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Canon 18-200mm zoom lense

jazzman1
Rising Star

I'm new here.  I have a Canon T3i.  Two kit lenses came with it in a bundle...18-55mm, 55-250mm.  I am considering getting the Canon 18-200mm.  Would the Canon 18-200mm be a good choice to replace both lenses, or are there better choices to replace them with and keep the 18-200mm also?

2 ACCEPTED SOLUTIONS

ebiggs1
Legend
Legend

I would not buy one for a few reasons.  One and formost, it is more difficult to make a zoom lens when the zoom range gets very extreme.  18 to 200 is a 11x range and very ambitious to say the least. Not solely in optics but in build quality, too. It will be in the same quality level as the two lenses you have so the only advantage is having just the one lens.  Is that what you require? The top benefit of a DSLR is the ability to have the right lens for the right job.  That usually involves several different lenses.  So you will be defeating that concept somewhat!

 

I would rather see you get a different level of lens for instance the Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM Lens.  Directly replacing your 18-55mm kit lens. Of course this is in case what you have is not working for you. But this move is into a better built, better optics and a little faster lens all of which can be very useful.  Make no mistake the Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM Lens is a very good lens and offers a constant aperture.  A super plus in my book.

 

Unfortunalely these lens upgrades are expensive and replacing the 55-250mm is going to be more so.

EB
EOS 1DX and 1D Mk IV and less lenses then before!

View solution in original post

Easy ones first!

The S in EF-S stands for short focus.  Any camera that can use a EF-S lens can use a EF lens, too.  A camera that is designed for EF lenses can only use EF, no S lenses.

 

The EF 50mm f1.4 is can be used on either EF or EF-S bodies.  It is not actually designed for either.  It is simply a 50mm f1.4 lens.  Either body no matter, it is still a 50mm lens.  It can not change that, however, on a crop body, a Rebel for instance, it will give the same perspective as a 80mm lens would on a full frame body.  Typically making it a pretty good portrait lens.

Now these are just numbers and of no real concern except to sorta guide you in a comparasion.  You choose the lens that works for your need.

 

You need to make the decision on whether you are going to remain with crop body sized camera or not.  You may wind up buying all your lenses over and that is not a good thing!  Is it?  I know lots of people that live with crop bodies all there lives and  know folks that only shoot FF.  There is not right or wrong.  It is what it is. Nothing more.  Lots of photographers even shoot both, believe it or not!

 

Now my personal feelings on a "do all lens".  For me there is none.  I always have at least two cameras and two lenses with me all the time.  A very strict rule I never broke..................until lately.  Another rule I will never break is to use any third party lens...............................until lately.  For the most part they were junk.  Oh sure if you lucked out and got a good one, it was pretty good, no doubt.  But very spotty and hit or miss.   Not for me!  But "lately" there has been a great change in third party lenses.  Especially at Sigma.  They make very high quality glass and they have improved their CS drasticly.  Tamron is close behind and getting better.  Forget the rest, Tokina and the others for now

 

Now back to that "do all" lens.  I did buy a Tamron SP 150-600mm f/5-6.3 Di VC USD.  Not quite a "do all" but it has a fair amount of zoom useage.  It turns out it is a nice lens and impossibile to beat for $1100 bucks.  Worthy of consideration by anyone.

 

What do I carry?  A EF 24-70mm f2.8 and a EF 70-200mm f2.8  Canon "L" lenses.  My goto and workhorse combo.  That is as good as it gets.  There is nothing better on the planet.

EB
EOS 1DX and 1D Mk IV and less lenses then before!

View solution in original post

182 REPLIES 182


@jazzman1 wrote:

BTW...Yes, those are the with and length number where your screeshop pointed to in my DPP program.  But changing the size changes the amount of pixels.  And the change you make is only shown in pixels, not inches, either more pixels or less.  .  We really need to get more in sinc with direction if I am to progress taking your instructions.  We have to make sure we're both plain in what we say, make sure we're on the same page.   Much harder to be clear in email, not like talking in person.


When you post a picture to the forum, you're given a choice of three or four sizes in which to have it displayed, the largest being the one that fits the available width. Once you make that choice, the size adjustment is made for you, so you might as well upload the largest image file the forum will allow. So pick a value (in pixels) for the long or short dimension and see if it gets accepted. If you get a message saying it's too big, try a smaller dimension, iterating until it goes through. Don't even think about inches, because then you can get bogged down in concerns about pixels per inch, etc. Pixels (and their impact on file size) are all that matters.

 

If you were having a picture printed, you might care about pixels per inch, in order to match the resolution of the image to that of the printer. But printing isn't what's going on here, so you're better off ignoring inches altogether.

Bob
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA

Thanks Bob, as usual, you're johnny on the spot.   Thanks my friend, I did exactly what you suggest.   The setting in DPP is shown in inches as Biggs suggested, but once one changes those measurements, the measurement diverts to pixels.  And as you say, I went through trail and error changing the pexel count untill I found a numbe rthat would fit on the site.  I started out with over 5,000 pexels, and came down to 950 that was small enough for all my pics to meet the canon site requirement.  I'm fine now, and am doing all my pics in RAW.  I'm learning DPP pretty well also and am making alot of edit improvements with my pics.  It's not as comprehensive as PSE 13, not Lightroom, but will do until I get them.    

 

Again thanks Bob and it gives me alot of comfort knowing you're around to get my back when needed.   You and Biggs are tops in my book.  I know there's also many other guys, including Canon monitors here, who will help me when needed.   I love this site.

You can't use a tripod for BIF.  At least I can't.

 

_DSC5248.jpg

EB
EOS 1DX and 1D Mk IV and less lenses then before!

screen.jpgscreen2.jpg

EB
EOS 1DX and 1D Mk IV and less lenses then before!

Hey Biggs thanks much I was lost till now.  That screen shot helps alot.   As I said, using email features is not my strong suit.  All you guys who have used "Office" seem to be very good at all the email stuff and using all it's features.  I really must get better with that.

I got it now Biggs, but my pics are too large to upload, I have my camera pic size set to (+L)..  I will reset my pic size in my camera for the shots I'll take today.  I'll set my camera on (S) for email. 

Sorry Stephen.  My mistake.  I see guys mentioning 3rd party names and places all the time.  I have no idea what I said or have said in the past that's different.  What did I say that was a violation?   I'm not being rude, I just don't understand what's wrong with mentioning names of 3rd party companies just in conversation.  Please clarify that for me.


@jazzman1 wrote:

Sorry Stephen.  My mistake.  I see guys mentioning 3rd party names and places all the time.  I have no idea what I said or have said in the past that's different.  What did I say that was a violation?   I'm not being rude, I just don't understand what's wrong with mentioning names of 3rd party companies just in conversation.  Please clarify that for me.


Especially given that yesterday almost every current thread in this forum got hit by a thinly veiled ad (complete with links) for some sort of pink rubber band that's supposed to keep lenses from falling out of their zoom settings while being carried around. I believe (based on a couple of quick glances) that they're still there.

Bob
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA

Hi Bob!


They're all gone! 

Sorry, we usually catch spam like that. That one got past us. In the future, if you guys see something that is obviously spam, report the post as abuse and we'll pull it. We don't want things like that gunking up your Forum!

Hey Bob.  I know we are not  suppose to advertise or promote 3rd party products, but I'd seen many instances of guys mentioning the names of other brands of gear they or may like to have.  Since nothing was said about that, I assumed that was Ok.  I got hit for asking where someone sold their gear, because I'm looking to sell my un-needed Canon gear.  I'm replacing that sold Canon  items with NEW Canon lens.  I've stated many times I'm a loyal Canon customer and have been for over 30 yrs.  Right now I have over 10 products registered on my Canon Acc on the Canon Website..  So I got hit for asking where to sell my Canon gear, so I can buy more Canon gear...Go Figure?????

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