapest damn lens you can get.

What? I must be kidding, right?

Sorry, no.

Here's why...

This is really a question that only you can answer for yourself.

For somebody that's just getting their feet wet in this photography thing, if you don't know what lens gets you what, in all honesty, the replies you get from a bunch of strangers, each with their own agenda, is not going to help you at all.

You used to get a 'normal' 50mm lens when you bought a camera. Why that one? It's a base. A place to start. You have to take your cheap-ass lens and shoot lots of pictures with it. Look at those pictures. Study them. Analyze the situation when you shot them. Now ask yourself...

What do you feel is lacking?

This is the most important thing and is what will lead you to your own answer. It bears repeating...

What do you feel is lacking?

Were you not able to get close enough? Perhaps a longer telephoto lens is in order.

Were you not able to get far enough away? Perhaps a wider angle lens is in order.

Sick of moving back and forth to frame the shot? Perhaps a zoom lens is in order.

Wan't a shallower depth of field look? Perhaps a faster lens is in order.

Shots looking a little soft and you KNOW your technique is solid? Perhaps a better quality lens is in order.

These and many others are all questions that you have to answer for yourself. The answer only comes with experience and knowing the equipment you have and knowing where it is letting you down, or even if it is. How much longer, wider, faster? Sadly, this takes time and experience to figure out.

Spending big money on an expensive lens without knowing why is a waste of money. Sure you may look uber-cool with that big white 70-200 f2.8 L IS lens but do you know why you bought it?

If you bought it to look cool, that's OK by me. If you bought it because it's fast throughout the range, great. If you bought it because it has IS, super. If you bought it because you have more money than you know what to do with, bully for you. I honestly don't care why you bought it. What's more important is do you know why?

Don't believe me? It's true. Ask anyone who's been around in the photo business for a few years. Odds are pretty damn high they know what each lens in their bag will give them on a shot. They know how close they have to be for each lens. They know the scene each lens will give them. How do they know this? They know this because they spent the time learning their equipment.

There is no substitute for the time spent photographing.

Spend a little time, and you'll be able to answer most of your own questions.

Now, if you come in and say something like "I'm looking to get a longer reach in my shots. How do a 70-200, 100-400 or 300mm compare to each other?" we can begin to have a dialog. Why? You already know what you are looking for.

I know why I bought each lens I own and why certain lenses are on my list of things to acquire or investigate. That only came through experience.

As I thought about this some more I came up with an analogy that may be easier for some folks to understand.

Remember your first automobile? Did you get a cheap car to start with or did you buy an expensive one? WHY?

That's the key - why you bought that particular car and why you bought each subsequent car or what you are looking for in your next car.

Odds are pretty good that when you bought your first car you had already driven a few others and had ridden in many more so you could start to form your opinion of what you wanted in a car so that when the time came, you already knew what you were looking for. I doubt that you asked a random group of strangers "What car should I buy?"

This same thing applies in photography. If you don't have a lot of experience using an SLR camera with interchangable lenses, you probably don't have an idea of what you really want or need. You need to take a few lenses for a 'test drive.' Stop by your local camera shop and 'drive' a few.

I write this NOT because I don't feel like helping new folks out. Far from it. This is one issue where I can't help you at all. Nobody can. You have to help yourself.

Cheers!
Todd

Taken from http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/356712

[KYLiquid]

post removed at request of the thread creator.

[eknine]

If you could, please delete your post. The original post shows that no one can to recommend you any lenses until you've done the given research and found out what you need. Not that your information wasn't any good, but it kind of contradicts my post. I'd really appreciate it if you did because then it'd kind of more or less get the message the original writer was trying to get across.

Edit: Also you're kind of leading some people off. I can tell you're a Nikon shooter and well facts show that there are more Canon shooters out there than Nikon. You might be leading off some of the new people and telling them false information: Canon doesn't have VR, it has IS; Canon doesn't have a 18-50, but we have lenses that are 18-50; and the list goes on.

[digitalHorizon]

Looks to be a very informative post, I truthfully haven't read it all, but I will when I get some time.

[KYLiquid]

removed, sorry

[eknine]

I knew you were gonna make this an e-battle. I didn't want that to happen. I just wanted to make my statement, but I told you I understood where you were coming from and why you would post something like that. Thanks anyway. I totally got what you meant. I just felt as if the original post was more or less a generalization as you can tell. When you go into detail, it throws off the reader, being that there's so much to choose from.


Maybe we can make this thread into a sticky, and have this become the thread soley for asking about what lenses to buy.

[digitalHorizon]

I agree with eknine, this is a good generalization that asks people the important questions that helps people narrow down the information they're seeking. Sure, a lot of people will still have questions left over, and will still seek out other's opinions, but at least the questions will be a lot more focused, on the order of "I am in the market for a telephoto, should I get a 28-200 or 70-300?" as opposed to "Which lens should I get?"

As a side note, disagreements are welcome, personal insights are welcome as well. Arguments are pointless and discouraged, so keep things at a logical disagreement and everyone's opinion can be heard.

[spugen17]

good job great post

[WRBlueGD2]

Even on top of all that was written, which I found t be quite interesting, I think there should also be a link to some sort of page for some basic photography terms. Like you described the zoom lense, and being completely honest, when I bought my Rebel XT, the first thing I did was buy a Sigma lense set (28-70mm & 70-300mm) why? Well, the 28-70 is a decent speed lense with a wide angle feature and the 70-300 is a decent telephoto with a Macro feature. It was cheap and touched base on most points. I would recommend it to most starters, btw. The point of that was not a sales pitch, the point was I bought them and read zoom. I thought of zoom to be because it had a telephoto feature. I honestly didn't know what a Prime lense and a Zoom lense was. I didn't know until I bought the Canon EF 50mm F/1.8 MkI lense.
The point I'm trying to make is, you can buy a thousand lenses and shoot as many pictures as you want, and it may be better to learn by trial and error, but it may not. However, if you have a glossary of terms and examples at your finger tips, you are less likely to get questions like was does EF mean, or DG, or the little F/#.# thing mean? You know? Not saying everyone is completely stupid, but things like that make the comparison of lenses to peope more understandable - that is knowing a little about photography. Obviously you should know some already. Myself? I moved from a Canon S2 to a Digital Rebel XT - why? because I liked the versatility of shooting within MY limits, not the limits of my camera. The S2 was nice, but the Rebel can do what I want it to. But I didn't know THAT much about DSLR's. Hence, a glossary got my to par pretty quickly. Where I learned was http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/Glossary/ and they had a decent enough glossary, with some knowledge based reviews on cameras as well as some lenses.
Did that makes sense? I know what I was trying to say, just not sure if it came out right...

-J

BTW: There may be more Canon shooters, or Nikon, but there are still other nice cameras out there. It would be wrong to say, "well to start out you should buy a Rebel XT, or a D70". There are some other nice camera brands, and I've heard great things about the eVolt and the new Alpha looks kinda interesting.

[digitalHorizon]

I made this post as a reply to someone's question on another forum, and I thought it might be valuable to this thread so I'm going to post it here as well.

Originally Posted by digitalHorizon

Cameras are a lot like cars in that there isn't a "one size fits all." It all depends on what you want to do and how much you want to spend. There's several factors that will determine what camera you should get, like:

How much money are you willing to spend on photography? This isn't just buying the camera, but rather on the hobby as a whole. Point and shoot cameras are very capable and very versatile, whereas an SLR is more expensive and somewhat limited initially by what the kit lens can do. To do more (even as much as some basic point and shoots), you'll have to spend money on new lenses and equipment.

How much does image quality matter to you? Are you just snapping some quick snapshots to remember a birthday party or are you trying for tack sharp artistic shots for your wall at home? Most point and shoots come with decent sensors and glass, and some of the higher end ones are SLR quality even... but for the most part most SLRs and SLR lenses produce better quality images due to their superior glass and sensors.

How big are you going to print the images? Are these going to be basic 4x6" prints for an album or do you plan on enlarging to 36x24"? This matters because if you are going to print large prints megapixels will matter significantly. Conversely, if you are not and the occasional 5x7" is all you'll be printing, don't go buying a 14 MP monster (don't laugh... at the rate they're going there will be 20 MP point and shoots by 2010) because it'll be way more than you need. MEGAPIXELS DO NOT AFFECT IMAGE QUALITY. It's the biggest misconception out there, so be aware of it when the nerd at the counter tries selling you on megapixels.

What will you be shooting? Different cameras have different features, so pick one that will do what you want it to do. Most have macro features and flash and other fancy schmancy features built in, but if you want to shoot the occasional small video an SLR is out of the picture. Same goes with viewfinders... if you don't like having to look through the camera to shoot, an SLR is pretty much out of the question as well, although I think I heard of Olympus or Sony or someone making one with an LCD viewfinder.

Bottom line, if you know where you'll end up before you start, it'll make the decision and the journey much easier.