Should I replace my kit lens?

[Inglorion]

a few answers to the postings.

1. I think f/2.8 seems more impt than IS
2. I hate to change lens - cos' it's very inconvenient. I would like to carry as little as possible (as light as possible)
3. I agree - skills important

I got a used 28-85mm to test out - will post some pictures ( I tried to - but dunno how ... guess i need to upload to Flickr)

Will probably try to find out what's my problem

It seems that the EF 24mm-70mm F/2.8 is a strong candiate if the focal length fits and not too heavy for you.

 

[jsbn]

Thanks for sharing your experience - can you tell me which course you went ? I am seriously looking for some courses. Signed up Canon ...

No prob. Juz that I thought it would be important for one who had juz hopped into a investment worth a couple of thousand dollars to get the best bang for buck instead of catching the Buy-Buy-Buy virus.

I had the luck of meeting a lot of nice enthusiasts who were good enuff to teach me the relation between Shutter speed and aperture which is very important.

Subsequently I signed up for SLCC's Actual Day Wedding Course (they din have the beginner course initially). But its more of an intermediate class over a basic one. They do have basic classes as well.

Call them to check out the courses.
http://forums.clubsnap.org/showthread.php?t=149864

 

[honda]

You need a fast shutter speed to freeze the motion of kids. Either a fast prime like 35/2, 50/1.8 or something similar or a fast zoom with 2.8 aperture or use high iso.
http://singaporephoto.blogspot.com

 

[dundee]

I have a 300D with kit lens 18-55mm.

Bought a prime lens 55m f/1.8 and EF-S 55-200mm and a 380ex flash.

I thought of getting a 17mm-85mm lens to replace my kit lens ... will that make any difference to the pictures ? (I take family pictures and scenaries).

Or should I invest in 10-22mm lens to make the range complete ?

Or should I buy a 350D ? (Unlikely to buy 30D - too heavy for me to bring around)

Anybody who has replaced their kit lens with 17mm-85mm - pls let me know if it's the skill or the lens

Assuming my budget is about S$1.2K to buy either lens or upgrade body.

Welcome all advice

Go and get the 17-40L already. Your camera's fine

 

[silverapple]

thanks for advice ...

what about the 24-105mm L lens ? with IS and quite light at 650gram Seems to have pretty good reviews ... only drawback f/4.0.

hiaz ... lens is harder to choose than camera ... read in some reviews - some month of production have better quality.

cheers!

 

[Inglorion]

thanks for advice ...

what about the 24-105mm L lens ? with IS and quite light at 650gram Seems to have pretty good reviews ... only drawback f/4.0.

hiaz ... lens is harder to choose than camera ... read in some reviews - some month of production have better quality.

cheers!

If you have enough light the 24-70 F/2.8 will give you better bokeh. Since primes are out of the question for you, your factors now are the focal length, aperture needed and maybe the weight.

 

[Discreet]

What you should do is to post pictures of your blurry toddler photo so we can determine the softness is due to either one of the following:

1) Shutter speed too slow... your hand cannt hold the camera steady enough. In this case, either a faster lens (f2.8 or faster primes) or IS will help you
- this is called hand shake (1/focal length rule)
2) Shutter speed too slow... your subject is moving too fast and your shutter speed is not fast enought to stop motion. For people just standing around doing nothing, you need a shutter speed of like 1/50-1/125 to stop motion... to get toddlers, i think you need around 1/250 to 1/500... for high action sports.. you need faster than 1/1000...
3) Misfocusing... when you AFed your toddler, your camera did not focus correctly. the old rebel 300D does not have selectable AI Servo unless you are in the "sports" mode. And AI Servo works better with faster lens and USM ring motors... your kit lens is pretty slow and does not have a ring USM motor. Further more your camera AF is not really that up to speed.... and another thing to question, is your technique of focusing. Perhaps you were doing something wrong?
4) the lens is really spoilt... yes, it could be defective...
5) you mentioned some double image... i am guessing you were using flash and a shutter speed of like 1/5 to 1/50?... if your subject is moving and your hand shaked, you will induced some kind of shutter dragging effect at that kind of shutter speed resulting in a double image... the technical aspect behind this is a bit advanced but i just threw it in because i am suspecting that is what happened.

The point is this, we can never determine what is wrong with your situation and hence recommend whether you should replace your kit lens if you yourself have no idea what went wrong with your photos... my recommendation is that you first try to figure out what is going on with your photos.

If you are going to get a new lens without understand why the previous one was not performing to your standards, you might waste valuable $$$ on the wrong piece of equipment

 

[silverapple]

What you should do is to post pictures of your blurry toddler photo so we can determine the softness is due to either one of the following:

1) Shutter speed too slow... your hand cannt hold the camera steady enough. In this case, either a faster lens (f2.8 or faster primes) or IS will help you
- this is called hand shake (1/focal length rule)
2) Shutter speed too slow... your subject is moving too fast and your shutter speed is not fast enought to stop motion. For people just standing around doing nothing, you need a shutter speed of like 1/50-1/125 to stop motion... to get toddlers, i think you need around 1/250 to 1/500... for high action sports.. you need faster than 1/1000...
3) Misfocusing... when you AFed your toddler, your camera did not focus correctly. the old rebel 300D does not have selectable AI Servo unless you are in the "sports" mode. And AI Servo works better with faster lens and USM ring motors... your kit lens is pretty slow and does not have a ring USM motor. Further more your camera AF is not really that up to speed.... and another thing to question, is your technique of focusing. Perhaps you were doing something wrong?
4) the lens is really spoilt... yes, it could be defective...
5) you mentioned some double image... i am guessing you were using flash and a shutter speed of like 1/5 to 1/50?... if your subject is moving and your hand shaked, you will induced some kind of shutter dragging effect at that kind of shutter speed resulting in a double image... the technical aspect behind this is a bit advanced but i just threw it in because i am suspecting that is what happened.

The point is this, we can never determine what is wrong with your situation and hence recommend whether you should replace your kit lens if you yourself have no idea what went wrong with your photos... my recommendation is that you first try to figure out what is going on with your photos.

If you are going to get a new lens without understand why the previous one was not performing to your standards, you might waste valuable $$$ on the wrong piece of equipment

I tried too ... on the gallery but there was some limitations about size not exceeding 100K etc ... I gave up Probably will find another place to post photos.