Which lens should i pick?

[newbiewith60D]

Hi,

Bought a Canon 60D recently. Kit included 18-200 standard lens. Thats the only lens i have now.
Want to buy one more lens. And want to stay within 500$.

I am definitely not going to:
a. do wildlife photography...
b. capture sports action

I want to start with
a. capturing my two and half year old kid.
b. Potraits (low-light/night also).
c. nature/landscape.
d. Long exposure photo tricks.

Need some suggestion on the lens that will do the job...
If you were to pick up one good lens which can get you a good IQ photos in the above 4 categories, which lens would it be ?


Thx
K

[rotty022]

get the 50mm f1.4. this will get great shots in very low light.

[inkista]

Originally Posted by newbiewith60D

a. capturing my two and half year old kid.
b. Potraits (low-light/night also).

I'd actually recommend looking at the EF 85/1.8 USM and EF 35/2 as well as the EF 50/1.4 USM, depending on your favored working distances.

c. nature/landscape.
d. Long exposure photo tricks.

Your 18-200, with appropriate technique should cover these.

c. needs you to stop down the lens into the f/8-f/16 range, and possibly to use a tripod. d. requires a tripod and possibly a cable release. Not so much a specific lens.

[faeriegodess612]

Your probably going to get a lot of responses to this. It really depends on what you want to do more of. For portraits the "nifty fifty" is recommended a lot. For landscapes possibly something like the 70-300.

If your new to photography, get to know your camera first and how to use it. Get to know how to use the lens that came with it, so when your learning you can see what you like doing more of, and choose a lens from there. This is usually inkista's forte, shes excellent at recommending gear. She's one reason that I have the D3100.

I somewhat recently bought the Tamron 70-300mm for Nikon. It does have its somewhat disappointing limitations, but for the most part I love it. It has the macro ability and thats something that I've always been interested in. It is NOT a lens for indoor low light situations. Outside in the sun, it does fantastic. Inside, it has its issues. Not that they can't be overcome by simply switching into Manual focus though. I have fun with it, and I'm glad that I purchased it.

[faeriegodess612]

LOL!! Of course am I was typing, you responded.

[inkista]

I fast!

[mshockley]

I'd agree with Inkista about the 85mm f/1.8. This is my go-to lens for alot of stuff! I love it. Wonderful sharpness and great control in low light situations.

[newbiewith60D]

Thanks everyone for your inputs. Agree on the fact that i should spend some time learning the camera first. Also, forums like these will help me accelerate the learning...

Is the 85mm 1.8 lot better than a tamron 90mm f/2.8? Just saw an offer on a used tamron 90mm (non-Di) f/2.8 for 150. Is there anything significant that can be achieved in image quality with a 90mm f/2.8 compared to a 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6?

thx
K

[StarshipPhoto]

Definitely go with the 50mm! I just got the 50mm f/1.8 and it's amazing, so I could only imagine the f/1.4 would be even better.

The 85mm on a crop sensor would be much too tight for your needs.

[ishootRAW]

I would with 50 1.8 and 35 f2 (if you have the Money, the Sigma 30mm 1.4 is excellent) for crop.

Note on stoping down. I wouldn't go narrower then f/8 (unless your going for DOF). As above that, you will start to get diffraction on a APS-C sensor.(on FF it's more like f16)