Today I'm gonna talk about a subject you might find really interesting. In the past years, I've been buying lenses and selling them. SLR Lenses are a great way to find what range of your camera you use and like most.
But as most of you, I spent dollars that I could've saved. First because at first I did have a cheap zoom and I decided to buy a slightly better zoom to replace this one, thinking the pictures would be a lot better suddently. At my great regret, I learnt that even though a lens cost more, it doesn't mean it is better - or even as good.
So I started reading review on sites such as
The Digital Picture Reviews (Canon-only)
Fred Miranda Reviews
Ken Rockwell Reviews
Wow! So much choice! I heard all over the internet that "L" lenses were THE lenses to get, so I thought let's go with the EF 70-200 f4L lens. But at that time I had a 30D (crop factor of 1.6) so in fact that lens became a 112-320.
Here's what I thought:
- A bit too long for most of my needs (especially on crop bodies) - I don't do nature shots.
- The f4 aperture was great outdoors, but indoors it was too dark.
- The quality of the image was great though, so I figured I'd keep it for a while (now sold)
- I was addicted to L lenses and couldn't go back
- Try to find what you PLAN to do with your lenses. In my case it was indoor/outdoor portraits.
- I may need a Full Frame camera because ISO performance is better in low light and my 50mm will really become a 50, not a 85 or so.
Try to skip the zoom lenses, and go prime. ie: 135mm F2.0L & 35mm f1.4L. This is a great kit, if you only need one of the two, go with the 35 or consider investing in the 85mm 1.2L.
For outdoors-only shooting, your needs are MUCH less restrained and just look at the recommendations on the site I mentionned above.
Thanks for reading!
