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General discussion

Best Lens For Entry Level dSLR....

Aug 29, 2005 5:59AM PDT

...For instance the Nikon D50 or Canon Digital Rebel XT. I could go with the manufacturers two zoom (18-55mm and 55-200mm) option or I could go with an aftermarket manufacturer like Tamron, Sigma, etc.

Anyone have any suggestions here. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Discussion is locked

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I can speak to the Canon option. I suspect Nikon is similar.
Aug 29, 2005 6:32AM PDT

Do NOT get the kit lens. Reviewers say it is pretty good for the price, but the price is only $100. Use the $100 for a better lense. A good Canon starting point is the 17-85mm IS USM. It will give you a nice range of shooting from wide angle to a bit of magnification (2-2.5x using 50mm as a 1x). If you've got the money, there are some Canon 'L' lenses which work in this same range. The 'L' lenses are Canon's best. If you get those, they will travel with you if you later upgrade the camera.

I don't trust third party lenses. They're cheaper, but I doubt that they will work in anywhere near an optimum manner with the camera. IOW, what won't work well with the third party lenses? If you buy one, you should know the answer to that question.

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Can't speak for Nikon but the Canon 18-55 kit lens is...
Sep 1, 2005 3:32AM PDT

It is a good starter lens for an entry level Canon DSLR. The cheap ($100) plastic Canon kit lens can produce surprisingly good pictures.

The following link shows photos taken with this lens on PBase. Just click on the More link, you can see some good, bad and amazing photos taken by various folks around the world.

http://www.pbase.com/cameras/canon/ef_s_1855_35

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Nelson