Lik

People always recommend others to buy a 50mm prime lense. However, the advice is only well placed if the person has a real and strong interest in pursuing photography. Most people that I know who took this advice ended up never using the 50mm because of prime lens' impracticality, and the lens ends up being a paperweight, collecting dust.

Depending on much you are willing to pay for image quality, I'd say the following are useful, practical, and safe bets:

small budget, decent image quality:
- Canon 18-135mm IS
- Canon 18-200mm IS

bigger budget, good image quality:
- Canon 15-85mm IS

Other lenses from Sigma, Tamron, etc. might be good lenses as well, and they'll be cheaper than the Canon ones, but I am not familiar with them, so I can't make any comments about them.

-Lik

Lik

It all comes down to how you intend to use the camera, and how much you're willing to shell out for that usage. There are tons of people who don't care about switching lenses at all -- that is why general purpose walkaround lenses such as 15-85, 17-85, 18-135, and 18-200 are made (and more importantly, why they are so popular). At the same time, not everyone care about absolute image quality. If they do, the only lenses Canon would see are 17-55 F/2.8 IS and the various L-lenses.

Realistically and specifically, how much is the OP looking to spend? If purchased locally, even the 18-135 is a ~$600+tax lens. The 18-200 is ~$750+tax, and the 15-85 is ~$1000. They are cheaper if you buy from the States (BH Photo is a good place), but at the end of the day, lenses are NOT cheap.

Also, how many lenses and how much gear do you want to bring when you head out? If you intend to haul your LowePro backpack with full gear every single time you shoot, more power to you and I admire your dedication. The majority of casual photographers that I know, however, only wants to carry the minimal amount of stuff.

-Lik

Lik

err....
totally not recommending these lenses
especially the 18-135 and 18-200.........
嘉嘉 發表於 2011-1-1 13:50

Hmm... looking at this again, it's interesting to see how you are recommending against the 15-85 in addition to the other two. By all indications, IQ for the 15-85 is top notch except for a bit of vignetting at the wide end. But vignetting is difficult to avoid at the wide end, and easily corrected in any sort of post-processing.

I don't want to say too much la, and I certainly don't want to sound like a broken record and repeat myself.

-Lik

p.s. If the OP is interested in buying used, the Broadway Camera forum is also a good alternative to CL for used camera equipment.