Looking to Add new Photography Tools/Accessories

[PMesritz]

Hey, all,

I'm looking at spending a couple hundred $$ ($2-$300) on new photography toys...I mean tools. What I have now is the following:


Body: Canon EOS Rebel T1i
Lens: EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS, ES-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS
Accessories:
58mm Flower Lens Hood (Coming in the mail)
58mm UV Filter Lens (Coming in the mail)
Macro Extension Tube (Coming in the mail)

I do landscape/nature photography, sports/children photography as well as indoor/outdoor general people.

What would you suggest?

- Philippe

[dlambert]

You're really in the best position to judge where your needs are, but a couple items that spring to mind would be a flash or a good tripod.

[PMesritz]

I've certainly been thinking about a flash, but there's so many options. It's insane! Any thoughts on what flashes might be a good starter one? I've been looking through eBay, craigslist, etc as well.

[dlambert]

Yeah - you've got two main options here. You can stick with Canon, which will give you better communication between camera & flash, but costs quite a bit more, or you can go with a more generic flash, which you'll end up controlling manually.

If you haven't seen them already, go check out Strobist.com - they've got tons and tons of info about setting up & using off-camera lighting. Most of the stuff they do, if memory serves, is manually-controlled. I picked up a Lumopro LP-160 flash for about 1/3 the cost of a Canon 580, and it's worked pretty well for me. I'd be lying if I said it wouldn't be nice to have E-TTL every once in a while, but it's also pretty nice to have the extra $350. Sigma's got a flash that's supposed to be E-TTL compatible - you might want to look them up, too.

[PMesritz]

Thanks for the suggestion of looking at Strobist. I hadn't done so before and now I'm going to have to do so!

[inkista]

EF 50mm f/1.8 II and/or EF 430EX II. A fast prime lens will give you available light and thin DoF capability.

While going Strobist and using an all-manual flash can be a fine fine thing, I think for a first flash, it might be worthwhile to go OEM and get a Canon speedlight, so you'll have on-camera bouncing/eTTL capability. A used 550EX, 580EX, or new 580EX II would be better than the 430EX II, but are likely to outstrip your budget by a bit.

Tripod+cable release or remote also good choices.

[PMesritz]

Awesome. Thank you for the suggestions and information. I'll continue to take a look at options and work to fit things within the budget.

[baycruisers]

If you're doing any landscape photography you need a polarizing filter that fits your 18-55mm lens.