here's a great example, i probably confused the hell out of you with my explanation :)

http://www.millhouse.nl/digitalcropfactorframe.html

I have not purchased the battery grip yet. So far the battery life has not been an issue. Hopefully they will have the issues resolved by the time I get around to getting a grip.

Dennis

So what lens do you recommend from Sigma for good all-around general purpose lens? :dunno:

considering that you're trying to cover a very broad focal length 18-200 and you want to use it as an everyday walk around lens, i would recommend that you get 2 lenses, 1 in the low range, and 1 for zoom. The problem with getting 1 lens to cover that range is that it's going to be very soft at the extreme ends (18 and 200) and it's going to be slow (probably an f4 at it's widest and 5.6 at zoom) which isn't very versatile if you're trying to shoot indoors.

My best recommendation would be to get something in the 24mm range (which acts like a 50mm on a film camera) for just walking around, and take a look at the canon 70-200 F4L for some reach, it's light, has great optics and is a great bang for the buck for some Canon L glass.

You can also look at the canon 28-135IS as a walk around lens and the 70-200 F4L for some reach.

I'm not that versed in the sigma range, but from reading the reviews and seeing what my friends use who don't buy canon lenses, they're pretty happy with sigma and I don't think any of them use tamron.

I agree, however, can't you set up a DSLR with some curves (or other adjustments) to make the pics come out looking great w/o a lot of post processing? I'd like to save my PS time for a few of my favorite photos, not every shot I take.


LOL. I'd love to find a hobby that I enjoy that doesn't suck my wallet dry. I'm into cars, sailing, golf, home theater, travel, photography...

unfortunately, even if you jack up the in camera sharpening in a DSLR it's not going to be optimum, and once you do, you can't "unsharpen" it. So it'sprobably best to turn in camera sharpening off and batch process the pics in PSCS or PS Elements 3. yeah it's a pain in the butt sometimes, but unfortunately there's really no other way to do it. Point and shoot digital cameras have such small sensors and the cameras are set to oversharpen and oversaturate the colors so that minimal PS'ing is needed.

If you are able to download your pics regularly, the 20D will let you take a RAW image and a high quality JPEG at the same time. You can set up the in-camera processing for the JPEGs such as sharpening, saturation, white balance, etc. and still have the unprocessed RAW image for those shots that you want spend the time in PS processing. I think I can get about 80 "double" shots on a 1GB card.

Dennis

yup, that's available on the 10D as well... I don't mind the post processing so i turn all of the in camera "stuff" off. When I'm really lazy i just shoot JPEG large and I can get about 340 iso 100 shots on a 1GB card.

I too am interested in lenses!! I am going to Japan in August and want to replace the 18-55 lens that came on the Rebel XT with one all-purpose, and perhaps a zoon lens. Something 18-135 and perhap 70-300? Anyone have suggestions?

I have heard pretty good things about Tamron. What bad news have you heard about the Gresch?

This is a great thread! :thumbup:

Tamron lenses are *generally* very soft at the extremes and slow focusing. I don't have first hand knowledge because I stick to Canon lenses, but i have a pretty good group of friends with DSLR's and no one uses Tamron, they go for Canon first and then Sigma.

For Japan, and considering the focal length you're trying to cover, you might want to consider 3 lenses, and i'm making some pretty broad assumptions here:
1) Canon 17-40L - great wide angle lens, photos are tack sharp, one of canon's best. This will cover your low end and is a great walking around lens.

2) Canon 24mm 2.8 for low light and low weight. this is about equivalent to a 50mm on a film camera. I have this lens and it's awesome, it's on my 10 and 20D 90% of the time when i'm just carrying the camera around. It's a fast focuser and never soft.

3) I would highly recommend that you not get a 300mm lens. Canon doesn't make a high end version that isn't heavy and bulky (the 100-400 is over $1000!) (the 100-300 is slow and more of a beginner film lens). To cover 300, you would have to look at a 100-400 and that sucker is big and not something you'ld want to carry around with you. So I would recommend getting the 70-200F4L, it's light, it's not expensive and it's tack sharp throughout almost the entire focal range. It's also F4 throughout the entire range, i.e., some lower end zoom lenses slow down to F5.6 at the long end, which unless you've got some good light, you're going to have to push the ISO to get the shutter speed up, and we all know how digital pics get noisy when you shoot high ISO's (Image stabilized lenses are the exception to the "push the iso" rule, see below)

so, all in all, if you don't want to drop the $$$ on 3, get the 24 and the 70-200 and you'll be covered from 24 to 200 and you can zoom a bit in PS to get the extra 100mm if you want. (shoot jpeg large to make sure you get enough pixels in the shot to allow for some good photoshopping). this setup will also be light and easy to carry and you'll get some nice sharp pics.

The only other lens i would recommend if you don't want to get 2 :), is the canon 28-135IS. It's a bit slow, but it has image stabilization built in which will let's you get some good still pics in low light with a slow shutter speed and you won't need to push the ISO and wind up with noisy pics. It's inexpensive and sharp and gives you some zoom too. It's the first lens i bought and i still use it on occasion when the 24mm isn't long enough and i need some low light zoom.

If you have any more questions let me know.

DISCLAIMER! - there are a lot of different lenses out there, this is just my opinion on a couple of setups that i like and work for me.