New to lenses

[Xain]

I have a rebel t6i with, I believe the lenses is a 55mm, I have a small telephoto and a wide angle lens as well. I actually have a couple questions...

1. My kit came with a couple rings I can screw onto the lens, but I'm not sure what they're for. They're just regular rings with no lenses in them, so what are they supposed to be used for? Think they came with the wide and telephoto lenses, but I can't seem to use them all together, not literally together, but I can't put the ring on with the telephoto and same with the wife angle.

2. What is a good zoom/telephoto lens for taking pictures of the moon but on a budget? I'm not looking to spend hundreds for top of the line or anything.

[Waddizzle]

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@Xain wrote:
I have a rebel t6i with, I believe the lenses is a 55mm, I have a small telephoto and a wide angle lens as well. I actually have a couple questions...

1. My kit came with a couple rings I can screw onto the lens, but I'm not sure what they're for. They're just regular rings with no lenses in them, so what are they supposed to be used for? Think they came with the wide and telephoto lenses, but I can't seem to use them all together, not literally together, but I can't put the ring on with the telephoto and same with the wife angle.

2. What is a good zoom/telephoto lens for taking pictures of the moon but on a budget? I'm not looking to spend hundreds for top of the line or anything.

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You should have also recieved a software CD with the camera, too.

1.  Ask the vendor who sold you the kit what they are.  If the "rings" were fairly thin and had glass elements, and screwed onto the front of the lens, by using the threaded connection, I would have said they were filters.  If they fit between the lens and the camera, then they could be macro extension tubes.

2.  What is the model number of the lenses that came with your kit?  You may already have what you need.  The 70-300mm and 55-250mm zoom lenses could work.  But, you may also want to use the Canon Digital Photo Professional software application to process the RAW images from the camera.

[Xain]

I think they are macro rings. They just screw onto the lens but I can't screw anything onto the ring. I only got one zoom lens, I believe it's a zoom anyway, and that only goes to 55mm. The telephoto that came with it I think it's only a 2.5 or something small along those lines.

[diverhank]

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@Xain wrote:
I think they are macro rings. They just screw onto the lens but I can't screw anything onto the ring. I only got one zoom lens, I believe it's a zoom anyway, and that only goes to 55mm. The telephoto that came with it I think it's only a 2.5 or something small along those lines.

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From what you described, these appear to be, like you said, macro rings - official name is extension tubes. Extension tube(s) go between the camera and the lens (One end of the tube attaches to your lens and the other attached to the camera).  You can stack multiple tubes.

What this does is allowing you to (auto) focus closer to the subject than without.  The penalty is that, with the extension tube, you no longer can focus at infinity, which is not a problem if you are interested in taking pictures of objects closed in.

[Waddizzle]

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@Xain wrote:
I think they are macro rings. They just screw onto the lens but I can't screw anything onto the ring. I only got one zoom lens, I believe it's a zoom anyway, and that only goes to 55mm. The telephoto that came with it I think it's only a 2.5 or something small along those lines.

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I suspect that they are "extension tubes", which can be used to dabble in macro photography.  Here's a link to the Canon Online Refurbished Store.

https://shop.usa.canon.com/shop/en/catalog/lenses-flashes/refurbished-lenses#   

I think it is one of the best kept secrets on where to buy Canon gear for those on a tight budget.  All of the gear comes with the same one year warranty as new items.  I have bought several lenses for myself and my sons, and they perform perfectly.  

As to your budget telephoto lens for shooting Moon pictures, I would suggest one of the EF-S 55-250mm lenses.  They are a newer generation of lenses, and much sharper than the EF 75-300mm lenses.

There is more to taking photos of the Moon than simply pointing the camera at the Moon, and taking a snapshot.  I take all of my Moon photos from a tripod.  At telephoto focal lengths, the least amount of camera shake, due to handholding the camera, will result in a blurry photo.  Even the vibrations from the mirror movement can blur some shots.

Because of the high contrast between the Moon and night sky, the camera is easily fooled into setting an exposure that washes out the details on the Moon's surface.  You will need to both focus and set exposure manually to get the best looking shots.

[ebiggs1]

Xain,

It sounds like you bought one of the camera kits from a place like Amazon.  If that guess is correct, the 'extras' that came with the excellent T6i are junk.  Extension rings do not screw on to the lens.  They mount on the camera and than the lens is mounted on to them. So, I doubt it is extension rings.  If my guess is correct, I would return the kit if possible.  Then buy the camera from a real camera outlet like Best Buy, B&H, Adorama, Roberts, etc.

Unfortunately taking Moon shots like the one shown is not cheap.  A 250mm lens or anything with less focal length just won't do the job. If you want what was shown.  The minimum focal length is more than 400mm and 600mm is not too unreasonable as a minimum.

Too many folks get sucked into those so called kits from big mass retailers. 

[Xain]

It was an Amazon order, I forget who the seller was though. I found out how to use the manual settings just enough to get a decent moon shot, not like the one above, but I got a fairly detailed one with the 55mm lens if you zoom in on the photo. When I get time, I'll try and upload a picture of the rings if it'll help. When I look on Amazon for more accessories, I am looking for Canon as the seller just so I know it's the right thing. I'll also look into what the cheapest, but good, lens between the 400mm and 600mm lenses.

[ebiggs1]

Easy your choices are;

Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary Lens for Canon EF at a grand

Tamron SP 150-600mm f/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 for Canon EF at $1400

Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM Lens at two grand plus a 1.4x extender if want more than 400mm at additional $450

Ther are some good primes too.  Don't count them out.

Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L USM Lens at $1100

These are just a few examples of good lenses. There are others and you may find them refurbed or used at better prices. 

There are some very cheap lenses like the Opteka 500mm f/8 High Definition Preset Telephoto Lens for Canon which might work as a last resort.  They are in the $100 dollar range and completely manual. They are cheap in every sense of the word but they work!

[Waddizzle]

The above photo of the Moon was shot with a Rebel T5 and a Sigma 150-600mm "C" lens, at 600mm.  The shot was not manually focused.  I used One Shot mode, and Live View, for that particular shot.  1/100 sec, f/11, ISO 100.  Camera was set for M, manual mode.

[Mr_Fusion]

If you live in a large enough city, you may be able to find a good camera store. Most stores do carry checked used equipment for a good deal less than new. That works out well especially when you consider that you may only use this lens part time. The bonus in a camera store is the staff usually are very knowledgeable and can help answer many of your questions. it might cost a little more but you are much more likely to end up happy.

The one suggestion only touched on above is to get a tripod. And don't get a cheap one or short one. It should be sturdy with minimum flex, extend to at least 65", be rated for several pounds, and preferably have a quick release. A bonus is to have a weight hook under the column. Again, if you can find a camera store they can help, especially if you don't know what you need.