cwright said:
Thanks for the info on the Sigma 18-125 lens. I looked up reviews and most seemed to like it. My one concern is that since it is not a USM lens, the auto-focus will be slow. I'm used to using the Canon USM lenses at school... so just how much slower would the Sigma lens be? Would it be noticeable?
If that isnt a big deal, then I'll probably buy the 18-125 especially since I'm on a budget and the added range without having two seperate lenses would be a big plus. Does anyone else out there have any opinions on the Sigma 18-125 vs. the Canon 28-125, or why I should pick one over the other?
Also, while we're here... would anyone like to give me an idea of some of the "essentials" I need to buy? like Compact Flash cards, UV filters, Polarizer filters, lens hood, etc. I'm pretty sure I'll buy either a 1gb or 2gb CF card, but I'm not sure how to determine which cards are the faster ones and better for SLRs, or if the CF card speed even matters that much.
Thanks again!
I can't say about the difference between canon or sigma. All I can say is that you should really think about usability vs. quality. It's all nice and good to have the highest quality glass you can afford, but if the frustration of having to change lenses when something comes up makes you less likely to use the camera, then you're doing yourself a disservice in the end by going with the more expensive glass. If you don't think you'd ever be frustrated by changing lenses, then by all means get several higher quality small range zooms rather than a single lower quality wide range zoom. Whichever you choose, just make sure you're going to ENJOY using it, otherwise it's just wasted money.
As far as other essentials, there really isn't much you
need, other than the CF card. Now, I know with the current digital rebel (300D) you don't really need to waste your money on a really fast card, the 300D just isn't fast enough to make any use of it (Most CF cards are labelled as 12x, 24x, 40x, or 80x, you'd probably be fine with 24x but I wouldn't go less). The newer version that's supposed to come out soon will undoubtably be faster, so you may want to consider at least a 40x CF card for it. The faster the card, the less time you'll need to wait between shots before the camera is ready to fire again. Plus, you'll be able to take more consecutive shots on a faster card before the cameras buffer fills up.
You could consider getting a backup battery, but they're not cheap, and probably wouldn't be used all that much unless you need to go all day long without having any time to charge.
Most lenses come with a lens hood in the box, so that's taken care of.
Filters aren't all that necessary these days. If you're worried about your lens getting scratched you can always put a UV filter on it to protect it (just make sure it's multi coated), but it's not all that necessary. Modern lenses have UV filters built in so the filter itself isn't necessary, it's just a buffer in case you drop it. The only filters I can think of that would be useful are a circular polarizer and a neutral density filter. The polarizer will cut down glare off of cars/water/shiny stuff. The neutral density filter is less useful on average. It basically allows you to take longer exposures in the day (it cuts the amount of light that reaches the camera). This can allow for some really great waterfall/stream pictures, which get a really silky fantasy look to them when taken with long exposures. Again, with any filter, make sure they're multi-coated. No sense in buying nice glass and then putting crappy filters over them.
Hmm...what else. Interested in flash photography at all? If you are, onboard flashes don't usually cut it. It will probably rise high enough to cut down red-eye, but it won't be that strong and will lack the all-powerful ability to bounce the flash. If you buy any external flash, make sure you can swivel it to face up to the ceiling. You get a much more natural look to the image if the flash is bounced (you can also attatch a white, laminated card in front of the flash to bounce it up if the flash can't actually swivel up.)
The only other thing I can think of is a sensor cleaning kit. They're not too expensive, but your sensor is, so I'd say spend a few bucks (probably find some for $20 or so, maybe less) and get a sensor cleaning kit (I hope you're aware that with digital SLRs, you're going to occassional have to lock the mirror up inside the camera and clean the sensor, as dust will accumulate over time. Depending on how often you change lenses and what the environmental conditions are, you may have to clean the sensor once a week, but that's a little extreme)
If I think of anything else I'll let you know
