Carry lens for Canon EOS D600

[rogerwaskow]

Hi all

I have the Canon D350 and D600. I bought the 350 as a twin lense kit namely the 18-55 and 70-300mm. I bought nthe EOS D 600 as a body as the lenses fit both. I am looking for a daily carry lense for the EOS D600 namely the 18-200mm.

Now comes the question. Obviously money is a bit of an issue so I have looked at the Canon (Ouch), Sigma (Less of an ouch at $300-$350) and the Tamron (acceptable at $209-$250). I am looking for a reasonably good lens as I am one day going to buy the Canon D 5 iii (Started Saving)

Could all you clever people out there spin some pro's and con's around for me please.

Many thanks

[Richard]

If your seriously thinking of moving to a 5D, then you will need to make sure that the lens you choose is going to work on a full frame camera. The canon 18-200 EF-S is only for crop sensors. I'm not sire about the Sigma & Tamron options.

What sort of things are you planning on photographing? As a general rule you sacrifice image quality with super zooms, although I can see the attraction...

[Iguanasan]

There was an awesome video on DigitalRev TV where Kai did a demonstration of an expensive camera with crappy lenses vs a cheap camera with a good lens and the cheap camera with a good lens produced excellent results. Before you go spending a ton of money on the 5D I'd recommend you spend some decent coin on a good Canon lens that will work on both what you have and what you plan to get. That way you can start shooting quality glass sooner. Putting one of those kit lenses on a 5D is going to be very disappointing.

[rogerwaskow]

Thanks for that insight. I only found out about the 5D as I want to do a photography course here at uni in Queensland Australia and they require a minimum of 5D. So I am saving up madly for that but in the interim want to use the D600 as well as the D350 which my wife will use. Thats was what my question was about as she will use the D600 when I get my full frame one. I still have heaps to learn as reading here I am just a baby beginner at photography. You say the lense is a kit lense. What would you recommend as a zoom as I read that a lot of pros run around with a 18-135 zoom lens.

[rogerwaskow]

Hi

I generally am going for the lot till I find what I am good at. In my film camera days I was good at nature shots as I lived in Namibia in Etosha game reserve and later in the Skeleton Coast Park on the coast which is a huge wildeness area. So I was lucky to have the best.

[Hillbillygirl]

Thanks for that insight. I only found out about the 5D as I want to do a photography course here at uni in Queensland Australia and they require a minimum of 5D. So I am saving up madly for that but in the interim want to use the D600 as well as the D350 which my wife will use. Thats was what my question was about as she will use the D600 when I get my full frame one. I still have heaps to learn as reading here I am just a baby beginner at photography. You say the lense is a kit lense. What would you recommend as a zoom as I read that a lot of pros run around with a 18-135 zoom lens.

The 18-135 is another EF-S lens, meaning it would be useless on a FF body. If you want the best bang for the buck, and an excellent walk-around lens, then the Canon 24-105 F4L is really hard to beat. Has a nice range, is good and sharp with nice contrast, and can be had fairly cheap used, as it was a kit lens with the 5D MkII body for a couple years. I know it is still up there in price range, but as was suggested. Spend money on glass now before investing in expensive bodies, as bodies are throwaways, (financially), every 2-3 years, but glass will last you a lifetime if cared for correctly.

[Iguanasan]

This may be just me but unless that course is absolutely amazing and/or part of a degree program I'd shop around for instruction elsewhere. Any course that REQUIRES you to use a Canon 5D camera seems a bit off centre to me. There are tons of free resources on the internet not to mention a great crew of people here on the forum that can help you do some amazing and wonderful photography with that D600 you already have.

[Marko]

I'm with Iggy that requiring you to use a Canon 5D (Did they really say no other brands of camera are acceptable? ) or better is very very odd.....that said many many schools/Universities have very odd policies and 'odd' is a nice word here. Synonyms like inane, and ridiculous are more appropriate. Sometimes their policies are not based in reality. Sometimes the people setting up the courses know less than zero and they hire people that suck or whose skills are limited at best.

Sometimes the courses they offer for good money use OLD and outdated software....

Not sure if this is a single course or a program.......if it's a single course...you may want to shop around.

If you are a true baby photographer - I recommend the 50mm 1.8 to start. It's an awesome inexpensive, FAST lens that will still be useful to you years from now.

Good luck.

[Runmonty]

Just following up Iggy's & Marko's comments -there is a list & summary of courses available in this month's (August) Australian Photography magazine (including several in Qld).