 - Jill Odice  Contact Jill Odice Jill Odice's Gallery |
Canon 60 D lens I want to upgrade from my Nikon D40 to a Canon 60 D. On Ebay I came across several options to buy the body plus 2 lens for pretty reasonable prices. I do lots of macro floral, architectural and landscape shooting and am not sure which 2nd lens would be the best one for me. It comes with a 18-55 mm lens like my Nikon ddi, so I prety much got that figured out. The choices for the 2nd lens are 1. Canon EF-S 55-250 MM F4-5.6 IS 2. Canon EF 75-300 MM F4-5.6 III or to just get the body with a Canon 18-135mm IS EF-S f/3.5-5.6 Zoom Lens Ideally I would go to a cmarea store to try them all out, but living in the middle of the Mojave desert with the nearest store too far away I am hoping somebody here on BP can steer me in the right direction. I like the idea of just one lens to do it all, but ralize the quality might not be as good as buying the kit plus another. Thanks for any help :-)
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doug Nelson |
I am not sure to what extent the 60D is an upgrade. I'd be looking at the best Nikkor lenses. In the case of architectural work, you don't want much, if any, distortion in your wides. The wide end of many zooms barrels out to where you'll have to give up the outer part of your image when you correct for barrel in post processing. You want your most used wide angle focal length to fall other than at either end of a zoom. If architectural is that important, and you want to stay with crop-sensor, look for the least distortion at your favorite wide-angle focal length within the zoom's range. Whether you go with Canon or Nikon, or third-party, each has excellent 90-100 range macros that double as portrait lenses. The are often under $500. They all would do a fantastic job of blurring backgrounds for your flower shots. None of your second lens proposals lines up with what you say you shoot. The 75-300, Canon, Nikon or Pentax are decent choices, IF you need a tele zoom to pick out parts of your landscape. A tele macro, however, will do that cheaper, and at better optical quality than an affordable zoom. Look at www.kenrockwell.com and at www.photozone.de for comments on both Canon and Nikon gear. Both sites emphasize distortion and resolution in their reviews.
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- Jill Odice Contact Jill Odice Jill Odice's Gallery |
Thanks Doug. The Nikon D40 is 5 MP while the Canon is 18 MP for one reason. Most of my photo buddies I shoot with use Canon cameras and I am always impressed with the quality of their images before they do any editing( which I spend a great deal of time with since the quality in my D40 pretty much is not very good being only 5 MP) The reason I listed the lenes I did was because they are the ones that come in the package deals on EBay which also include many extras like the battery, charger, camera bag, tripod and SD card etc.To buy a camera locally involves paying state sales tax which in California is ridiculous when I could be spending that money for buying something else for my camera :-)
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doug Nelson |
OK, if it's Canon you want, you can save some money with one of the Rebels. They are smaller and lighter, with the same processor and sensor. The kit lens is not bad at all, especially if it has IS (Image Stabilization). Buy the body with the lens. A great buy in a tele macro for flowers and bugs is the Tamron 90mm or the Tokina 100mm. It'll be about $400. Check out B&H, and Adorama (new) and KEH (used). For later, if you find you really like wide angle, look at the Canon EF-S 10-22 wide zoom. For about $700 you'll never need another wide, unless you go full-sensor (The Canon 5DII is $2,500). I'm basing these comments on your work. You have a great eye and you're good at what you do. Don't base your choices on what THEY want to sell you, base them on what you need to do what you do.
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- Jill Odice Contact Jill Odice Jill Odice's Gallery |
Hi Doug, I am aiming to step up in quality. The Rebel just is not good enough quality for me. I want a camera that will hold up to lots of outdoor use as I will probably be relocating to the Northwest and will be shooting in rain and snow as well as desert. The 60 D is weatherproof and a much better camera according to Dpreview reviews
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Lynn R. Powers |
Jill, Do NOT purchase from the people that are giving you the package deal. A. A charger and battery are not extras. They come with every Canon camera. B. The camera bag will probaly be made of cheap plastic and torn within 3 months. C. With any use at all the tripod will probably give out or break the same time the bag starts to tear and is only suitable for a P&S unless the wind is above 10mph in which case it will fall over. D. The SD card will only take about 100 pictures of RAW+JPEG using the 60D. E. None of the lenses are capable of resolving 18MP and after you shoot with one for awhile you will be reaching for your D40. F. B&H and Adorama give a two month period to return if not satisfied with no questions asked. That in itself is one reason not to use these ebay retailors. G. Deals like this are too good to be true. So avoid anything where the prices are not close compared to the two recommended distributers. B&H has been in business a long time and they didn't get the reputation they have and been in business as long by cheating people. To help cut some costs KEH sells used photo gear. I have used them several times. Since I live in the PNW I definitely have no shares or personal stakes in any of the busineses. I'm only a happy customer
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- Jill Odice Contact Jill Odice Jill Odice's Gallery |
Thanks for your input. I really am just asking for an answer to my original question. I don't want to get into a debate about EBay vs KEH, B& H who I have bought many things from in the past. BTW I bought a used camera from KEH which died a couple days after their 30 day warranty and they were very rude to me, telling me I should have bought a new camera and too bad. Luckily Sony refunded all my money after I sent the camera back to them. I bought my D40 on EBay from Cameta camera in NYC and got a great deal, I am still using the card that came with the camera 3 years later, the bag is beautiful and in excellent shape as well as getting lots of other stuff and not having to pay for tax and shipping...There are good companies and crap ones... I put a lot of thought into what I buy and research things before giving anybody my hard earned money. I really would love to hear from somebody who will look at my gallery to see what kinds of things I shoot and point me in the right direction as far as the 3 lens are concerned. I am not interested in hearing about any other kind of camera etc. Thanks for your time and help.
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- Jill Odice Contact Jill Odice Jill Odice's Gallery |
Went to Amazon.com to read the reviews and got just what I was looking for, reviews from folks who have actually used the lenses I was asking about :-)There are comparisons of all these lenses and I decided to go with the 18-135 mm so I don't have to carry around a bunch of lenses. Sounds like a great all around lens with nice sharp images, just what I am looking for after the soft images I get with the Nikon kit lens that came with my D40...Thanks to both of you for your opinions and time :-)
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doug Nelson |
Of your choices, I think you made a good one. Read Ken Rockwell's test of that 18-135. IS is a good thing to have with any telephoto. Read up on correction of barrel disortion in post processing. The wide end of your zoom may present some visible distortion (maybe not). You have all your eggs, lens-wise, in one basket. If you can see your way clear, decide on your most frequently used focal length, and buy a prime as a backup. For example, a lot of my work falls in the 35-40mm range. If I used a crop-sensor Canon, I'd buy an EF 24mm f 2.8 that crops to about 38mm coverage as a small carry-around or as a backup.
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- Kenneth De Pree Contact Kenneth De Pree Kenneth De Pree's Gallery |
I bought the 18-135 lens to avoid having to carry two lens to shoot in the range that I am mostly in. There are a lot of semi-negative reviews of this lens, but I got a good copy and experience almost none of the problems people complain about. If you haven't already purchased the lens, you may want to check Adorama to see if they have any factory reconditioned 18-135 lens. I bought a 50mm reconditioned lens from them recently and was quite pleased. A factory reconditioned lens is one that went back to Canon for some reason and it brought up to specks by the technicians there and tested be sure it is functioned perfectly. Only some of the lenses are tested when they come off the assembly line, but the factory reconditioned lenses are all tested individually. Adorame gives a one year guarantee on the factory reconditioned lenses.
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- Jill Odice Contact Jill Odice Jill Odice's Gallery |
Hi Ken, I was checking Adorama out and they have a great deal to get a 60d with the 18-135 lens, they even throw in an extra battery and 8gb card as well as a camera bag...Looks like that is probably what I will do. With 10% sales tax here in California, no way am I buying it at any local place, I can think of lots more fun ways to spend the extra $125.00 then on sales tax !
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- Carlton Ward Contact Carlton Ward Carlton Ward's Gallery |
I have bought & sold many lenses over the years. I started with a Canon 20D and had a Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 and this is a very nice lens (less that $500) - I sold this one to get the Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L ($1300) - I also had the Canon 70-200mm f/4L (non-IS) and this too is a great lens (especially for $650) but again I sold it to get the 70-200mm f/2.8L IS ($1900) because I shoot a lot of low light & concert photography. I kinda knew what my ultimate lens list would be and opted for what I could afford at the time which worked out and I have progressed with my cameras from the 20D to a 40D, 1DS & now the 5D Mk II. I also bought a Canon 100-400mm f/4.5L IS back in 2005 when I bought the 20D and I still have that lens and it remains to be one of my very favorites :) I also recently sold my 100mm macro lens (which was a little soft) and will buy the 180mm L as its replacement. Its been a progression but I am so happy with what I have now - although the new 1DX makes me drool a bit but I absolutely love my 5D2 :) my .02, Carlton
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