Opening a can of worms...

[Hawkeye]

Haha but that's what a separate macro lens is for right - a specific purpose. In my case it's corals in a tank. for others it may be flowers outside, insects on plants, or whatever. I can wish for a lens for christmas right? hahah.

Like you said - if you have a tripod/good lighting - you're good to go. I'd take that and a $500 lens vs splurging on a $900 lens - which is the same amount some people are selling their entire tanks on this forum! d'oh!

Or maybe I should spend $500 on a used bk skimmer...ah decisions...hhahaha.

 

[Hawkeye]

george - i agree with what others have said about going to the store and trying some of the cameras. If you want to try out my 30d one day - let me know.

 

[thirty5]

Haha but that's what a separate macro lens is for right - a specific purpose. In my case it's corals in a tank. for others it may be flowers outside, insects on plants, or whatever. I can wish for a lens for christmas right? hahah.

Like you said - if you have a tripod/good lighting - you're good to go. I'd take that and a $500 lens vs splurging on a $900 lens - which is the same amount some people are selling their entire tanks on this forum! d'oh!

Or maybe I should spend $500 on a used bk skimmer...ah decisions...hhahaha.

My buddy (pro) uses the 100mm for portrait and other shooting. I used to have the Macro and I loved it, I used it to not only shoot my tank, but also my kids outside. It is a nice fast lens so low lighting.

I am not saying to go out and spend $900 but a lens does not have to be a single use lens. I am kicking myself in the A$$ for selling my lens about 2 years ago.

But honestly I would get a good all-around lens first, then get the macro. You can always get the 50mm 1.8 which has a pretty short focal lenght. That lens is like $90 or so and it is a nice lens!! I use that often. Unless you need to shoot a closeup with the 100mm and blow it up to a huge size then the 50 can do a similar job and then you can crop it to the size that you want and still have a nice size.

 

[Hawkeye]

My buddy (pro) uses the 100mm for portrait and other shooting. I used to have the Macro and I loved it, I used it to not only shoot my tank, but also my kids outside. It is a nice fast lens so low lighting.

I am not saying to go out and spend $900 but a lens does not have to be a single use lens. I am kicking myself in the A$$ for selling my lens about 2 years ago.

But honestly I would get a good all-around lens first, then get the macro. You can always get the 50mm 1.8 which has a pretty short focal lenght. That lens is like $90 or so and it is a nice lens!! I use that often. Unless you need to shoot a closeup with the 100mm and blow it up to a huge size then the 50 can do a similar job and then you can crop it to the size that you want and still have a nice size.

I've been eyeing that lens also...for $100 you really can't go wrong. Believe it or not it was selling for a higher price overseas in Hong Kong. I may just try that lens first and see how it goes. I thought this was the reefkeeping hobby? LOL.

 

[mnat]

I had a tough time with this one and like NickJr went with the Nikon D3100. I have been very happy with it but I am such a camera noob that I don't think I am using it to the full potential. I like the fish tank photos I get (you can check my tale of the tank threads to see how they turn out) and I use the lens that comes with the camera. I may get a macro and a tripod down the line.

 

[TanksNStuff]

Thank you all for your input and advice. We decided on buying the Canon EOS Rebel T2i, with the 18-55mm IS lens.

My bro-in-law has a few different lenses that I'll be able to experiment with, including the 50mm 1.8 prime that a few of you were talking about.

I'll take a few quick shots of my tank with it and post back here once I get it.

 

[Hawkeye]

george - saw this on yahoo answers - and thought it will help now that you have decided on the canon t2i - to figure out lenses etc:

"No matter what you want to do, I'd suggest getting the Canon 50mm f/1.8 II. This lens runs around $120, and is the best quality lens you can buy. It is fantastic for a range of things, but is notably good for portraits and any low light situation.

If you do want to do portraits, the lens range (and when I say range, I'm talking focal length, or mm) you want to look for is around 50mm to 150mm. You do not want to use a wide angle for portraits, as it will cause distortion in a persons features that is more often than not un-attractive. The 50mm f/1.8 is a great lens for portraits, other good ones include the 85mm f/1.8 (if you want to be a bit further away) If you want to spend a but more money, there's the 50mm f/1.4, which is higher quality, focuses faster, and is slightly better in low light than the 50mm f/1.8. The very high end lenses (which, in the Canon lineup is denoted by an L in the name, and a red ring around the end of the lens) you're looking at the 50mm f/1.2L, 85mm f/1.2L, the 135mm f/2L, and to some extent the 24-104 f/4L and the 24-70 f/2.8L. All of these lens run at least $1000 and you should do a lot of research before settling on one.You'll notice that most of the lenses I recommended are prime, not zoom lenses. (primes being fixed focal length, such as 50mm, and zooms having a variable focal length, such as 24-70.) Portrait photographers use primes a lot more because they are sharper, and allow for better control of background blur.

If you like to do nature, wildlife, and landscapes, you'll want two lenses, something wide to capture a good view, and a powerful telephoto lens to bring you closer to wildlife. Two suggestions I have are the Canon 10-22mm the Canon 70-300. The 10-22mm is an EF-S lens, meaning it will only work on cameras that have APS-C sized sensors. Those being the Rebel cameras, 10/20/30/40/50D, and the 7D. If you ever get a 5D series or 1D series camera, you will not be able to put that lens on it. The 10-22 is well known for being, first, very wide, and second, very high quality. On the telephoto side, I'd go with at least a Canon 70-300, if not something more powerful. I personally use a Sigma 150-500 lens.

If you want to do macro work as well, at the least you'll want a set of extension tubes. These run about $130 (look for Kenko brand ones). these go in between a lens and the camera, and give the lens macro capabilities. They do cut out light in the process. If you want to do a lot of macro, you want a macro lens. The Canon 60mm macro is a good start, however it is EF-S like the 10-22 I mentioned above, thus it wont work on 5D and 1D series cameras. The canon 100mm f/2.8 is also a very good macro lens, and sigma makes several good macro lenses as well.

There are a LOT more lenses out there, trust me.

I would also recommend getting a flash, as it can really improve your photography. Make sure whatever you get has manual functions, tilt, and swivel, otherwise you're just getting a more powerful version of the pop-up on the camera. The Canon 430EX II is a great place to start, but there are other makers of flashes as well.

www.dpreview.com is great resource for reviews, as well as a great side-by-side comparison of camera features (look under buying guide). There are tons of other great sites out there to help you choose.

Check out http://photography-on-the.net/forum/ Thats a forum dedicated specifically to Canon cameras, and the people there are extremely helpful.

source: profilename jaxak on yahoo answers.

 

[TanksNStuff]

Awesome, thanks for all that info Phil!

FWIW, my bro-in-law also just ordered one of those extension tubes, so I'll get to try that out as well.

 

[Olivier]

it is late to post now in term of suggestion.

anyway, any camera is a good camera. it just a blackbox that capture of what PHOTOGRAPHER see.
I currently use both nikon and canon system. Nikon D300 as my main camera. I just place an order for D3. and canon is 5DII camera.

I personally pick the camera that meet my specific need i.e. Nikon D3 for high resolution now noise full frame fast and extremely accurate in color WB out of the box. D300 same way but need twisted in other to get the WB correct. Canon 5DII in HD video, fast, full frame less noisy in shutter.

Lens is another animal in camera system. I normally buy cheap body with meet my need then buy expensive pro lens that can work on many camera bodies within brand. i.e. Nikon D300 and D3 will share 70-200 f2.8 VRII , 17-35 f2.8, 180 f1.4, 180 macro, 35-70 f2.8, 500 F4. these lens are more important than the camera body.

if you want to get a good pix of your tank or your subject, KNOW your camera is a must. remember the camera function, button etc by heart and be able to use it fully to its potential. most DSLR now has custom functions. I recommend you set these custom functions to tailor your setting/subject/light/scenarios that way less of reading book and change everything. just a button or two to be pressed and you are ready to produce picture. Biggest thing I would pay close attention to is WHITE BALANCE and KNOW how to adjust white balance by heart and close eyes. Cannon is a little tricky since you need to go to the menu sub menu in order to custom set/change it.

Olivier