Best Budget Zoom Lenses

[jasusu]

I’m about to buy myself my first camera, and I’m going with the r8, however, other than the 50mm 1.8 im not sure what to start off with, is there a cheap lens I should go with? I heard about the 24-240 being decent but wanted to hear from people and see what y’all think I just need something affordable so I can save up for nicer stuff going forward..

[justadude]

"The excellence of in-camera metering and the editing power of Lightroom and Photoshop has pretty rendered the esoterica of the exposure triangle useless."

You are correct that the exposure triangle is useless for digital photographers who don't care to know the tech aspects, they just want the camera to do all of the work.  However, I think it's still nice to have a basic understanding of what the camera is doing and why.  Knowing the exposure triangle helps those who steer away from auto modes, and are a bit confused at first on "why does adjusting this affect that?"

On a related note... A surprising number of people are either going back to film, or are discovering it for the first time.  Those that are new to film can be somewhat lost because their digital gear did all the thinking for them.  Granted, there are fully automatic film cameras that eliminate the need for knowing it, but I know I'm not the only one who prefers full manual film cameras.  While most people who want to jump into film for the first time do know what I'm talking about when I mention the exposure triangle, I still get the "deer in the headlights" look from quite a few.

I had to laugh about your 50mm comment because it's so true.  I remember buying a Pentax K2 DMD 35mm camera around 1980 from a local camera store.  The sales person was pretty insistent that I needed a 50mm lens, even though I wanted a 28mm.  He told me that I was the only person to not buy the 50mm with this camera, and I would be back within a week.  I never did.  However, buying used 35mm cameras these days, they all seem to come with a 50mm lens (why???).  I currently have four of them with the K-mount or M-42 mount, and only occasionally use one.  

[LeeP]

While manual can help in tricky lighting situations, the "I must use manual" in another massive load of nonsense that people say who own a camera and think that makes them a photographer.

A colleague of mine--a professional photographer and instructor--says "Owning a Nikon does not make you a photographer; it makes you a Nikon owner."

When I am teaching, priority one is composition, Then--and only when--basic composition awareness is in place do I start going into tricky lighting, but instead of hopping to manual, we investigate exposure bias controls. And exposure bias will solve nearly all of the issues.

As a teenager, my first camera was a Pentax ME and--not knowing better--I got the 50mm. In that day zooms were nearly non-existent. In the 80s I bought a Pentax Super Program with a 35-105 zoom and I still use it. When I jumped to Canon for autofocus--Pentax autofocus was Rube Goldberg so I jumped ship--I only bought zooms and have not regretted it. Now I am replacing EF zooms and RF glass and passing the EF zooms and my DSLR Canons to a friend who wants to get into photography. 

In addition to shooting with my digital Canons, I shoot with my Pentax ME (1977), my K1000 (1985), a K2, an MX, a Nikon F, a Mamiya RB67, and a 645. The K2, MX, and F were all acquired in the past year and all three came with the stupid 50mm lens.

[justadude]

"While manual can help in tricky lighting situations, the "I must use manual" in another massive load of nonsense that people say who own a camera and think that makes them a photographer."

There is a lot of that mindset... "I shoot manual, so I know that I am a good photographer!"  I usually think to myself "No... that simply means you understand how exposure works." lol

It's silly not to rely on various auto settings for general photography.  Some of the jobs I do I have one change to get it right.  For example, a race where runners are headed directly towards me while I'm in the finish line chute.  Manual would be insane taking 4,000 images that way... and probably mean I would never be hired again by the event organizer.  

However, a lot of the people I help out with learning different things with photography want to learn about my main shooting styles/subjects.  I shoot a lot of night skies, and I've been heavily into infrared photography for decades.  I have no choice but to make sure the photographers I'm helping with these fully understand manual settings.  You can do either of these types of photography with auto settings if you don't mind constantly over and under exposing by changing the compensation settings... but I find it so much easier to just shoot manual for things like this, especially with the infrared light that is next to impossible to read from one minute to the next (unlike visible light).  Some might call that nonsense to teach that way, but to each their own. 

[LeeP]

Night photography is an example of "technical" photography and hence there is "technique" involved, specifically manual, but this is a small subset of what constitutes photography. Have you played around with the infrared filters specifically for digital cameras? That is a world of fun, but again a bit esoteric.

[justadude]

Yes, on the infrared filters for digital (and heavily for their usage), but only for the past 22 years.  Before that (and still to this day) it was infrared film, both with, and without filters.  Typically my digital cameras have been non-converted and use either 720nm and 850nm lens filters.  But I have had four different digital cameras converted either to 590nm (for 2 of them) and full spectrum for the other two... most recently the R8 last year.  It is a niche, but it's quite shocking on how many new photographers are taking a strong interest in it.  It's also odd on how many of these prints I sell compared to my other work.  

Only if you are curious... small sampling of some of my infrared work.  It's fairly disorganized, but this will show what I do with digital infrared.  https://500px.com/p/garysyrba/galleries/infrared 

[LeeP]

The 720nm filter is a lot of fun. I don't plan to convert any of my mirrorless cameras. I put them into monochrome when I'm using the 720nm and then edit the results.

[justadude]

The nice thing about conversion is that everything pretty much becomes hand held shutter speeds... except for nighttime infrared.

[LeeP]

What is the price point for conversion that you have found and whom did you use for the conversion? I've never looked into it.  Perhaps I'll sacrifice my R100 and level up by second-body camera.

[justadude]

I’ve found Kolari Vision not only is the best at conversion, their customer service is outstanding.  If you call with questions, you automatically have someone on the phone that is friendly, knowledgeable, and happy to help… both before and after the sale.  

I actually found how easy they go the extra mile just a few weeks ago.  My friend has one of their more expensive lens filters (around $200) that he has owned for close to a year.  While removing it from the lens, the inner ring somehow fell out, and the glass dropped and cracked.  He called to simply ask if there was anything he could do, thinking maybe he could just buy the glass element).  They didn’t even hesitate.  They sent him a new filter, no charge, and a return envelope so they could try to find out what went wrong with the old one.

[justadude]

I was on the Kolari Vision website looking for something, and I remembered you asked about pricing for your R100.  Right now there is a sale going on.  Normally $299, but currently $224 for the R100 for full spectrum.  Keep in mind at full spectrum you will need lens filters - but you can choose any wavelength you want.  If you get a fixed wavelength option, you will not need lens filters unless you want to go to a higher wavelength at times.  For example if you get a 720nm conversion you don't need filters for 720nm, but you can add one for 850nm (which is the best for high contrast B&W).  However you can't go lower than your conversion... meaning if your conversion is 720nm, you can't use 590nm filters.