Calling All Photographers!

[Darth Mandarb]

My knowledge of photography is decidedly lacking.  I know the basics (and can take some pretty good shots) but all the technical stuff is alien to me!  So I was wondering if any of you were versed in this stuff and could help a brotha out!

A couple of months back I bought my wife a Canon 60D digital camera.  It came with a 55-255mm lense (it was a kit).  I thought this was amazing (and it is) but it has some limitations.  Most notably when attempting to take any photos from 3-6ft (1-2m).  It is too zoomed in and the farthest out it goes is still too zoomed.  Under a lot of circumstances we can just back-up and get further away but this isn't always convenient and/or possible! 

I was wondering what the best "standard" lens is?  I was thinking the 18-55mm would be the one but, honestly, I am way out of my league here.  I googled (up the wazoo) for this topic and get nothing definitive or helpful really.  So I was hoping the AGS community might be able to shed some light on what it is I'm looking for!

[AGA]

These people probably know more!  And they're fellow geeks, so would probably help your brother out or whatever it is you Americans say.

[AnasAbdin]

The 55-255mm lens is suitable for distant subjects, so it won't be a good choice for 'all time' use. You already got your own solution with the 18-55mm

[Cassiebsg]

Yup, the 18-55mm would solve most your daily day problems... you'll also need a macro lens, if you like/wish to take close up pictures (like a flower, a beetle, or something else small).
But make sure you buy a good one, preferably Canon. I once bought a cheap compatible one for my Canon, and it stopped working a day or two after I bought it. I got it replaced, but I should have gotten the cue and traded it in with a Canon one right there. The new replaced one stopped working a week or two later, and I ended up with a lens I couldn't use anymore (and if you wonder why I didn't went and replace that one also, it was cause I bought it in China, and by that time I had returned home... ).

[Anian]

Yep, the first Canon kits had a 18-55 mm lens. Just as an orientation 50mm is like "normal", less than that is wide angle, for stuff like landscapes, architecture, and a must for interiors. More than 50mm, especially above 200mm you enter a telelens area, this is for stuff that's far away, for example animals at a distance, football matches etc.
The thing you've got (55-255mm) is good for portraits (which are usually shot at about 135mm) for example, but if you want to make a bit more use out of it, get the 18-55mm, should be cheap.

Macro lenses are a special type of lens which are adapted so they can take in focus images that are close to the lens. Yours probably has a limit to 2m or more (if the subject is closer, it just won't be able to focus), but macro lenses can focus on a few centimetres/inches and you don't actually need that usually). Unless you really want to take pictures of bugs up close, you don't need a macro lens.

The price of a lens is usually connected to the build quality (which means sturdier materials, more sharpness and less distortion on the lens) but also to how big is the aperture. What that means is how much lens can open up, so it lets more light in. Yours probably goes down to 5.6 or 4.8, but the more expensive stuff goes to 1.8. Lower numbers mean more light can get in. Side effect of a wider aperture is that the distance in which the subject is sharp is narrower.
For example you set the aperture to F22 and you make the lens focus/sharpen on your subject, now not only will the subject be sharp but also the area in front and behind it, but if you set the aperture to F2.8, the subject will be sharp but the area in which objects are sharp will be reduced (if something is a meter behind it or in front of it, it will look blurry and not in focus).

You use 3 things to set the brightness of an image
1. ISO number (on a 60D keep it between 100 and 800, any bigger and you get brighter images but with more fuzziness on the image)
2. aperture - F11-F16 is usually okay for most uses, F22 for everything to be sharp, F8 and below for cool effects and getting more light
3. exposure time - as a good guide to avoid mistakes, when shooting without a tripod, don't go below the mm of the lens - if you use 250mm on the lens, don't use longer exposure than 1/250 of a second (for example don shoot at 1/60 of a second), because the shaking of the hand will be noticeable

Good guide is - on a sunny day F16 at 1/160s (but try test it out for best results)
- to get more light open the lens more (lower F nubmer), prolong the exposure time or raise the ISO number
- to get less light, do the opposite

If you're interested in something more specifically, ask away.

[Chicky]

A lot of the basics have already been covered here, just one note:

Sensor size: The Canon 60D has an APS-C sensor, this is regarded as a crop sensor when compared to a full 35mm frame (most Camera companies reference 35mm as a 'full frame' sensor i.e - No crop) 35mm is often used as a point of reference when talking about how the lens behaves.



This is important for a couple of reasons - the same lens will produce a different image on different sensors, which affects how much of the scene you can fit into the frame and also how well the lens handles levels of light. As you can see on the image above APS-C is a smaller area than 35mm, so a lens designed for a 35mm camera will not produce the same image on an APS-C camera, even though the lens may fit your camera. What looks like a nice wide on 35mm would be closer to a mid/portrait shot on APS-C. Think of it like a projector out of the back of the lens, only the projection board isn't big enough to cover the whole image. EF lenses will fit your camera but example images taken with these may have been shot on a larger sensor, therefore not representative of the crop from your camera.

This is why it's important to look at lenses designed for your camera, I would suggest looking for EF-S, 18-55 would be a nice counterpart to your current setup. You might want to look into buying a variable neutral density filter to help step down light coming into the lens, useful if you want to keep your aperture open for shallow depth of field.

Be careful Darth, you might get the photogeek bug and before you know it you'll be buying vintage Russian lenses

Also please correct me if I got anything wrong Anian! Most of my knowledge comes from a video background.

[Darth Mandarb]

Wow!  Great info guys, thanks a lot!

I understood a few of the words even .

I had my eye on the following two lenses but I'm not sure what the difference is between the two:

Canon EF-S 18-55mm > $249 USD

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II SLR Lens - Mark II  > $199 USD

By looking at the specs/details they look identical to me so I'm not sure what the price difference is for (might just be different seller's individual prices).

Be careful Darth, you might get the photogeek bug and before you know it you'll be buying vintage Russian lenses

I know what you mean!  I have to fight the urge though 'cause I bought the camera for the wife... and I think I've used it more than she has!

[AGA]

http://www.canon.co.uk/For_Home/Product_Finder/Cameras/EF_Lenses/EF-S/EF-S_18-55mm_f_3.5-5.6_IS_STM/

http://www.canon.co.uk/For_Home/Product_Finder/Cameras/EF_Lenses/EF-S/EF-S_18-55mm_f3.5-5.6_IS_II/

Don't ask me what the difference is, but the official site shows two VERY similar names, just with "II" and "STM" different at the end.

[Wyz]

According to the website:

STM Motor gives smooth, near-silent focusing when shooting video

I'm not an expert or anything but I'd say the STM lens has an advantage when you also want to record videos with it.

[Anian]

According to the website:

STM Motor gives smooth, near-silent focusing when shooting video

I'm not an expert or anything but I'd say the STM lens has an advantage when you also want to record videos with it.

But, as one of the comments suggested, it works with T4i (which is 650D, but 60D is a paralel model to it) and newer models of cameras, because it works with the hybrid CMOS sensors (but let's not get deep into sensor technology).

I don't know about your budget Darth, but since you got the semi-tele lens in your kit already, it'd be a good thing to get something cheaper now (since you're choosing between two lenses) and save your money for when you want to buy something better or maybe even buy stuff like UV filters with that $50 difference.
Also fun is the so called "nifty-fifty", Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Camera Lens. which can open up to f/1.8 so you can do some cool shots as well.