Hi. I have the canon 600d with the 18-55mm lense. I’m looking at getting back into some wildlife photography and having a go at macro. My budget isn’t huge what would recommend to start out with? Rob.
This thread is about general or macro photography discussion. Feel free to talk as much as you want :).
Hi Rob
,
I started on an old Canon but have since moved on, but I do have a Canon macro lens that I still use with a converter. I still find it a pretty good piece of glass and the price is reasonable in my books, Its the Canon 100mm EF F2.8 USM (not the L series). It has no stabilization, if thats important to you and its showing its age at 13 years since its release date but I can vouch that it has pretty good image quality and is decently built. There are newer version with stabilization but if your budget is tight this lens sells under $750 AUD here which is a little over 400 quid over there. We have other Canon shooters in the forum that may be able to give you better ideas and advice but I thought I would throw at least one idea into the hat. Ask if you have any questions.
Cheers,
Aaron
,I started on an old Canon but have since moved on, but I do have a Canon macro lens that I still use with a converter. I still find it a pretty good piece of glass and the price is reasonable in my books, Its the Canon 100mm EF F2.8 USM (not the L series). It has no stabilization, if thats important to you and its showing its age at 13 years since its release date but I can vouch that it has pretty good image quality and is decently built. There are newer version with stabilization but if your budget is tight this lens sells under $750 AUD here which is a little over 400 quid over there. We have other Canon shooters in the forum that may be able to give you better ideas and advice but I thought I would throw at least one idea into the hat. Ask if you have any questions.
Cheers,
Aaron
Hi Kermit,
Tough choice for wildlife and macro really. For wildlife do you mean birds and such like? because if you do you will need a long reach like 400mm or more for the best results. I use a canon 70-200mm with a 2x converter for birds when I can, I also use the same lens without the converter for some macro shots, although you cannot get close to the subject because the lens will not focus closer than 1.2m. Image stabilisation is helpful for birds and animals that are far away when you use a long lens.
Tamron and Sigma both make decent lenses with Canon mounts that will not break the budget, depending on what your budget actually is.
You could look at the Canon 70-200mm f/4.0 L IS
the Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro is also a good lens, but not so good for birds as the reach is only 100mm
The Canon 100-400mm IS LII is a great lens, focusing to .84m which makes it usable for Macro or close up shots but it isn't cheap
The Tamron 150-600mm f/5-6.3 is a nice lens for the price at around $1,000 or so, and focuses relatively close for those macro shots, and the Tamron 18-400mm APS-C Stabilised f/3.5-6.3 is a decent all rounder but only for crop sensor cameras.
However, if you want a really nice all round lens for a good price that works on both full frame and crop sensors look at the Canon 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS II it comes in around $599 new and should work fine for what you want.
Tough choice for wildlife and macro really. For wildlife do you mean birds and such like? because if you do you will need a long reach like 400mm or more for the best results. I use a canon 70-200mm with a 2x converter for birds when I can, I also use the same lens without the converter for some macro shots, although you cannot get close to the subject because the lens will not focus closer than 1.2m. Image stabilisation is helpful for birds and animals that are far away when you use a long lens.
Tamron and Sigma both make decent lenses with Canon mounts that will not break the budget, depending on what your budget actually is.
You could look at the Canon 70-200mm f/4.0 L IS
the Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro is also a good lens, but not so good for birds as the reach is only 100mm
The Canon 100-400mm IS LII is a great lens, focusing to .84m which makes it usable for Macro or close up shots but it isn't cheap
The Tamron 150-600mm f/5-6.3 is a nice lens for the price at around $1,000 or so, and focuses relatively close for those macro shots, and the Tamron 18-400mm APS-C Stabilised f/3.5-6.3 is a decent all rounder but only for crop sensor cameras.
However, if you want a really nice all round lens for a good price that works on both full frame and crop sensors look at the Canon 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS II it comes in around $599 new and should work fine for what you want.