A bit about lenses.

Hello again, I was asked over the weekend for some advice on which lenses to buy and if I would review a few. So I will share with you a bit of what I personally think would be good starting lenses.

I use Canon cameras and always have and so can only give my advice on these lenses but I am sure other manufacturers have very similar lenses.
First off I would say that in my humble opinion the lens is more important than the camera it is attached to. Always buy the most expensive lens you can afford.  

 Now I am aware not everybody can justify throwing loads of money at lenses and your camera probably came with a kit lens. The best thing you can do is to trade that kit lens in straight away for something better.
Here are a few choices that I would certainly consider in the mid price range.

The nifty fifty 50mm f1.8, This is pretty much a given for anybody really. About £90.00 new £50.00 -£60.00 this is a fast lens, by fast I am referring to the f-stop of 1.8 meaning you can take photographs in difficult low light levels and you can get quite creative with very shallow depth of field it can achieve. With the crop factor of none pro camera bodies this lens is actually around a 75mm lens in old money making it a perfect lens for portraits. 

For a general purpose zoom lens I use a 17-85mm f4-5.6 macro lens. Weighing in at around £340.00 it is not cheap but it is Image stabilised and the macro function works well. The f-stops are the smallest at either end of the zoom range so you can achieve f4 at the widest point and f5.6 on full zoom. Obviously you can use bigger f-stops. This lens pretty much lives on my camera and really is a lovely piece of glass covering a zoom range that I feel is more than enough for most general photography from landscapes to portraits and for getting that bit closer on distant subjects.

If you are wanting to get that bit closer then a larger zoom lens is going to be on the shopping list. I use a 100-400 IS L at £1200.00+ but really for most people this kind of expenditure isn’t necessary,
A 70-300mm f4-5.6 is probably going to be more than adequate for most needs and the £390.00 price tag is a bit more user friendly.

Whilst some of the lenses mentioned above are probably around the same price as a prosumer body I feel that they really are worth the money. You really do get what you pay for with lenses.

I hope this little guide has been of help Lou, lol :)