what lens to buy with canon 550d

sabby

sabby

Guide
One of my friend is going to buy canon 550d within this weekend. He wants to know whether he should buy the 18-135mm kit or get the 18-55 as of now and should get a better kit after getting experience. This is going to be his first DSLR.

Thanks in advance :)
 
The best one by all accounts is the 15-85, be around 35k in grey.

I've used that combo and it's very good - far better than the kit lens. Requires a good UV - budget around 4-5K for the filter.

With longer range zoom on a 1.6x sensor you lose on the low end and anyway will need a tripod at that zoom.

For a bit more money consider the 17-40 Pro lens. I just saw some pics clicked with that and *350D* and they were killer. On the better 550d the combination should be excellent.
 
+1 for 50mm f/1.8 lens instead of 18-55mm kit lens...50mm is very sharp lens and produces wonderful bokeh...optical quality is also superb...I use it 99% time on my 550D :)
 
As Pranav stated, get the 50mm prime lens. This is a must have lens for beginners, and is fantastic for portraits because of the focal length on an APS-C sensor, as well as the shallow DOF at f1.8.

Hmm generally the all in one walk around lens compromise on IQ. Hence I suggest if you can save get a Tamron 17-50 f2.8 non VC for 18k its as sharp as the 17-40L lens plus has a fixed fstop at 2.8

Cranky: What you say is correct, but the recent lens with Image stabilization are of a huge boon here. The Canon 55-250 IS is one of the best VFM lens at 10.5k, and in good light you can take good snaps without tripod at 250mm. The thumb rule is shutter speed should be 1/focal length, hence for a non IS lens you will need to click atleast at 1/250 of a sec to get a jerk free shot, with IS on you can take the same shot at 1/100
 
Its a personal preference. I rather use two lens then buy a say 18-200 as the optics degrade drastically. 15-85 is a stellar lens, but again I prefer fast lens, and Canon ones are too expensive (Canon 17-50 f2.8 is for 55k b&w compared to 18k for Tammy).
 
no IS on that 50mm prime can be a downer for some... it indeed produces sharp pictures if you can capture your subject in focus.
 
^^ IS is not required on the primes per se, as they are fast. In fact even on my Tammy 17-50 f2.8 I don't require IS, as it's fast. I think what you meant was accurate AF (yep the Canon 50mm f1.8 hunts in low light, however the f1.4 version with USM motor has no such issues).
 
Yes, lately I've been put off by 50mm f/1.8 for OOF images in low light...seriously considering to go for 50mm f/1.4.

On second thought, how is Canon 60mm f/2.8 macro lens for portraits? If I buy this lens, it will serve the purpose for macro as well as portrait. Suggestion guys :)
 
Nope, actually for portraits its perfect. In addition the sharpness on macro lens is unbeatable, also 60mm would be too wide for macro shots. I have not used the 85mm lens, but people swear the 85mm f1.2 is the best portrait lens there is.
 
85mm f/1.2 is $2100 :rolleyes:

Yes, you are right, 60mm would be little wide for macro shots...how about Canon 100mm f/2.8 macro lens...it's really good lens as I have heard :huh:
 
Aces170 said:
Get the Tammy 90mm f2.8 for macros and portraits. Its amazing, if you want a portrait only lens then buy 85mm f1.8 lens..
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+1 for the Tammy 90mm f2.8. Out of my AF lens, Tammy 17-50 f2.8 VC, Tammy 90mm f2.8 Macro, EF 50mm f1.8, EF 28-80, Tammy 90mm is the lens I use the most. However I got some manual lens and almost stopped using these AF lens :D
 
Yes, you are right, 60mm would be little wide for macro shots...how about Canon 100mm f/2.8 macro lens...it's really good lens as I have heard
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The L glass is one of the sharpest lens I have ever seen :) however its priced at 45k, Tammy is a good buy at 19k..
 
The problem is people say Canon lenses are better than Tamron/Sigma....hence I'm little skeptical about Tammy 90mm...maybe I should just get 50mm f/1.4 and keep quiet :S
 
Canon glass have a better build for sure, optics are good on all though. Tamron 90mm is a very nice glass, Brendon has it, wait for his evaluation. The only disadvantage is AF hunts in macro modes, but 90% of the time you would be using MF on Macro hence no issues there.
 
Yup, the 90mm is a great lens. Sharp (like all macro lenses) and has very good bokeh (not all macro lenses have this).

The Canon 100mm L version has slightly better contrast and faster focusing but costs 3 times as much.
 
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