Good zoom lens for 60d

[Donnawr]

60D

[Skirball]

Well, if your limit is $2000 then you just opened yourself up to endless nights of not sleeping because you can't decide which telephoto to get.  Hah!  Welcome to the club.

But you said good zoom, the super zooms are good.  The Canon L series telephotos are great, but they're not cheap.  If 400mm is your minimum focal length then these are your basic choices:

100-400mm: Solid zoom, but kinda big.  Great Range.

400mm f/5.6: No zoom, obviously.  Good IQ, better than 100-400.  No image stabilization.  Thinner and lighter.

70-200 f/2.8 with 2X extender:  the old 70-200 with extender isn't going to give you as good of IQ, but the new 70-200 looks pretty **bleep** good even with a 2X.  It's gonna weigh and cost much more than the previous options, but here's the kicker, without the extender you have phenominal IQ throughout 70-200. 

Decisions, decisions... 

or the 400 f/5.6.    If you're ok using extenders then you could get a 70 - 200 and a 2X extender.  Now here's where you're really going to have trouble deciding.  The 100-400 and 400mm prime are going to peform much better than the old 70-200 with a 2X, bu

[cicopo]

Everything's a compromise unless you have an unlimited budget. Since I happen to shoot superzooms way more often than anything elso they can be a good choice but the really good ones are HEAVY I've owned & shot the Sigma 18-200 and the OS version too along with the Tamron 18-270 VC and currently shoot both the older Canon 35-350 L and the current 28-300 L IS. The 28-300 L IS is noticibly heavier than the 35-350 & both get heavy quickly if you're out & about. I'll be shooting an event this weekend with one or the other on 1 body & the 100-400 on another & will be on the flight line at least 6 hours per day with that load.

If you have any questions about any of the above lenses I will do my best to answer them.

[cicopo]

Just an FYI re the idea of going the 70-200 PLUS TC there's a discussion comparing the 70-200's against the 70-300 L IS here.

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1215992

I followed it for a while but I'm not up to date & won't offer an opinion.

[amfoto1]

For landscape...

Canon 10-22mm, Tokina 12-24/4, Tokina 11-16, Sigma 10-20 (two versions), Sigma 8-16, Tamron 10-24.

For general purpose, walk-around, including some landscape....

Canon 17-55, Canon 15-85, Tamron 17-50 (non-VC version, it's cheaper and sharper), Sigma 17-50

For wildlife...

Canon 100-400, Sigma 120-400, Sigma 150-500.  (70-200 is usually not long enough for wildlife.... 300mm comes up short sometimes, too)

[Bill-Emmett]

Wow, being "pretty new' to this is really an understatement.  Shooting wildlife is probably the most expensive subject in photography.  All the lenses will cost a pretty penny.  I think you should look at something like a Tamron 200-500mm, or a Sigma of the same size, but look at ebay and buy used.  The suggestion for you to look at a Canon EF 70-200mm f4, or f2.8 L with IS USM plus a 2X entender is good, but beware sinking about $2400 in lenses is pretty steep for a novice.   Canon makes some good EF-S lenses in the 70-300mm range, that cost only $649.00.  Tamron, and Sigma also make a quality lens for the 60d in those type of ranges.  You may want to look at IS, VC, OC, these are the letter for Image stabilization for the 3 lens makers.  IS does make any lens more expensive, but it takes the guess work out when shooting bird in flight (BIF).  Should you buy a non IS lens, you will have to learn to shoot at high ISO, shutter speed, and watch your exposure.  For shooting small animals, like squirrels, rabbits, you can use less of a lens.  But, for shooting grizzly bears, you will need a really long lens.  Something like a Canon EF 800 f5.6L USM, just so you don't have to get to close.  Actually, you can rent almost any lens you may want for a week or two, and try it out.  Look at "www.lensrental.com"

[Donnawr]

Thx so much. Very helpful

[Donnawr]

Thanks so much. Very useful info

[Donnawr]

Thanks for the info. Will f/u with the discussion link

[Donnawr]

Using extenders is very new to me. Haven't used that so not sure if it would help as I've read ( and taken short 5 wk photo class) that you loose the f number-which confuses me ?? Thx for your input

[Bill-Emmett]

Hello again, Extenders will place more glass between the actual lens, and the camera sensor. The more glass add to a lens, consumes light. This mean if you have a f4 lens, a extender will reduce the amount of light to the sensor by 2 full f stops. This is like reducing your aperture to f6. (making a smaller aperture allowing less light to the sensor) The extender does magnify the output of the lens. Because the the extender reduces the light, it can also not allow the lens to focus due to lack of contrast and electronic connections to the camera body.
Also, you must be careful about which extener you buy. Canon extenders are not compatible with all lenses. Canon extender have a lens protruding into the lenses back element. If you use it on a non-compatible lens it may damage the lens. This is true even with Canon lenses. So make sure you buy compatible products.