Need some advice - Beginner

[tHarten]

Okay, well I'm about to buy my first DSLR, waiting for the t4i to release on which i've been waiting for a month or 3 (been tracking this site on and off for 3 months aswel) , which wasn't too bad since i wasn't in a hurry anyway. I have used a few Canon rebels before and hence the reason i wanted to buy one, the experience and the opportunity to swap lenses between me and my friends.


from here on out i'll explain my choices based on my (perhaps wrongly) attained knowledge gained from browsing and reading up on camera gear.

So from the information i've gathered it would be wise to go for prime lenses since they "teach" you to become a better photographer, besides i'll use this camera for video shooting aswel and since I use a glidecam HD1000 zooming with lenses completely throws it off balance again. Also i was under the impression that the "kit" lens hardly delivers the quality that the t4i body has to offer, thus i thought investing in primes is a great way to get all the quality out of the body.

I wanted to buy a Sigma 10-20mm F/4 - 5.6 Mainly for action shots combined with the glidecam (Didn't want to go for a fisheye due to it being way overused in the parkour scene)
A Canon 35mm F/2.0, mainly for portraits. The reason for this is my friend complaining about his Canon 50mm F/1.8, it's great but just not so practical in small rooms due to the crop sensor on his T2i.
To cover some more range i thought investing in either a Canon 85mm / 100mm (prime).

According to the specs posted earlier the sensor seems the same but due to Digic V+ the ISO has been upped to 25600. From my (little) experience using the camera at 1600 or higher gets you real grainy pictures on a t2i. So what's the use from upping it from 12800 to 25600 that's shitloads of grain we're talking about right?

Or is the ISO performance improved on this body by using DIGIC V+?

Hope you can help me out here !

 

[helpful]

That's a good choice. T4i should be wonderful. Get the kit. You might as well have that kit lens, which isn't too bad.

Then you could get the new 40mm. That should be lots of fun and be perfect for learning photography with a prime lens. You are right that prime lenses are good for teaching photography and most importantly the ability to find position and perspective which are the next most important parts of taking a picture, after the subject itself.

Some might argue that exposure is the most important, but I am not counting technical things like exposure are not part of the artistic aspect of photography, and light I consider to be part of the subject (golden sunbeams across a wheat field are themselves a subject, for instance).

 

[tHarten]

Hmmk, so going for the kit lens is a smart choice? I'm afraid that because of the versatility of the lens that i might end up using it most of the time because i'd be too lazy to swap lenses.

thanks for your feedback atleast i'm on the right track

 

[bdunbar79]

You can't ignore flexibility though. You need a zoom lens. On a crop factor body, the 35 f/2 would be pretty good. And I agree, on the long end, 85 or 100 (1.8 and 2.0 respectively). If you had 2 or 3 primes and a zoom lens, you'd have a great set up. You can still learn good photography with a zoom, because unless you're doing implied motion shots, you can still only shoot at one focal length right?

 

[wickidwombat]

also consider the sigma 30mm DC f1.4 instead of the 35mm f2

and if it mainly for video apparently the rokinon 85mm f1.4 is supposed to be outstanding value for money
(I've never used it though)

 

[tHarten]

You can't ignore flexibility though. You need a zoom lens. On a crop factor body, the 35 f/2 would be pretty good. And I agree, on the long end, 85 or 100 (1.8 and 2.0 respectively). If you had 2 or 3 primes and a zoom lens, you'd have a great set up. You can still learn good photography with a zoom, because unless you're doing implied motion shots, you can still only shoot at one focal length right?

Yeah that's true, i'll give it a second thought.
My girlfriend will probably love that zoom lens (she's lazy )

 

[Jim K]

The kit lens is only $100, go for it. Sometime you will need the flexability.

 

[NormanBates]

the kit lens (18-55 f/3.5-5.6 IS) is surprisingly good optically, even though it feels like a toy
check out these tests:
http://www.similaar.com/foto/lenstests/lenstestsa.html

plus it's light and it has IS, so it is my go-to lens for the flycam (where I don't have to touch the nasty focusing ring either)

as a 18mm f/3.5 prime for $100 or less, it's a very solid option