My mother is going over to Europe for a month in September and being that it is her 50th birthday I was thinking of arranging to get a quality lens for her to use (combined with my old 400D that I sold her).
Having been a bit exclusive over recent years (all I own is L-glass and Zeiss lenses) I am out of touch with what would be a cheaper alternative.
We aim to spend AU$500 on a very-good quality second hand lens (to better help you translate that amount it is approx. how much you'd pay for a Canon EF-S 10-22mm).
She'll likely only have the one lens on most of the trip so we want it to be this one that we buy her (the other is just the kit lens for the 400D).
I have looked at Canon EF-S 10-22mm as well as alternative lenses like Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 EX. If you were spending less than AU$500 on a lens and it was going to be the only one you had on all trip, what lens would it be?
Excellent.
Well the local 2nd hand camera store say they have the 15-85mm and I'm usually able to bargain them down to a reasonable price. So I will go in tomorrow and check it out.
Just one question: Is weight an issue?
Also, apologies that this turned into a thread for Canon lenses. It was asked generally about lenses not just Canon.
eaglespremiers wrote:
Has anybody used the Sigma 24-70mm F2.8?
Yes. It's good. It's a little worse on the wide end than either the Canon or Nikon offerings (very bad corners and edges), and the color performance is okay but flat. This and the 120-300 DG I had both needed some extra handling in post to really shine.
I'd go Tamron and get the 17-50/2.8. In the States, the non-VC lens goes for about $500 and the VC lens for $150 more. There are rebates here right now, so check to see if Tamron AUS is offering them as well. Sharp, nice color balance (though it will still require tweaking for perfection), and your mum may find a VC lens very much to her liking. It's not perfect on the wide end either, but by 24mm, I'd say it'll outperform the Siggy.
1) i think the 10-22 is a bit limiting as its a bit too wide on the longer end
2) weight could be an issue, as the 15-85 is well built...only your mother can answer that (significant difference between kit and the 15-85), the 18-135 is very lite
3) 18-200 is a great range but i think at that point theres some IQ sacrifice. personally I think the 18-135 is the max I'll go...plus the 18-200 secondhand would be still over your initial budget.
Do you know for a fact that she likes and more so, is willing to travel with a DSLR, even a smaller one ?
Not to say its a bad camera, but for the same money you could spend on a lens for it, there are a good number of smaller/lighter CSC's such as a Sony NEX or m4/3 system, or even something like a Sony RX100.
Again, not knocking a DSLR, but for many less than enthusiast shooters, such as my own Mother, an optical finder is not a feature they are looking for, and in fact the LCD is the preferred way to compose.
Add in things like face detect AF and the ability of a small camera like an Olympus PEN mini to fit easily into her handbag for when she doesn't want to walk around with a camera around her neck and it just seems to make for good option for travel, especially for a less serious photographer.
I know there is no way I'd want to drag my DSLR's around with me on a vacation unless I was getting paid to shoot.
