Confused and need guidance

[Anti]

Hi
I live in Toronto Canada and am a newby to this site. I love it. I have been taking pictures ever since I can remember and cant wait to learn and participate.
My husband and I are going to Italy in July and he convinced me to buy the
Canon Rebel T1i. He said he had a lens from the EOS 650 and only after I purchased the camera I looked at the lens he had and it looked like a torpedo! he has a 70-210mm. i dont want to carry that with me.
The Rebel came with the 18-55mm lens and after reading up and trying to understand, I think i need a wide angle lens for my landscape pictures. Also the 18-55 doesnt have the zoom I am used to.

If correct I read that the EF 17-85mm is a good wide angle lens. I saw one on line, used for 300.00 Canadian.. but not sure if this is the lens I need and if it is a fair price? too many websites and I am confused at this point. I just want to be able for now( until I get better-hopefully before July) to take your usual shots, family, landscapes, churches etc. and not carry that many lenses with me.

Can someone give me direction to which lenses are good to bring on a trip, how much they should cost and/or if I should keep this camera or just buy a point and shoot. Your suggestions are well appreciated.

thanks

[OsmosisStudios]

17 isnt much wider than 18. The 17-85 isnt a great lens (not bad, but not worth the pricetag). Skip it.

If 18mm isnt wide enough, your best bet is to go really wide: something like Canon's 10-20mm. That's wide. The trick, though, is that it's so wide there is a fair bit of technique to get the best out of it. For most people, though, 18mm is PLENTY wide.

If you're looking for something to replace the 18-55, Canon also make a 15-85 f/3.5-5.6 IS. It's an excellent lens, certainly a step up from the 18-55. It'll go wider than 18mm (appreciably) and goes longer than 55 (again, noticeably) but wont be HUGE.

The 70-210 your husband showed you is probably an f/4, and likely a great lens. Dont get rid of it, but I dont know if I'd cart it to Italy. You'll likely be in that 15-85 range.

That's my recommendation, at least.

[inkista]

I think the first thing you really want to evalute is what are you taking this trip for? If you're taking the trip to go take pictures, than load up and bring the best SLR gear you can afford. If you're taking this trip to get away from it all and relax, and just be with people, and you want to go light and easy, then a P&S is probably the best way to go. If pictures are relatively important, but you can't stand a P&S or hauling too much gear, and you're willing to compromise on gear, then maybe getting a superzoom, like an 18-200 is the way to go.

Secondly, you also need to set a budget for yourself. Usually, your budget is going to be the single biggest determining factor on what lenses you're going to be considering.

But you also have to think about what interests you and what you think you're going to be shooting. Usually, with travel, you don't often need a telephoto unless you're going to shoot wildlife. Landscapes and people shots are typically done with wide-to-normal lenses, which is why they gave you an 18-55 with your camera. That lens is great for daytime snapshots.

An ultrawide or the 15-85 are both good lenses, too, but they are both relatively expensive. $600 is a more typical price. The 15-85 in the US is $720. If you want a less expensive lens and are willing to compromise a little on image quality, the new EF-S 18-135 IS is another possibility, or you could pair the 18-55 with the EF-S 55-250 IS (it's less than half the price of the 18-200 and a better-quality lens).

One other lens you may want to consider because it's good quality, ultra cheap, and smaller and lighter than your kit lens, is the EF 50mm f/1.8 II. The wider maximum aperture will let you shoot inside, handheld, without a flash.

I rrecommend going through this basic guide to lenses and their features.

[Doug Pardee]

As always, Inkista has great advice.

You're not going to have much use for a long lens in Italy. If you really must have a super-wide-range zoom, the 18-200 lenses are a good choice, although that amount of zoom necessarily comes with compromises in image quality. I'd recommend getting one with Image Stabilization ("IS" on a Canon lens, "OS" on a Sigma). Personally, I think that zoom range is overkill for most of Italy.

Erm, you didn't say where in Italy.

Be aware that in some parts of Italy (particularly the farther south you are), you're likely to have trouble with thieves. They won't confront you like our American muggers will, but give them a quarter of a second when you're not watching your stuff and you'll see how fast they can move. You don't want to be setting any of your equipment down at any time, nor carrying it in a backpack or otherwise out of sight and out of reach. So that generally means you want to travel light. As Inkista said, if this isn't a photography expedition, maybe a pocketable digicam might be more fun.

Personally, I don't care for photos taken with extreme focal lengths. The 18-55 or 15-85 are about as far as I'd normally want to use. The perspectives get too weird otherwise. But that's just me.

[Anti]

thanks so much for everyones input. I appreciate it and cant believe how much you guys know!

with this camera I cant help but think about all the pictures I can take and i cant wait. I also enjoy taking videos, so the Rebel should be good, but I am torn about how much more to spend at the moment for the addition lens. I really thought the one it came with was the only one I needed for your basic shots, indoor/outdoor, day/night and if I wanted a specific lens I could purchase them as I needed them( which I know I can do).
I will have to make the decision once I read up on the lenses and their costs. Its either return the camera and get a good Canon P&S or keep it and invest in another lens and I should be good to go for a while. I also have the torpedo so thats another lens to my collection,

I know Italy all too well since I am from there and specifically from Rome. My grandmother was mugged in broad daylight many years ago and I am sure the crime has changed since then, and not for the better. I did think about someone offering to take our picture and running off with my camera, so I thought about bringing my relatives, struggling with the thought but figured its better than losing my camera. lol

thanks again for all the advice.