New camera - 400D. Suggest a lens?

arleitiss

I just got Canon 400D, I am sure many will say it's not a high end professional but well.. I am only at entry level, been using Samsung GX 1 so comparing to that this is great. I got only 18-55mm lens, I heard 50mm is a beast (great) is it? or any other recommendations?

partyatmygaff

A 50mm prime is always a good choice. That said, for a 400D, 35mm would be a better choice but i'm not sure if Canon have a cheap, decent 35mm prime like Nikon.

As for why people recommend 50mm and 35mm fixed prime lenses, if you don't already know, there are two main reasons

1. 50mm on a full frame or film camera is effectively equivalent to your own field of vision. 35mm on a cropped sensor camera (like the 400D and most sub €1000 DSLRs) is roughly the equivalent of 50mm on a full frame camera. Being able to walk around and frame shots in your mind before even bringing the camera up to your eye is pretty handy.

2. Fixed lenses tend to offer you bigger apertures than zoom lenses, often dropping down to as low as F1.4 or F1.8 (The lower the number, the bigger the aperture). This gives you a lot of flexibility when it comes to depth of field. You can stop it down when you need deep depth of field (say for taking a landscape) or shoot wide open to get very shallow depth of field (Blur the background and have only a certain "layer" in focus).

Aside from the 35/50mm prime (Which is a must have really), it's what you'll use your camera for that will decide the next step. If it's macro shots, get a macro lens. If you shoot landscapes, you'd do well getting an ultra wide angle like the Sigma 10-20MM. If you need extra reach, get a decent tele zoom lens. Then there are filters, flashguns and tripods and hundreds of other accessories you may or may not need depending on what you shoot.

TL;DR... get a 35mm or 50mm lens for now, actually take some photos and then decide where to go from there.

arleitiss

Oh forgot to add an important detail: I am into night photography, people said 50mm does the trick?

Corkbah

arleitiss wrote: »

Oh forgot to add an important detail: I am into night photography, people said 50mm does the trick?

sturdy tripod would be a recommendation before a 50mm and a remote release/intervelometer

Nerro

i dont know why is 40mm "pancake" always being overlooked?If i would need to decide between 50mm F1.8 and 40mm F2.8 i would get the 40mm anyday.
its much sharper, gives slightly bigger Fov and much better build.well it costs 100e more but still fairly cheap.and in my opinion better suited for crop.

dirtyghettokid

if you like night time photography, you would like something to get lots of sky in.. so maybe a 10-20mm?

spiderjazz

I picked up a Tamron 17-50 f2.8 non VC recently and it's barely left my camera, very versatile lens and great quality images from it. I have a 50 1.8 as well, and while the images are great from it, it's quite zoomed in for a walk around/general purpose lens. I picked the Tamron up on adverts for around 230 euro.

Alltherage

ASa follow on to the tripod/shutter release cable suggestions custom function 7 is the mirror lock on a 400d and if you're shooting in one of the auto modes you'll probably want to lower the exposure comp -1 stop or so, it tends to meter high in dark settings.

The 50 1.8 is something everybody will recommend as it's a wonderful lens at it's price point. Shoot with the kit lens for a while and see what focal length you find yourself taking your best shots at.

arleitiss

On my old camera, I used to put 30 seconds on shutter speed, set ISO to 200, set timer so when I click capture button camera shakes a bit but not waste 30 seconds of picture and captured.

As you can see, trails and night time looks okay, but quality is just absolute crap, hopefully with 400D it will be a bit better.

Corkbah

remote release cable ...or intervelometer should be next purchase in my opinion...and some learning about noise reduction techniques etc

arleitiss

Tried making a V2 retake of M50 on old camera. This is using new camera:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/arleitiss/8685277070/in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/arleitiss/8684159049/in/photostream

Alltherage

So much nicer in the black.

Alanstrainor

I bought a 50mm f1.8 for my 350d years ago and to this day it gets little use. 50mm on a crop sensor is just too much. I have a sigma 30mm f1.4 and i honestly cant get enough. Its been on my 60D for months now. Love everything i can do with it.

condra

arleitiss wrote: »

I just got Canon 400D, I am sure many will say it's not a high end professional but well.. I am only at entry level...

400d is plenty capable, as you can see from your new photos. Anyway considering you like wide scenic stuff, a wide lens in the 15-30 range would be about right.

amdgilmore

If your budget allows, get the Tamron 17-50 Non VC and the 50mm.

The 50 is good to have but is very, very limiting because of the narrow field of view. Once you get over the whole 'bokeh' fascination, you'll find yourself using the 50 less and less. I just use it on an old film camera these days.

If I were starting out today, and could only buy one, I would buy the Tamron instead of the 50mm.