Just bought a Canon T7

[snapshots]

Hi all,

I just purchased a starter camera. (Canon T7)  It has two lenses that came with.  The 18mm-55mm which has IS, and a 70mm-300 that does not.  I like to take senic landscape photos, nature, and just about anything that catches my eye.  What would be the next logical lens for me to buy as an upgrade?  I was looking at two lenses.  One is the 18mm-135mm the other is the 70mm-300m with IS.  Do you think they are decent choices?  Is there another lens I should look at?  Keep in mind I am on a budget of about $500.  Thanks so much for reading.

Earl

[RobertTheFat]

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@snapshots wrote:
Hi, I am very to new to this. So I have not really edited any photos other basic cropping and such. I did download DPP4. It looks pretty complicated. don't you have to photos in Raw mode to use that?

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DPP4 can be used to edit JPEG files. but JPEGs are, by their nature, less editable than RAWs. Heed Ernie Biggs's advice and shoot in RAW. Once you get the hang of it, it's much easier to edit a RAW file than a JPEG.

[snapshots]

Thank you. there two choices for shooting Raw on my camera. Raw and Raw+ a symbol that looks almost like an AL Right now I have it set on AL, again I know it's not an A

[ebiggs1]

"Raw and Raw+ a symbol that looks almost like an AL ..."

All you need is Raw. Nothing more.

[ebiggs1]

Neither kit lens represents Canon's best efforts.  ... I would be inclined to hang onto them for now."

Some good points here.  Your current lenses aren't worth much on the used market so you might as well hang onto them.  However, ever little bit helps so it is another, it's your decision time again

Another good point I always recommend.

"Buying one great lens is always less costly than buying two pretty good lenses,..."

"You would want a super zoom for wildlife photography, even if you go to a zoo!"

An old sayin', you can never have too much FL and no lens is too fast.

[kvbarkley]

"An old sayin', you can never have too much FL and no lens is too fast."

Which goes along with the other old saying:  "Anything more than 500 yards from the car just isn't photogenic" - Edward Weston

[snapshots]

Thank you so much for the advice. I really appreciate it.

[ebiggs1]

"Someone mentioned investing in a tripod."

I would put this way down on your list of gear to get. Not that you will never need one you just don't need a tripod yet.

[snapshots]

Well...I am so new at this that I don't really know the best way to invest in this hobby, but I already did get a tripod when I bought the camera. It's a manfrotto. About 80 bucks I think. Probably not a real good one

[Waddizzle]

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@snapshots wrote:
Well...I am so new at this that I don't really know the best way to invest in this hobby, but I already did get a tripod when I bought the camera. It's a manfrotto. About 80 bucks I think. Probably not a real good one

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Manfrotto is a top notch brand.  Not all of their tripods are top shelf, though.  Hang on to it, just the same.

[ebiggs1]

"They contain links to two video series aimed at absolute beginners."

I never tell beginners to not watch videos and use Youtube but I find a lot of the time they cause a beginner to over think a simple situation. Like using X mode and fiddling with settings, changing this and that, when P mode would work just fine. I really do like having a beginner tag along with someone that knows photography or take a course where someone is explaining stuff.