Digital photography

Hi DSLR thread, utter noob question for you, but my mate is selling a "Tamron 700-300 lens". Is this any good? What will it do for me? What would you pay? Has he made a mistake with the name of the lens?

I'm using a Canon EOS400, and am currently armed with a 18-55 (kit?) lens.

Any help gratefully recieved...

1 Has he made a mistake with the name of the lens?

not a mistake, just needs more info. Which mount is it? what is the aperture range? etc, tamron will have made more than one version of that lense

have asked for more info, will update as i find out more, thanks for response.

How much are they? I have a couple of Tamron, they're decent cheap lens that does the job.

Didn't the D800 just get best sensor on the market award or summat? And, 36mp! That's insane. Plus if you do want it for video work, then you can buy some cheap Ai-s lenses for it (which are still amazing quality).

DxO Mark just put it at the top of its sensor tree, yes.

Nikon really fucked up with that pricing blip on their new FX bodies; 10% extra is a big hike. I was considering selling two bodies and a lens or two and ponying up the rest for a D800, but now I will definitely have to wait at least until they drop that £200 in price.

cheers ed, it's £80, but there's so many different though similarly named Tamron lenses that I'm a bit lost, I've mailed him to find out more.

My mate has just mailed me back, the lens in question is one of these

http://www.jessops.com/online.store/products/66320/show.html

complete with transferable warranty.

Is it a viable upgrade on my standard lens?

Oh I have that lens, £80 is reasonable for a zoom lens with that aperture.

Any budding photojournalists out there? Want a full-time job at a newspaper? I might know of one coming up.

You must have had some decent experience mind. PM me if interested.

My mate has just mailed me back, the lens in question is one of these

http://www.jessops.com/online.store/products/66320/show.html

complete with transferable warranty.

Is it a viable upgrade on my standard lens?

If that lens does what you want doing, it seems like a good deal. If you want to learn more about photography, I'd get the 50mm f1.8 prime lens instead

Any advice on a decent walkabout lens for my 550D? I'd love to go with something like the 24-70mm f/2.8 USM L series, if I can find a decent second hand one. I'm still a little fuzzy on the crop/full frame thing when it comes to lens choice.

Any advice on a decent walkabout lens for my 550D? I'd love to go with something like the 24-70mm f/2.8 USM L series, if I can find a decent second hand one. I'm still a little fuzzy on the crop/full frame thing when it comes to lens choice.

That would give you a very unbalanced, lens-heavy camera and a less-than-ideal field-of-view, as 24mm becomes 38.4mm when you take into the 1.6 crop factor of that body. That may be wide enough for you most of the time, but probably not all the time. I'm a Nikon so I'm not sure what else Canon offer but they probably do a fast normal zoom in the 17/18-50/55mm range, which would give you the same view as that 24-70 would on a full frame body. If not, I used and was very happy with Sigma's 18-50 2.8 when I had it.

Presuming you mean the crop factor or field of view equivalent you have to of spent a decent amount of time shooting with 35mm film cameras for crop factor to be a consideration. Any lens will give you a different field of view when moved from a film body to a dslr like the 550 but if you've never tried a 24-70 or anything on a film and gotten very used to the FOV, you'll never notice the difference.

Solely because a difference has to be a between a minimum of two things. And if you only ever used digital there is no comparison available to you.

Not sure where your full frame uncertainties lie but if you buy a lens that is designed for full frame body it will work on smaller sensor digital no probs (ok, some ff lenses my be a bit lairy with purple fringeing but that'a a whole different box of frogs) and of course work on FF if you upgrade. A lens optimised for 'cropped' digital sensors MIGHT not perform correctly on a full frame body however due to science and stuff I'm too thick to understand. You just could end up with a big black ring round your image cause the FF sensor is bigger than the projected image.

Or summat.

Sadly I'm a Pentax man so don't know owt about Canon lenses ! If it's any help though I buy Pentax DA lenses cause they're designed for my sensor size then should I switch to FF I'll flog em and buy FA cause they're for FF.

Timmy's going to destroy me now with magic and knowledge ! I'll get me coat.....

Timmy's going to destroy me now with magic and knowledge ! I'll get me coat.....

Not at all, fella! Cheers for sofa. Not had a chance to do anything with it yet - just chucked it in my new neighbour's garage until our purchase completes. Will look good after a polish!

Aye it will, but remember after considering crop factor it goes from a large sofa to mid size civic seating.

Latest from me:

Richard-3 by Timmy2wheels, on Flickr

Richard-4 by Timmy2wheels, on Flickr

the b/w one needs more cigars and brandy.

On the off chance does anyone have a 20mm pancake lens for my GF1 they want to part with?

I have just finished my current contract and am taking a bit of time off before doing the next one. At the same time I have bought my first real camera, a GX1.

Sooo I'm thinking of doing a photography course as I learn things better when they are structured somewhat. Can anyone recommend anything for a beginner? Was looking at these guys:

http://www.londonschoolofphotography.co.uk/id30.html

Any feedback is welcomed.

Alternatively are there any forumengers who fancy teaching me? Am happy to pay dorrah.

looks like a good crash course for all the technical bits. If you have the money, why not?

For me it has come slowly which works for me, but can def see the value in learning it in a more organised manner. Just don't get too tangled up in the technicalities, it's so much more to photography than capturing a technically perfect photo.

Thanks Kboy. Yes - I was looking for something that can give me a platform on which to build as that tends to be my learning style. I'm happy to play around but find I learn more quickly when introduced to the basics with an instructor and can go from there.

Few from today...

Straight from my 350d fitted with 50mm 1:1.8

Well good, lots of wabi sabi going on there.

WTF is that last sculpture thing?