I need help with a Canon EF/EF-S Lens Purchase...

Question

Hi all...
I don't know where else to post this question since this isn't really a Photography forum but rather a Lr4 forum.  But I'm still very new to Digital SLR camera's and need some help.
I currently have a Canon T3 w/ the 18-55 Kit lens.  I'd like to take photos of Landscapes, mountains and waterfalls, etc...  But at the same time I need the ability to take photos up to or around 6" away from objects.  All the different numbers on the lenses are confusing the heck out of me and I was wondering if there would be any advice anyone could give me on a good Canon lens or two which will get me where I want to be.  I want to take close-ups and distant/wide shots.  Lenses certainly aren't cheap so I want to make the right decision.
I just recently purchased a book by David Busch on the T3 and it's capabilities but I still have a way to go before I finish the book. 
Can anyone offer some advice or insight into the importance of using the right lens or even a recommendation of a Canon lens?
Thanks!

Answer 1

The Canon 50mm F2.5 EF macro is a very old lens design from about 1987, but is also the sharpest 50mm lens that Canon makes with exception of the $1,500 50mm F1.2 L series lens. If needing to stay under $300 it is a good macro close-up lens choice. It actually provides .8x magnification on a 1.6 crop camera (1.6 x .5x), so you're not losing much close-up capability over the more expensive Canon 60mm macro lens' (1.0x). The 50/60mm lens focal length does "duplicate" what you already have with your 18-55mm lens, but the F2.5 versus F5.6 maximum aperture will allow you to shoot in much lower light levels and with very good image sharpness wide open (i.e. F2.5). Concerning your question on lenses suitable for "motion" I have no idea where you read that and what they meant. IS (image stabilization) lenses are designed to allow you to "handhold" at lower shutter speeds without blurring the image, but will not necessarily help with subject motion. For moving subjects you should turn off IS and use the fastest possible shutter speed (high ISO setting and wide aperture). IS for macro photography is generally not too helpful and only the new Canon 100mm F2.8L IS macro has it.
All things considered you may be better served by first purchasing a telephoto zoom, which will allow you to truly "zoom" in on subjects.......not just make tiny subjects bigger. As I already suggested you can do the latter by "cropping your 12mp T3 close-up images in LR. Up to 2X crop should still allow sufficient image quality for enlargements and will give you .68x magnification with your 18-55mm at 55mm (2 x .34x at closest focus).
Prodigy9 wrote:
Also, I found these two lenses and I'm looking for an opinion...
The EF-S 55-250mm f/4.0-5.6 & the EF 75-300 f/4.0-5.6
Would either of these lenses benefit me?
These are both low-cost Canon telephoto zooms, with the EF-S 55-250mm being the better choice for your T3. To clear up any confusion the 'EF' (Electronic Focus) lens mount was introduced by Canon in 1987 for film cameras, followed in 2003 with the EF-S lens mount designed specifically for the new 1.6 crop factor APS-C sensor DSLR bodies. The 'S' stands for "Short Back Focus" of the Canon APS-C sensor camera body, which allows the rear lens elements to extend further into the mirror chamber. This is why EF-S lenses can ONLY be used with crop-sensor bodies, but the EF lenses can be used on both crop-sensor and full-frame sensor bodies. This also means EF-S lenses are less expensive to design, since they image on a smaller sensor area. Here's a good website for reviews and test report information on Canon, Nikon, Sigma, and other lenses:
http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/
..and a great tool for comparing performance of two different lens:
http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Comparison-Tools.aspx
To give you an idea of what differences to expect in lens performance, take a look at the entry-level Canon 55-250mm F4-5.6 IS (~$240) compared to the L series Canon 70-200mm F4 IS lens (~$1,250):
Digital SLR and Lens Image Quality Comparison
(Place your cursor over the little white arrow to review the two images. You can also change the Fstop to see improvement from "stopping down" the lens.)
Keep in mind these are 100% image crops. If you were to compare 8" x 12" photo enlargements taken with both of these lenses on your T3 the differences would be much more subtle! I hope this helps to clear up some of your questions. The web has a wealth of free video tutorials and other educational material that are very helpful for both beginners and pros.