Home Forums Gear Photography What else do I need?

Just purchased a Canon T5i kit with their 18-55mm IS lens. I'm completely new to the DSLR game and am wondering what you guys consider to be essentials? If I eventually decide to get a "bigger" lens, what do you suggest? Looks like the next step up is a 55-250mm.

Might get a bit more feedback if one elaborates on what he might want to do. People, sports, wildlife, etc.

I have a 55-250 mm and am not overly impressed with it. I just don't see great resolution on the high end. My wife, Cookie, regularly packs a Canon 100-400. A very handy wildlife lens in that one can often get by hand holding.

People, wildlife, birds, landscape, bridges, lighthouses, boats, sunrises/sunsets, flora and fauna along the coast here in Oregon.

Circular polarizer for the lens, good for cutting reflections for forest and water, but will unevenly polarize the sky on wide angle shots.
Tripod and head.
Tamron 150-600 for feather and fur. Canon just announced a new 100-400 also. But if you'd spend $2200 on the new Canon100-400, there is the new Sigma 150-600 Sport for $2k that is reportedly sharper and heavier than the $1k Tamron
Extra battery.

Uh, yeah, won't be spending $1k -$2k on any lenses, but thanks. Only paid $450.00 for the kit.

Then don't expect much. Nothing invested, nothing gained.

That said, I'd buy a 55-250 IS lens, from Canon--they're inexpensive and pretty darn good-- and a good monitor--so you can competently evaluate your pictures--for your computer then I'd go out and shoot. After a few months ask yourself if your equipment is holding you back, then go from there.

I'd stay away for any non-Canon lens. A tripod is nice if your're serious, and a paperweight if you're not. Good image stabilization (IS) will do for most people most of the time. Buy a tripod if, after three months or so, you find yourself saying: how can I make these images sharper? That may never happen, depending on how you intend to use and display your photos. Do you want to print big? I have a 24x36" print in my living room from Costco, a landscape on Mt. Hood. I shot it hand-held with a Canon EOS-m with the 18-55 IS lens. It looks great. I cringe when I say that because I own two Gitzo tripods with Arca-Swiss heads that I bought back when I was shooting film.

Bottom line: shoot more, then spend money. If you must buy something now, buy a 55-250 telephoto as it us the quickest route to pictures you are unable to capture with your existing equipment.

The 55-250 won't beat the 100-400 in any category except weight, cost and portability. If you need the quality, you'll put up with costly, heavy lenses. If you don't, you won't and likely shouldn't.

Lenses are where the real money goes and the quality product comes from.

Sounds like the 55-250 is in your realm. Do brace up and use a tripod on the high end. A light camera and a light lens like that are not easily held stable when stretched out.

For wildlife and birds, I'd suggest a popup blind and good bit of patience.

Good luck and post up some shots.

Check out the Tamron 70-300mm Di-II VC lens. Very sharp fairly compact, under $500 at Camera Land. Six year warranty on the lens too. I have been a working professional nature photographer and shooting Tamron lenses for many years. I would take that lens any day and use it often.That and a circular polarizer and you should be good for a little while. Give Mark or Joel a call up at Camera Land and see what kind of great pricing they have for you. Let them know you are a member of the Campfire!

GW, then I would suggest the Tamron 70-300 like CLTPA suggested. It has a $50 rebate going on now and you should be able to pick it up for $399. For birds and wildlife, you'll want all the reach you can get.

Sites like lenstip, photozone and dxo are some of the comparison websites

http://www.lenstip.com/lenses.html
http://www.photozone.de/
http://www.dxomark.com/

I have a decent carbon fiber tripod and head. Not a Gitzo, but not a Vanguard either.

Spend some money on Canon and other lenses that are quite good and don't cost a fortune. For example:

a. Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM (without IS) ~ $700.00
b. Or this one: Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM plus a Kenko teleconverter
c. Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM (without IS) ~under $600.00
d. Tokina AT-X 116 PRO DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8 (ultra wide lens) ~under $500.00. The Tokina would be for very wide landscape shots, or just for taking photos of the Auroras, and so forth.

I understand that right now you may not be able to afford good lenses, but keep in mind that lenses can be like spending lots of money buying several cheap fishing poles, versus buying one good quality fishing pole.

Thanks, all. Got the camera and 18-55mm lens a week or so ago and also picked up a clean used Canon 55-250mm IS lens. Now I just need to find time to read through the manual and figure it all out.

GW,

Asking "What else do I need" on here is dangerous!

I am not an expert by any means, but I think you can accomplish a lot of what you are probably looking to do with your current set up. I have a Nikon D5000 with a 18-55 and a 55-300 and that combination does most of what I need. I learned on an old Ricoh XR-1 that I got at a garage sale. Used it for several years before I moved on. I would love to have better lenses but I always ask myself if I have learned all I can with what I have. The answer is always "No", so I focus on improving my technique before I blow the budget. If you have seen any of my pictures posted here you know that I have a lot of technique to improve!

If you can, look into a Digital Photography course at a local community college. Most are on evenings or weekends and they can teach you what the settings on your camera are, as well as provide some tips on composition, depth of focus, etc. Spending money on some basic training would probably bring you more enjoyment than new lenses would.

SS


Edited to correct typo.

Sam offers some good advice. With specific class assignments one has to do things.

Another nice option with today's digitals is that one can learn a ton just sitting in his Lazy Boy, reading the instruction manual and actually playing with all the settings. Dink around with ISO's, shutter speeds, white balances, exposure bias, and apertures with just the house lights. Do increments of only one aspect at a time. See what it takes to shoot into dark/light corners, capture motion on the TV screen, or expand/contract depth of field. I'm one that learns best by doing, and the upside is it can all be viewed and deleted at essentially no cost.

Also, when one downloads and reviews his serious efforts, look at all of that metadata info that accompanies each shot. Very informative, especially for those shots that we hoped were great but we screwed up somewhere.

Go forth and play,

Just buy a book written for your camera model by David D. Bush. Barns & Noble should have it, and Amazon certainly does. Anyway, the book is much like the manual except for containing detailed instructions on how to use your camera, flashes, and lenses. All the modes and settings are explained, with photos, charts, and illustrations. Once you open that book you will never look at the manual again.

This book:
David Busch's Canon EOS Rebel T5i/700D Guide to Digital SLR Photography (David Busch's Digital Photography Guides) Paperback

You might check if there is a local camera club. Clubs may offer field trips, lectures, and competitions.