Camera Question

[disney_magic]

I just bought a new SLR camera for our trip and I have to purchase a lens to go along with it. I was wondering if anyone had recommendations on which lenses are the best. I was thinking about buying a 18mm-200mm lens, but I'm not sure if that's the best choice.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

 

[Tancread]

There isn't really a single best lens for all situations. An 18mm to 200mm is a good choice if you only want to carry one lens, but you won't find it perfect for every situation. I would suggest you check some of the review sites out on the web and see which lens are rated best for your camera. Zooms with a huge range tend to be better at one end of the zoom or the other. They sometimes aren't very sharp in some areas of their range and can introduce aberations around the edges of some photos. Also for a Disney trip I would think about a polarizing filter, it will really bring out the blue in the Florida sky. What type of camera did you get?

 

[WillCAD]

When I bought my SLR, I bought a kit that came with a Sigma 28-80 lens and took some of the best pictures of WDW I've ever seen. But the zoom just wasn't long enough, especially at AK where you can be farther from the animals, so after a year I bought a Sigma 28-200 Hyperzoom Macro.

I've had that lens for 5 years now, and I seriously doubt that I will ever need to buy another lens, unless I get a digital SLR. The Sigma brand has been great; the lens takes sharp, clear, stunning pics, and after 4 years the auto-focus mechanism broke, and Sigma repaired it, good as new, for about $40.

The range of zoom is also fabulous. 28mm is perfect for those great big wide shots you need in places lik Epcot and Downtown Disney and the resorts, while 200mm is a long enough zoom to get beautiful shots of the animals at AK and AKL. The lens also has a macro feature that lets me shoot very close to small objects.

Most telling is the fact that I get almost no barrel distortion at 28mm. Barrel distortion is the "fish-eye" effect where straight lines like buildings and sidewalks bend around the outer edges of the image (my digital does this a lot). But my Sigma has no barrel distortion at all.

Carrying a 28-200 gives you such a wide zoom range that you will not need to carry more than one lens around all day. This is especially important in the WDW parks, where every ounce you carry feels like a ton by the end of the day.

There are better 28-200 lenses out there from Tamron and Tokina, but I love my Sigma, both for its quality and for its low price - it cost me $200, whereas some 28-200 lenses can be $300-$500.

I highly recommend getting a 28-200. It's the only lens you will ever need.

 

[Aliki]

I got a Quantaray 28-200mm lens for my SLR. Love it. It's handy if you don't want to lug around lots of lenses and gives you enough flexibility to take the "long shots" as well as the "close ups". It cost me around $200-400 if I remember correctly.

 

[bytheblood]

I just bought a new SLR camera for our trip and I have to purchase a lens to go along with it. I was wondering if anyone had recommendations on which lenses are the best. I was thinking about buying a 18mm-200mm lens, but I'm not sure if that's the best choice.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

What kind of camera do you have?

 

[Servants of Evan]

As someone who long, long ago sold camera equipment at a decent quality location, I approach this one a bit jaded. (Hey, it put me through college, okay?) Personally, I don't like what happens when you combine a wide angle lens with a middle range telephoto. I tend to notice the curving of the edges (my hobby was architectural photos) where a straight line would bow at the ends. I personally own a 21mm, 28mm, 35, 50, 120, 400, 1000, and a few zooms in the 80-200 range including a f1.6 (can you say "big hunk of glass?"). With that being said, the lens which is on my camera 85% of the time is a Tameron 35-80mm with an incredible macro. I LOVE THIS LENS! From being able to shoot detail work from 4" away to shooting landscapes, this baby does it all for me.

If you're shopping where you can actually mount and try the lens on your camera -- put a lens on, focus, and then change the zoom without changing the focal point. Do you need to refocus? If so, pass on the lens. My 35-80 Tameron is just so sweet, I almost can't stand it.

Servants of Evan

 

[WillCAD]

As someone who long, long ago sold camera equipment at a decent quality location, I approach this one a bit jaded. (Hey, it put me through college, okay?) Personally, I don't like what happens when you combine a wide angle lens with a middle range telephoto. I tend to notice the curving of the edges (my hobby was architectural photos) where a straight line would bow at the ends. I personally own a 21mm, 28mm, 35, 50, 120, 400, 1000, and a few zooms in the 80-200 range including a f1.6 (can you say "big hunk of glass?"). With that being said, the lens which is on my camera 85% of the time is a Tameron 35-80mm with an incredible macro. I LOVE THIS LENS! From being able to shoot detail work from 4" away to shooting landscapes, this baby does it all for me.

If you're shopping where you can actually mount and try the lens on your camera -- put a lens on, focus, and then change the zoom without changing the focal point. Do you need to refocus? If so, pass on the lens. My 35-80 Tameron is just so sweet, I almost can't stand it.

Servants of Evan

That "curving of the edges" you describe is called barrel distortion. It happens at the wide angles in lenses which have to much of a range of zoom, such as 28-200.

However, barrel distortion can be eliminated by tweaking the glass elements in the lens, which many of the modern manufacturers have done. My Sigma 28-200 has no barrel distortion through it's entire zoom range.

My Fuji S602 digital, however, does have barrel distortion at the wide angle, which makes all the straight lines around the edges of the image curve inward. Unfortunately, the S602 is not an SLR, it's got a fixed lens equivelent to 35-200mm, so there's nothing I can do about the barrel distortion. But it takes great pics in every other respect.

 

[JeepOnRock]

That "curving of the edges" you describe is called barrel distortion. It happens at the wide angles in lenses which have to much of a range of zoom, such as 28-200.

However, barrel distortion can be eliminated by tweaking the glass elements in the lens, which many of the modern manufacturers have done. My Sigma 28-200 has no barrel distortion through it's entire zoom range.

My Fuji S602 digital, however, does have barrel distortion at the wide angle, which makes all the straight lines around the edges of the image curve inward. Unfortunately, the S602 is not an SLR, it's got a fixed lens equivelent to 35-200mm, so there's nothing I can do about the barrel distortion. But it takes great pics in every other respect.

When the lines bow in, that is called pin-cushion distortion. A combination of pin-cushion and barrell distortion are what lens manufacturers always have to fight with ultra zoom lenses (28-200, 28-300, 18-200, etc.). Personally, I'm not a fan of that type of lens, but I'm a glutton for punishment. You will ALWAYS get better optical performance from lenses with less range, assuming similar level of quality. You would be better off optically with a 17-35, 28-105, and 70-300 than with a 28 or 18 -300. However, if you don't notice the difference, or if your subjects aren't as critical of straight lines (people instead of architecture), don't want to carry three lenses, etc. then the ultra-zoom might be a better choice.

I used to manage a camera store, and was a commercial photog prior.

 

[MissionMouse]

I skimmed the earlier responses but no one even mentioned the ' f ' stop of a camera lenses.

Buying zoom lenses is typically very economical but quality does matter. Lower quality zoom lenses will have a sliding f stop associated with it. For the average recreational photographer this will typically mean the lenses are outdoor lenses I might be an f3.5-4.5. A quality zoom will have one f-stop and if you are looking to shoot indoors you need to look for an f2.8 or faster (down to f1.4).

You might also be concerned about the focus capabilities of the lense too. Some have motors in them while others rely on the camera...this does make a difference in the speed of the lense to focus. Vibration reduction features also assist in taking excellent photos too.

If you are looking for one lense, then I would recommend one ranging from 20-100mm. This includes wide angle, standard, and portrait while maintaining/obtaining a quality lense. You can get some really bad lenses that stretch from 20-200mm and I would rate the barrels to be the bottom for quality. Think about adding a telephoto later once you worked with your camera awhile and understand a little more what you want and like to shoot. Worry about taking a quality, high resolution photo which you can crop providing you the telephoto effect if you don't own one.