cloudwalking
300chf ain't shit to me
SnakeXs said:Congrats on the new camera. Enjoy it, and pop in the photography thread if you ever wanna share your stuff.
That said, and I'll speak generally as I don't know Canon lenses well, you're looking for 2 different things.
Landscape and architecture you'll need something wide. With the 1.6 factoring of your XSi, I'd say at least 18mm. More if you really wanna get a huge field of view.
As for animals and portraits, those you'll want something with some reach. 200mm at the far end should be good. Nature is a large area of photography and the needs of it could range anywhere in there, so it's hard to say unless you say more of what you tend to/want to shoot.
And, yes the 50mm F/1.8 is great. It's cheap because it's a dead simple lens to manufacture, and has been evolving for decades, and with crazy zooms many people don't bother with primes. It's guaranteed to be sharp, and 1.8 is plenty fast.
As far as being a beginner, it depends. Some people, myself included, enjoy being "limited" by a prime lens like that, it makes you move, compose differently, think a lot. Others will scoff and will wish they could be zooming. It depends what group you fall into. It's as good a lens as they get optically, though. I'd say for the price you should, I love mine and loved when I had it and only it.
thanks for the great post. i think i'm going to pick up the 50mm f/1.8 for sure once i really get a feel for the camera. i don't mind being limited and i'm a fan of experimenting, so i think it'd be a lot of fun. for that price, it's hard to pass up