what CANON lense to buy

[BIGINNER]

i need a CANON lense for my dslr. what is a goos lense to get for a biginner?  (i missspelled it on purpose)    
i want one that is fairly cheap, but takes decent pics, and has decent zoom,  i'm just starting to get into photography and don't want to spend alot of money.  thanks for any help.  

[boneaddict]

Sell it on ebay and buy a canon and then I can help you.

There is no such thing as a cheap lens that takes decent pics with a good zoom.

[BIGINNER]

Sell it on ebay and buy a canon and then I can help you.

There is no such thing as a cheap lens that takes decent pics with a good zoom.

lol  ya i know,  i have a fujifilm s5 pro camera,  it has a nikon f-style mount. 

[BIGINNER]

IS NIKON THAT BAD?  OR YOU JUST HAVE NO EXPERIENSE WITH NIKON?

[boneaddict]

Nikons and Canons are neck and neck ALWAYS.  They are fine, I just don't have any experience.  Once you choose one, you usually stick with that line becasue it costs too much to switch out.

[boneaddict]

There are good aftermarket lens for Canon that are cheaper than Canon glass, but can be good glass.   Sigmas are usually pretty good and there is always Tamron, which I wouldn't get too excited aobut.   I don't know what nikon offers.

[BIGINNER]

OK.  I SWITCHED THE TITLE,  NOW YOU CAN HELP ME ......     I HAVE A CANON DIGITAL REBEL XT 8MP CAMERA.   

[boneaddict]

If budget is important,as it keeps you from having the best, I'd look at sigma.  Find out what fits that camera of yours and go from there.  B and H photo is the best online store that I know of.  They even have a 1-800 to call for cool questions like this. 

If money isn't an option  Canon 70-200 2.8 ISL for best lens for the money, but its a tad short for wildlife....   or  the 100-400 canon.  I think its an f4.   There has ALWAYS been discussion of whether its a good lens or not, but for the money, it gets you in range for a wildlife lens.

[BIGINNER]

thanks for the info bone

[Tom Reichner]

 or  the 100-400 canon.  I think its an f4. 

It's an f5.6, which is both good and bad.  The good is that, being an f5.6, it costs around $1500.  The bad is that f5.6 is slow, and I don't believe that the coatings are as good as those found on the pricier lenses.  If the 100-400 were an f4, it would probably cost around $6,000.  That extra stop basically quadruples the price . . . and doubles the weight & size.

I think a budget-friendly option is the Canon 70-300 IS.  Do not confuse this with the 75-300, which has left many, many users very disappointed.  The 70-300 is a far better lens than that 75-300, and can be had for around $500 or $600.  With the crop body you have it works out to be an effective focal length of 120mm - 480mm, which is a pretty decent all-around range for wildlife.  It's not going to give you the same results of Canon's premium L-series lenses, but if you need to stay well under a thousand bucks it's hard to beat.

The good thing is that you really can't go wrong with Canon glass - if you buy a lens and find that it just isn't what you want, then you can always sell it used on eBay or on the Canon forum and get 70% - 85% of your money back out of it.