I am ready to take the plunge! Canon Rebel XT

[geetey]

I want to thank EVERYONE for being so patient with me while I have been trying to make my digital camera purchase decision. I think the impeding arrival of the Canon S3 pushed my hand. I know I won't be happy with a camera that is being upgraded (S2) - it's a personal problem I have.

I am going with the Canon Rebel XT, but of course, I have more questions!

I have done some comparison shopping and have found the following...

This pricing is for
Canon Rebel XT black body only
Canon 28-135mm IS lense
wireless remote control

Buydig.com $1184.95 - but they are charging shipping? I can't get the $9.95 charge to drop off
Beach Camera $1183.95
B & H Photo $1188.05

those prices include any tax, and shipping. Will any of these retailers give a 'kit' price when I am putting together my own set?

Is this the best lense for me to start with? What other accessories should I get? I want to get a couple of 1g Sandisk Ultra II cards. I have several tripods from my film Rebel.

Again, thanks for your past help and I look forward to reading everyone's opinion!

 

[Kelly Grannell]

As I previously mentioned somewhere else. 28-135 is a "neither here nor there" lens. The wide is not wide enough, the zoom is not close enough.

 

[geetey]

Sorry, Kelly, I see where you posted that now. I missed it when I did my pricing. I priced out the Canon 28-135mm IS lense as well as the Canon 70-300mm IS USM lense. I thought I was selecing a good 'walkaround' lense.

Any suggestion for a good starting lense since I am going body only? The kit lense didn't seem to be worth the $$. I think I am heading back to my researching!

 

[mhutchinson]

I would tend to almost disagree on the 28-135mm (factored to a 44.8-216mm) being a neither here nor there range. Most of my 35mm film shooting use to be done with 50mm, 80mm, and 150mm prime lenses. This lens covers that range easily which makes it a very good walkaround lens (why it is almost always attached to my 20D), plus it takes really good pictures.

And true it is not quite as wide as you might like it to be on the bottom end, but there is always photostitch or you can add a 24mm prime (or even wider zoom say 17-35mm or 17-40mm) at some point.

On the higher end, if you find you wish you had something to shoot in a range you could add the 70-200mm L or 70-300mm IS USM in the future. This would give you good coverage everywhere with a solid overlap so you are not feeling as though you need to constantly swap out lenses.

Besides Canon does not make a single lens to cover the range , the closest would be a Sigma or Tamron at something like 18-200mm. Personally I would rather a couple lenses with a solid overlap of range.

Mike

 

[mhutchinson]

Terry,

Both of these sites should help help with your lens dilema. They will give you some opinions and spec data about the ones you might be curious about.

http://www.fredmiranda.com/reviews/index.php

and

http://www.photozone.de/8Reviews/index.html

Good luck.

Mike

 

[Kelly Grannell]

I would personally get 17-85 IS and 70-300 IS lenses.

Or if budget is a constraint, get Sigma 18-200 (non IS).