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Really simple questions for someone purchasing his first DSLR Anonymous
I'm getting a cheap rebel xt used. I'm assuming I need some sort of lens or else it's utterly worthless. What the hell should I look for as someone who doesn't have any hands-on practical experience whatsoever with SLRs? What precisely does USM do? Would it be acceptable to work with a cheap kit lens until I know what the fuck I'm doing before even considering splurging on a better lens? I'd appreciate it if somebody had any good side-by-side sample images to compare lenses, or something.

Thanks 4chan.
>> Macheath
I'm also a DSLR newbie, with a RebelXT and cheapo Tamron lenses. You get what you pay for, but I think the ones that I have now are great for the price I paid. I plan on moving up to better Canon lenses probably around next year.

USM means ultrasonic motor; I believe that means the autofocus motor is faster and quieter.

I think you should say what your budget is and what you're interested in shooting.

Otherwise, http://fredmiranda.com has good reviews and some of them have sample images.
>> Anonymous
I use a rebel xt myself, and I ended up just getting the kit lens to learn with, and later grabbed a 100-300mm lens, as well as a 50mm f/1.8 one...

USM I believe stands for Ultrasonic Motor, meaning, If you have it set to auto focus, it will focus in very quickly, and silently. Other good thing about it is the lens itself won't expand or contract when you focus so if your doing some super close up stuff, you won't have to worry about the lens actually touching the object.

If you want something a bit better than the kit lens, the Canon EF 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 II, is pretty good.
And since I don't really know is the name looks intimidating or not, I'll break it down anyways.

Canon EF - The Brand and series of the lens, certain SLR's can only use lens's from certain series, so your usually going to want to make sure that the lens is compatible with the camera/
28-80mm - The Focal Length, the lower the number, the more stuff you can fit into a picture, the higher, the more zoomed in you are. If it's a range, like this, then it's a zoom lens, if it's just a single number, then it's a prime lens. Zoom's offer the utility of, well, zooming, while prime lens' offer slightly higher quality shots, though unless your going for absolutely professional shots, the difference won't be too big. Prime lens' also tend to be slightly faster, and cheaper.
f/3.5-5.6 The F-Stop/Aperture setting. The lower this number, the more wide open/Faster the lens is. A faster lens can be used at a lower shutter speed because the lens allows more light into the lens. When it's in a range like this, it's representing how open the lens is at both end of the zoom. So at 27mm, it would be 3.5, and at 80mm, it would be 5.6.

I'm pretty sure all this is correct, but I just started learning a couple months ago, and It would seem I've a long way to go.
>> Anonymous
Worth remembering that the XT and XTi have a focal multiplier of 1.6 for focal lengths (so the actual focal length(s) you get is 1.6 that of the lens). I'm not too sure about USM having anything to do with the lens not expanding or contracting, I think that may be more to do with the lens itself. Could be wrong too though :P
>> Anonymous
>>36476
My budget would be $700 AT MOST but I'd prefer the cheapest acceptable option as possible, of course. I'm including miscellaneous accessories in that budget as well. By accessories I mean (in order of highest-to-lowest priority) a stealthy camera bag that doesn't scream "HEY I HAVE A CAMERA PLEASE ROB ME BLIND OR ACCUSE ME OF TERRORISTIC SPYING SEXUAL VOYEURISM 9/11 JIHAD FBI NATO NUCLEAR ILLUMINATI SURVEILLANCE INFILTRATION", plentiful fast storage, an extra rechargable battery perhaps if a single one doesn't last long enough for one outing, and wireless remote release shutter control thing, whatever you call it.

I already have a tripod.
>> Anonymous
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>>36478
I double checked, and you seem to be correct, USM doesn't mean that it won't expand/contract as you focus, but it does seem that since USM lens' are generally a bit higher quality, they tend to be built so that focusing doesn't expand it.. a coincidence i guess.

This is the closest I can do for side by sides, and really, it's only showing what focal length differences, and the difference between a prime at 50mm, and a zoom at 50mm. (being that your also using a rebel XT, i left the focal lengths as they are on the exif data, but as the other guy said, multiply by 1.6 to get the 'real' focal length, aka, the 35mm equivalent.

most camera bags aren't that expensive, really, you can just get any bag that seems to fit the bill, and for memory, a 2 or 4gig compact flash card is pretty cheap, and should serve all your needs, and batteries are cheap too, so i wouldn't be too worried about it. The camera body seemed to be about 400$ on ebay, probably less if you find a good deal, and that would leave you with let's say, 250$ after getting a bag+memory.. Can probably get 2-3 lenses to learn with, or just get a zoom lens with a decent range ( 27-80, like i mentioned earlier, is probably a decent choice.)

Camera-Specific Properties:Camera SoftwareAdobe Photoshop CS2 WindowsImage-Specific Properties:Image OrientationTop, Left-HandHorizontal Resolution72 dpiVertical Resolution72 dpiImage Created2007:02:26 17:24:22Color Space InformationsRGBImage Width648Image Height2340
>> Anonymous
>>36477
>>36480

Correcting myself.. Twice I said 27-80mm.. My bad, I meant 28-80mm, Just in case ya tried to copy past it into ebay and wondered why nothing came up.
>> Anonymous
>>36476
Are Tamron lenses the current popular (amongst the internet) budget lenses right now? This is the second time I read a forum post about it.

>>36480
Why is the zoom lens at 50mm so much darker than the 50mm prime? Were you careful enough to keep the exposure time, ISO setting, f-stop and all that stuff identical? Or is the zoom lens just that much darker for some reason?

Also, how often are people replacing their camera bodies on average? I get the impression that lots of people replace their camera more often than they really need to. I intend to get lots of mileage out of my XT after it's been discontinued.
>> Anonymous
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>>36484
It was an error, but it actually serves a good purpose. The Zoom lens was at it's widest opening, which is f/5.6 (at 50mm) and the Prime was at f/4.0. Everything else was identical... Shows the usefulness of a prime in lower light situations. Primes are only slightly brighter/sharper and have slightly better contrast. The difference IS noticeable, but the image above is way off, my apologies.

New Pic with proper settings.

Camera-Specific Properties:Camera SoftwareAdobe Photoshop CS2 WindowsImage-Specific Properties:Image OrientationTop, Left-HandHorizontal Resolution72 dpiVertical Resolution72 dpiImage Created2007:02:26 18:52:15Color Space InformationsRGBImage Width753Image Height520
>> Macheath
>>36484

Tamron and Sigma (and Tokina to a lesser extent as far as I know) are the two popular third party lens brands.

I got my RebelXT, Tamron 28-80 f/3.5-5.6, Tamron 75-300 f/4-5.6, Tamron bag, 58mm filters (UV, circular polarizer and fluorescent), 62mm UV filter and 1gb CF card for about $700.

I'd encourage you to get the Canon 50mm f/1.8 prime though, so you have something for lowlight portraits. The two lenses I have are pretty slow. I'm buying the 50mm prime when I get the money for it.
>> Anonymous
one of my favorite lenses for the digital rebel is the 17-85mm usmf IS. Go for it
>> Anonymous
>>36549
"My budget would be $700 AT MOST but I'd prefer the cheapest acceptable option as possible, "
Yeah.. that lens alone is what? 500$.. add the camera and he's way over budget...