Gateway lens

[Nick Gombinsky]

My gateway lens were actually a three lens kit. I started studying photography when I was 15, and my father gave me his old Pentax ES II with a 35mm f2, 50mm f1.4, and 135mm f2.5. I enjoyed it very much but never thought of other possibilities, it was like the whole camera was that. Years later I bought my first digital, the 350D. Came with a 18-55mm, which I never took off my camera. Again, as many young amateurs, I never thought of it as a system with a modular design. The lens came with the camera.
Then I got the 500D. By that time, cheap chinese adapters were starting to pop up everywhere... and I tried it with my old Pentax lenses. My god.

Few years later, I now have manual focus primes covering almost every need and fast AF zooms. I do this for a living now, so I can actually treat myself every now and then... and to think I almost left photography as a hobby to become a pro musician...

 

[davemiller555]

I am still waiting to get mine.....aftr i lost one......... :'( :'( :'(
the last tym i went hiking with my love and by love i mean i cam and those lens......i just havnt had a chance to get a new pair of them........specially as they were a save and buy :-[

i keep following a few blogs who have the best knowledge of lens and hopefully soon il have one of them back to me
http://blog.uniquephoto.com/tag/lenses/

 

[CarlTN]

Photography is like a drug habit.... You get your first hit, and your hooked... you start off small (usually) then build up to the heavier stuff, and the heavier the stuff the more you want to use! So what was your 'gateway lens'? When and what was the lens or other bit of kit that broke your barrier and led to the reduced coffers most of us face due to this pricey hobby.

For me it was the EF-S 17-55. Before that I had a 450D and kit lens + 50 1.8 for years and could not imagine or ever conceive a situation where i would spend more than a couple of 100$ on a lens. Then i borrowed and subsequently bought the 17-55, and in doing so released the kraken. I had waited 2 years before buying it, but after that i added a 10-22, 55-250, tripod, 580ex II etc to the kit within a year... then came the L lenses....

So, for a bit of fun, what was your gateway lens/piece of kit?

([stand] My name is John, and I am an addict [/stand])

My gateway lens was the first version of the Sigma 17-70 (without "OS"), bought in January 2009. Optically it was a fantastic lens, but couldn't AF accurately or consistently. It was so much better (optically) than the ridiculous 18-55 kit lens that came with my Rebel Xsi, that I began to think I needed to get a more serious Canon camera...so I did. That Sigma lens eventually got me published in Outdoor Photographer, so far one of the biggest highlights of my photographic life (and I'm not young...young people would call me old, but I'm just middle aged!)

I sold that Sigma lens last year for the same price I paid for it new, $300. Worth every penny!

The next lens I bought, in May 2009 (after buying the 50D), is still my favorite of the lenses I own...the Canon 135 f/2L.

I recently read something which is probably widely quoted in photo gear circles..."if you buy cheap, you buy twice". This isn't always true, but I suppose it depends on just how cheap "cheap" is.

 

[bratkinson]

My real addiction started in 1975...when, in less than a year, I went from a Canon AE-1 and 50mm Macro lens to a pair of EF bodies and 7 lenses! But I managed to break that 'habit' when I got married in '88.

Then I tried my 'first fix' (hey, it won't hurt to just try ONE...) with a Canon G3 in 2002 or so. By 2010, I thought I could 'handle' a 30D and 18-135.

But then the insatiable desire for low light, indoors, no flash church event photography struck! Exit the 30D, in with 60D. Exit the 18-135 and 55-250 and in with 24-105, 16-35, 85, 135, 80-200 and 200!

STILL NOT SATISFIED! Out with the 60D and in with the 5D3!

SATISFIED! But for how long?... (probably until my credit cards have 'healed')

 

[ninjapeps]

Bought a 1000D with the 18-55mm kit lens and decided to get a 50mm f1.8 along with it since I kept hearing how 50mm was an essential focal length to have. Figured that I wouldn't be buying anything else after that. A month later, I bought a Sigma 24-70mm f2.8 from a friend since I was having trouble shooting in poor light. Though the trouble more because I was an idiot that didn't want to go beyond ISO 400 due to noise. My lens lineup has been constantly changing until February this year. It's been eight months since I last bought a lens and I'm hoping there won't be any purchases in the near future unless I see an amazing deal for a 24mm f1.4L.

Bags are an entirely different story. I average three bags a year, with my latest being a Think Tank Streetwalker bought just yesterday. And yet I'm already considering a Think Tank Sling-O-Matic 10 all because the local Think Tank store is selling everything at 50% off.

 

[dw2013]

Started off with a 550D a 17-55 Kit Lens back in 2010 - just used this for 2 years, and then purchased a 70-200 F4 L IS for a trip to Argentina. IQ was mind-blowing, and as a result decided to upgrade to a 6D. Borrowed a 24-105 L from a friend (which I still have), although I will be purchasing a 24-70 F2.8 II in the next few weeks (friend needs his 24-105 L back)!!

 

[Roo]

I started out with an 1100d twin lens kit but realized quickly the 55-250 lens wasn't going to cut it for airshows, grand prix and other sports. I then picked up the Sigma 150-500. I followed that up with a 60d and then the Tamron 17-50 f2.8 vc. Somewhere along the way I picked up a Canon 70-200 f2.8 for good measure and now I've just ordered a 5D3, 24-105L and Tamron 90 macro.

 

[Sella174]

Can't say ... I've always bought what I needed, except for the EF 28-70mm f/2.8L USM lens ... I bought that one simply because somebody was selling it.

What I do know, is that the EOS 30D was the camera that got me into expensive lenses, as it showed the limitations of my (then) current kit which film didn't.

 

[Epic800]

I would have to say the 24-105 f/4. I started shooting back in 2009 with a Rebel XT with Tamron 18-200. I eventually upgraded to a Nikon D5000 w/ kit lens then to a D7000 with 50mm f/1.8. At that point I could not see myself spending more than a couple of hundred dollars on a lens. Just recently purchased a Canon 6D and the IQ on the 24-105 f/4 made me realize what I had been missing. I am now looking into purchasing the Sigma 35mm f/1.4 or Canon 135mm f/2.

 

[TexPhoto]

My Minolta XG1 was a hand me down from my older brother. But it came with a 50mm f1.4! He bought a Nikon EM with a 50mm f1.8. I lorded my extra 2/3 of a stop over him claiming it was the most important thing ever.

 

[Mendolera]

I bought my XSI back in late 2008 I believe with the 18-55 and 75-300 III lenses. At the time I thought that was enough, but a friend of mine let me borrow the 28-135 IS for my honeymoon. Soon after that it was the 70-200L and 24-105L and the list went on

 

[dppaskewitz]

My gateway lens was a kit lens: the 24-104L, which I bought with my 5Dc. My first L was the 100-400 and gave me some aha moments on my original Digital Rebel, then 30D. But the 5Dc plus 24-105L kit gave me a snapshot of a glacier in Alaska, taken through the front plexiglass of a helicopter, that told me that I couldn't have gotten that result with the lenses I had previously been using (chiefly a Tamron 18-200 on the crop cameras). Although I have purchased non-L glass since then (50 1.4 and 40), I have also scratched the itch with four more Ls and the lust continues.

 

[andersde]

Its the 100 L for me! Quality just blew me away when compared to the 18 55 kit lens or 55 250 I had at the time.

The kit lens has been replaced by a 15 85 and now the 70 300 L is on the radar to replace the 55 250.

Although I got a bargain on the 100L, in the long run its going to be a seriously costly lens

 

[Famateur]

Mine wasn't a hard street drug, but rather a prescribed painkiller that got me hooked...

It was the terrible Auto Mode of the G12. It constantly overexposed, would boost ISO to spare the flash at the expense of noise. The photos from my faithful 4MP A80 looked better! I had decided to return the G12, but I couldn't help but wonder, "What is this 'M' on the dial for?"

That's all it took.

With only a little Google-fed knowledge, I started to get great results out of that little camera. That led to consuming ridiculous dosages of photography tutorials, then switching to RAW, then more tutorials, then Lightroom. There was no going back. Once an addict, always an addict.

Canon -- thank you for the crappy Auto Mode on an otherwise stellar G12. Had Auto Mode performed in a pleasing way, I would know nothing of photography and might never have moved to a DSLR and a nice lens...and another lens...and another...and...

Maybe that was Canon's intention all along? After all, my doctor is now the dealer that feeds my habit...

 

[chas1113]

Mine wasn't a hard street drug, but rather a prescribed painkiller that got me hooked...

Bingo! EF 75-300mm III. Perhaps the worst lens ever produced by man. It convinced me there had to be a better lens/drug out there. Fast forward about 12 years and now I have the EF 70-300mm L IS, plus multiple Ls, flashes, straps, bags, filters.....