Here’s where the real DSLR expenses come in, the lenses and accessories. I don’t want to cover accessories too much because those are determined by your shooting conditions, but I will suggest a couple lenses for Canon and Nikon as well as a quality external flash for each.
The first thing you’ll want to determine is what kind of shooting you’ll be doing. When you’re looking at DSLR lenses, a 50mm lens is roughly what the eye sees naturally. A 10mm lens is an ultra wide angle, a 200mm lens is around 7-8x magnification, you get the general idea.
Popular lenses include 18-55/18-75mm, 50mm, 18-200mm, 70-300mm. You’re going to have to ask yourself, what exactly will you be shooting, at least initially? Family shots? Nature? Photos of your statues/toys like I do? Buildings? Each of these types of photography are different enough that there’s no one lens that will handle everything. I primarily shoot 50mm and while it’s fantastic for portraits and statues, it’s not great for interiors, sports, buildings, or animal photography.
Canon Lenses :
Here’s 2 Canon lenses that should fit nicely into any newer photographer’s camera bag. We’ll start with one of the nicest and cheapest lenses you can get :
Canon 50mm 1.8. Available at under $100, you cannot go wrong with it. It’s a very popular focal range, works great for lots of photography, is super sharp, and the aperture lets you take shots in low-light conditions that most lenses simply cannot match. Pretty much every photographer should have a 50mm lens. I’ve since upgraded to the 50mm 1.4 but that’s not for everyone.
Canon 18-200. This is a newer lens from Canon made to compete with the ultra-popular Nikon 18-200. It’s a little over $500 and it doesn’t come without drawbacks. There’s some sharpness problems around the 18mm range and some distortion around the extreme ends of the range (18 and 200). Since this is a superzoom with a massive range that’s not terribly expensive, that’s why. It’s an ideal walkaround lens for a photographer because you can capture anything from huge buildings to animals running around in the woods. The macro setting is nice too.
Those two lenses will get you off to a great start. As you move up, you may want to consider the Canon 50mm 1.4, the 70-300 USM, or the 10-22mm 3.5, it all depends what you end up using the most!
Nikon Lenses :
Both Nikon lenses with the same focal ranges as the above Canon lenses are a little more expensive but they’re also high quality lenses for what you’re paying.
The Nikon 50mm 1.8 comes in around $125. Much like the Canon, it’s incredibly sharp, very quick to autofocus, fantastic for low-light photography, basically a must-have for any photographer.
The Nikon 18-200. This set the standard for an affordable walkaround lens. When it was released it was sold out constantly. It even resold for a few hundred bucks above retail. It’s more easily available now and they’ve even released a second improved version.
The image quality isn’t the best of Nikon’s lenses, they’ve made compromises to release an affordable superzoom like this. That said, you won’t find a lens with this kind of range without compromises, no matter the price. The image quality in general is very good, it’s a reasonable price, highly recommended.
Some other highly recommended lenses for Nikon include : Nikon 85mm f/1.8, Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8, and the 70-200mm f/2.8.
Third party lenses :
Sigma and Tamron both make lots of lenses and for the most part, they’re alright. Sigma has a few excellent lenses worth considering and Tamron has two you might want to look at as well. They usually make all their lenses for both Canon and Nikon.
Tamron :
Tamron AF 28-75mm f/2.8 SP XR ZL Di LD – This is probably Tamron’s best general lens. I’ve used it before and it was incredibly sharp, had excellent image quality, completely affordable, has a great aperture, it’s fantastic. The range is wonderful for a walkaround lens, though you do lose the extreme zoom ranges provided by the above recommended ultrazooms.
Other Tamron lenses that score high marks for quality include : Tamron SP AF 180mm f/3.5 Di LD IF Macro Autofocus, Tamron SP AF90MM F/2.8 Di Macro 1:1, and the Tamron AF 24-135MM F/3.5-5.6 AD Aspherical (IF) Macro.
Sigma :
Sigma 70mm F2.8 EX DG MACRO – One of the finest macro lenses available, it also receives high praise for portraiture/fashion photography. While there are minor complaints about it’s focus not being the fastest (not slow, but not the best), it’s considered one of the sharpest and most accurate lenses.
Sigma 300-800mm f5.6 EX IF APO HSM – This obviously isn’t for most people. It’s difficult to use, requires a tripod, and it’s ultra expensive. That said, it offers an absolutely insane zoom range for photographers that need it, it’s surprisingly sharp and the focus is quick and quiet. The image quality is also a bit of a surprise, with many people rating it above or dead on with other 400mm/600mm options.
Other recommended Sigma lenses include : Sigma 50mm 1.4, Sigma 10-20, Sigma 300mm f/2.8, and the Sigma 100-300mm f/4.
Flash Units :
Flash units are useful because they allow you to generate quality light when there isn’t enough available. Instead of producing artificial images like the on-camera flash, with some skill and practice, you can create top notch lighting with an external flash.
Without going into too many details, I’ll simply recommend the mid-range of both Canon and Nikon’s lineups. The low end is usually a bit lacking, the high end is incredibly expensive and overkill for the vast majority of users.
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