 BetterPhoto Member |
What Lens Should I Buy For Best Sharpness? I have a Canon Rebel EOS with 35-70mm zoom lens. (You'll have to bare with me as I am not a photographer by any means!) I am not that happy with the sharpness of the pictures that I am getting. I was considering purchasing a new lens for this camera but I didn't know what would be best. I don't really do anything fancy just take pictures of the kids. Thanks.
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Jon Close |
The sharpest lens is also be about the least expensive, the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 (version I or II). But this of course does not have the versatility of a zoom lens. Some of your unsharpness is probably due to using your lens with the aperture set wide open. Most lenses are sharpest when the aperture is set a stop or two smaller than maximum, say at f/8 for a f/3.5-5.6 zoom. But then you may end up with shutter speeds too slow for hand held shooting without blurring from camera shake. While a little more expensive than other zooms, the Canon EF 28-135 f/3.5-5.6 IS USM (~$400) can solve this problem. It's optics are sharper than the typical kit zoom, even at maximum aperture, but its Image Stabilization feature allows you to use smaller apertures and corresponding longer shutter speeds without camera shake blur. In between the 50 and the 28-135 IS in price are Canon's EF 28-105 f/3.5-4.5 USM (~$220) and EF 24-85 f/3.5-4.5 USM (~$310) which have optics about as good as the 28-135 (but no IS). Canon has several lower priced zooms ($150 and less) that, and while they are decent values, would not be an improvement over your EF 35-70 f/3.5-4.5: EF 35-80 f/4-5.6, EF 28-80 f/3.5-5.6 USM, EF 28-90 f/4-5.6 USM, EF 28-105 f/4-5.6 USM. Note that the EF 28-105 f/4-5.6 USM is a separate model and different design than the recommended EF 28-105 f/3.5-4.5 USM.
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Artur |
Diane if you can live with single focal lens get canon 50mm f1.4 it is not very expensive but super sharp. It will be day and night compared with your zoom. Also try taking off all filters off your zoom that may increase sharpness. Artur
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Jen Hernandez |
Just a thought, but you may want to take a closer look at the film you are using. Personally, I can't stand the look of any film with a higher speed than 200. I have the same lense and haven't noticed a problem. A beautiful lense is the Canon 75-300mm. But consider your film first, it may be its graininess that is taking away the sharpness of your pictures. My friend had a problem using th same lense, but it turned out to be the film (grainy 400 speed and not so good brand), as well as not enough light. The flash only reaches so far. Take a closer look and your solution may be cheaper than you think!
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Buddy Purugganan |
I really like to recommend ANY AF SLR zoom lens that are products that are remarkable in sharpness, clarity, incredible color saturation, such as those by TAMRON, TOKINA and SIGMA. Choose the Canon AF mounts so you will not be confused cuz other mounts are for other AF cameras. I used a Tamron Aspherical zoom 28-80mm lens and I was impressed by its performance and I plan to upgrade to the 28-200 mm SUPER ZOOM XR lens ( its soooo small but works wonders to your photos!!! ) Oh...its from Tamron and costs about less than $300.00 in most camera shops by now. ( check out familyphotoandvideo.com,bwayphoto.com or ccicameracity.com ) The websites I recommend have a huge selection for Canon AF cameras so take the time to surf them all!
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Jon Close |
There is a very interesting forum at www.photo.net called Neighbor to Neighbor where members share their buying experiences at various mail-order and online retailers. It is definitely worth a look, especially with respect to the 3 companies mentioned by Buddy. http://www.photo.net/neighbor/one-subcategory?id=2 Before ordering, be sure to check the difference in shipping charges that different retailers apply. Some will advertise a low price for the merchandise, then charge excessive amount for shipping.
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Photoking |
**WARNING** DO NOT ORDER FROM cciCameraCity.com Here are some reviews: http://www.pricegrabber.com/rating_getreview.php/retid=258 Here is my experience: No where on the order did it state these items were not included. After talking to several customer service people (and two people hung up on me!), a manager "Ronny" said that my order "did not specifically state the camera came with those essential items". If I wanted the camera I ordered (without a battery, etc), it would take at least 6 weeks for delivery. Or, he could sell me the camera and all the accessories for $140 more, and ship it immediately. I cancelled my order and let them know I would be writing reviews about my experience with their site; then Ronny hung up on me. This is not how a reputable company does business. This web site is obviously running scams. They try to suck people into orders with misleading advertizing, and then force them to buy the essential "accessories". Please warn your readers about this disreputable site. Regards
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