Ok I need your opinion.

I am going to buy the body only of the XTI

I've been reading, trying borrowing taking pics for a couple months and decided on this over the sony A100 and the D80.

Rather then getting a kit lens I'll probably never use I'm thinking of going body only.

I want a good macro lens for the aquarium pics and a pretty set on a Telephoto EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro Autofocus Lens as it seems to be quite highly recomended.

Am I correct in assuming that's a fairly good all around just vacation pics, etc lens also?

Other then the aquarium I also like taking nature pics of birds, etc. so I' also thinking of a Zoom Telephoto EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS Image Stabilizer USM Autofocus Lens. Having said when I do vacation I would want the wide angle for landscape but if I have to pick I want a good zoom lens.

Does it make sense to go with these lenses? What would be major limitaions/issues I would be missing?

hello,

Your XTi is an excellent choice, esp. for aquariums where the high ISO performance of canon makes noise levels easier to deal with.

As for your lens selection, the canon 100mm is a great macro lens, but a crop factor of 1.6, you will most likely find it impossible as a walkaround lens. Even a 50mm will give you problems inside when you're trying to shoot wide, so you def. want to consider a zoom lens (these make the most convenient walk arounds). Canon makes a 28-105 f3.5-4.5 (II, make sure you get the II) that is a fantastic all around lens, esp. w/ your cropped sensor. It will run you a little over $200.00 (for the best deals, do check bhphoto.com or 17photo.com, i have ordered a number of things from both with no issues!)

You can read www.fredmiranda.com (http://www.fredmiranda.com) for reviews on lenses, it's a great site, just keep in mind that a lot of those reviewers have much higher requirements on lens performance than average joes like you and I!

Here's a direct link to reviews of the lens I recommended: 28-105 II (http://www.fredmiranda.com/reviews/showproduct.php?product=206&sort=7&cat=27&page=1)

And to bhphoto.com's USA version of the lens:
bhphoto's info (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=8454&A=details&Q=&sku=206434&is=USA&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation)

hth,

Matt

ps - sigma has recently released a 70mm f2.8 dedicated macro that runs a little cheaper than the 100mm canon and is getting great reviews!

Thanks alot for the info. Knowing that it's a walkaround I'm thinking the IS maybe worth the extra little money to go with a Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM. Thoughts, the lens has somewhat mixed (tending to good) reviews but I have talked to several people who are really happy with it.

from going to university for photography what ever you do spend the max amount on your lenses. you can have the best camera in the world and a bad lens will mess it all up. you also want a fast lens when photographing in a fish tank, by fast i mean that it can stop down to F2.8. the best quality lenses for the money in the world of micro/ marco (brand depending) are fixed. this means they dont zoom.

I agree that you should get the best lens, but the best isn't always the most expensive, esp. for someone who is not going to pixel peep, so to speak, every photography they take.

if you want a cheap, fast lens to get started, pick up the 50mm f1.8. It's not a macro, but it's fast, cheap, and a fairly sharp prime.

Hmm - the 28-105 is an ok lens, but certainly won't do the macro work that he's looking to do. The 100mm macro you originally talked about will most likely suit you much better for doing photo shots in your tank (or the 180mm macro for more extreme ones). However, as MattTVI said, you'll have a hard time using it as a walk-around lens. Every lens has it's purpose...

I just got an XTi in December and love the camera. I agree on the comment about buying the best glass you can from the beginning. My walk-around lens recommendation is the 24-105 IS, although not a terribly cheap lens. Whatever you do - don't get the kit lens - it just sucks.

Lastly, if you're really having trouble deciding, rent a few lenses and see what works best for you before putting down a bunch of money. There are several out there, but http://www.lensrentals.com seems to be the best right now.

Other places to check out (esp the last link):

http://www.slrgear.com/reviews/index.php
http://www.photodo.com/products.html?manuid=1&name=Canon
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/lenses/canon_lenses.shtml

Oh - and, yes, the 70-300 IS lens you mentioned is also a good choice. :)

Thanks for all the advice guys. After all the input, here is what I'm thinking.

Macro: EF 100mm f/2.8
Telephoto: 70-300 IS
Walk Around: EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS


I've actually used all but the 17-85 so I'll probably rent that one first. Thoughts??

excellent range, you won't regret it!

I agree- that list looks pretty good!

i agree with the 100 macro all the way, for photographing your tank it would do the job and some. i am not a fan of the 17-85 i found there to be some distortion and its a little slow. but if you feel you need it its your call.

oh also get a UV filter for all your lenses, they are cheap and protect your front element. a scratched filter is 5-10 bucks lost, a scratched lens well you get the idea.

oh also get a UV filter for all your lenses, they are cheap and protect your front element. a scratched filter is 5-10 bucks lost, a scratched lens well you get the idea.

There's arguments against that, as well. After reading this article (http://www.luminous-landscape.com/columns/sm-feb-05.shtml), I no longer use any "protective" filter.

I'm with Chris on this one... why put $5.00 glass in front of your expensive lens? Thom on all things filter (http://www.bythom.com/filters.htm).

scroll down to see what he says about UV filters...

its not about it being a filter for UV its about protecting the glass. in an image you can see all the little scratches and chips from an unprotected lens. for me this means more time i have to spend in photoshop doing touch up work that could have been prevented in the first place. if you wanted to throw down some cash on a filter get a polarizing filter but odds are you wouldn't need it.

To save you from all the time and effort of clicking on the links that MattTVI and I provided:

From Thom on all things filter (http://www.bythom.com/filters.htm):
So what have you gained by putting a filter in front of your lens? Well, the other normally suggested reason is "to protect the front element of your lens from accidental scratching or breakage."

I suppose. Small scratches on the front element of most lenses don't actually have much effect on optical performance, though. Indeed, unless the lens is a very wide angle lens, about the only optical effect a small scratch would have is exactly the same one as a filter has: lower contrast. (On wide angle lenses at small apertures, depth of field might be large enough so that you'd see optical degradation due to a scratch or blemish.) And if you're going to bump the lens hard enough to create more than a minor scratch, you're probably hitting it hard enough to bust the filter, and glass scratches glass pretty darn well in such situations, so I don't hold much faith in the "protection from breakage" theory.

From Luminous Landscape (http://www.luminous-landscape.com/columns/sm-feb-05.shtml):
Here's the news flash, though, although it's not exactly news, since it's been true for a good long while now: good modern lenses have very hard glass objectives, and/or scratch-resistant coatings. They make it difficult to scratch or mar a lens. With reasonable care, and perhaps a decent lens hood for physical protection if the objective is not recessed, there is almost no chance you will scratch the objective of your lens. Empirically, this is confirmed when you survey used lenses for sale. How many do you find that are scratched? How many eBay auctions for lenses don't say "glass mint" or "glass perfect"? Don't overestimate lens owners: if it were so easy to scratch up a lens, there would be a lot more scratched lenses out there than there are.

Incidentally, if by any chance you do manage to get a small imperfection on your lens, try this trick to put your mind at rest. This is something I learned from the legendary Pentax technical guru and Mensch of the Mountain Don Nelson. Tear a corner off the sticky part of a Post-It note so that you've got a bit of paper about the size of a pea. Stick it on your lens. Now look through the viewfinder. Surprised? Okay, so stop worrying about that little speck, then.

Still a bit confused here...

So will the: Macro: EF 100mm f/2.8 get a better macro shot than the 28-135 lens in terms of getting the close-up shot? I'm finding that I can't get as close as I want it with the 28-135 lens.

yup- the macro lens will let you do what you're looking to do. The 28-135 just doesn't have the ability to focus that close.

Image stabilization is well worth it... i love my 70-300mm IS, and im sure you'll be pleased to.

Mine's coming tomorrow!! Super excited.

kwl,

read the manual front to back... i'm not kidding. :)

Well my goodies arrived in the mail yesterday! Tonight I'll try to snap some pics with it!

Amazon has a 8Gb compact flash card (http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/B000E40RB4/ref=s9_asin_image_1/105-6218998-3439656) for $90.99. I got this card for my XTi and it works fine. Heck of a deal!

Hrmm, it's getting mixed reviews on Amazon. Sweet deal though.

Yup- and I added my own comment under the guy's who said it didn't work in their XTi. Compared to hundreds of dollars for the competion, I was willing to take a chance. A friend of mine and I both got one and both use it without problems. I used a Transcend 2Gb for the past year in this camera and my last with no problems.

Rather then start a new thread I'll continue here.

New XTi with 100mm 2.8 Macro lens and took these tonight. They aren't great but not to bad.

http://kwl1763.com/Reef/Feb_07/bluetip.jpg


http://kwl1763.com/Reef/Feb_07/closebody.jpg


http://kwl1763.com/Reef/Feb_07/fulltri.jpg



http://kwl1763.com/Reef/Feb_07/stagtips.jpg


Unfortunatly you see a lot you don't normally see and I have a major red bug issue as you can see here. Guess what I'm doing this weekend! I've got a date with Interceptor. I blew this one way out so you can clearly see the bugs

http://kwl1763.com/Reef/Feb_07/redbugs.jpg

Cool. I just picked up one of these cameras and am now working on getting the tripod. I guess the lens will be next.

I really need to buy a nice camera....

Or just invite your friends over to take pictures.