Buying a lense for the first time???

[JeannieK]

Canon EF 90-300mm F4.5 - 5.6 DC - Would this be a good start for a second lense to buy. I'm still using my standard 18-55mm lense. I am also on a budget. Would appreciate some advice please. Thank you!

[OsmosisStudios]

I had to look that lens up: I thought you'd made about 3 typoes.

It looks to be a VERY old design that likely wont do too well for your needs. It's also not going to come new. I'd recommend the EF-s 55-250 f/4.5-5.6 IS USM or the EF 70-300 f/4.5-5.6 IS USM

[photog1107]

Agree with Osmosis and I will say, my 75-300 has served me well over the years and has many uses as a nice portrait lens as well as outdoor (daylight) zoom.

[OsmosisStudios]

Originally Posted by photog1107

Agree with Osmosis and I will say, my 75-300

Note: I referred to the 70-300 IS or the 55-250 IS, not the 75-300. While the latter CAN be a good performer, it generally isnt as good as either one of the other two.

[JeannieK]

I'm a little confused now. Someone said the lense I mentioned is a good choice as well. So the 70-300 would be a better option as well since the one I asked about is an old design. The other lense are within my budget.

Thanks for the help tips though.

[JeannieK]

I've just read up on the 55-250 lense. My mind is telling that will be a good choice to buy.

Forgive me if my questions seem silly but will this be good for weddings as well. I presume it will be since it will be good for portraits. Reason for asking is that I am getting more into photographing people.

[RichardTaylor]

The 55-250 lens is a good value, very compact, general purpose tele for good light.
(I own one, however it doesn't see a lot of use)

For weddings,
(1) small groups outdoors it will be fair, but not great.
(2) For candid head shots ( and portraits) again only fair as it doesn't have a fast enough maximum aperture (f/3.5-5.6 depending on focal length) to give you a lot of control over Depth of field to give you beautiful soft blurry backgrounds.

(3) Indoor - it will be too slow (again relative small maximum aperture) ,and possibly a bit slow to focus, in poor light.

Try using your 18-55 indoors to give you an idea of the performance you can expect.

The Canon 70-300 F4.5-F5.6 IS lens is another good general purpose outdoor telephoto lens. I feel it is a step up from the 55-250.
It is my vacation and general purpose telephoto when I have to travel relatively light. Same problems as the 55-250 when shooting indoors.

For weddings & portraits think F2.8 maximum apertures and focal lengths of 24/28mm -70mm or possibly even 17-50 F2.8 zoom - similar but faster than your kit lens.

When I need a fast lens, around F2, I use a prime.

[OsmosisStudios]

If you're looking to do weddings, you need FAST lenses. f/2.8 zooms or faster primes. In that case you need to look at the 70-200 f/2.8 zooms (canon has three, one non-IS, one with IS and one with ISmk2).

The 90-300 you mentioned is a very old design: ive yet to read anything positive about it. Who gave you that recommendation?

[inkista]

Originally Posted by JeannieK

I've just read up on the 55-250 lense. My mind is telling that will be a good choice to buy.

Forgive me if my questions seem silly but will this be good for weddings as well. I presume it will be since it will be good for portraits. Reason for asking is that I am getting more into photographing people.

Nope, not good for weddings unless you have a flash. It's all about the maximum aperture.

But it's definitely a great starter lens, and a really good bargain. Few lenses that are under $300 are worth their purchase price. That one is. Ignore the people who tell you to get a 70-200 f/2.8L--they always forget to tell you those start at over $1000.

The third lens you'll want to add is the $100 EF 50mm f/1.8 II. That one will be good for weddings and portraits, and will probably teach you a lot more about aperture and composition than the kit lens. Having a lens that doesn't zoom actually frees you up a bit, because without zoom, all your composition choices come down to "where do I stand?" A zoom lens often locks you into standing in a specific spot and zooming to compose, when you might have been better off three steps to the left, or one step closer, or kneeling... a prime lens can prompt you into that.

That link I put in above for the max. aperture is actually part of a basic lens primer. I'd suggest going through that site when you've got the time just to get a handle on what the basic lens features are and why you might want them. Most newbies fixate on focal length, but that's not all there is to a lens.

[JeannieK]

My next concern is that I don't have a flash yet. I'm still using the pop-up flash. Would it then be best to purchase a flash first then? I got some good advice about flashes already though.