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canon 350d best lens ?

Canon 50mm f/1.8

It's a great value lens. The build quality and autofocus are poor but the optics are excellent. Build quality isn't an issue unless you plan on using it a lot outdoors in all weather and conditions.

It's a particular good lens for full tank shots, but not good for close-ups, due to its minimum focusing distance i.e. how close you can get to the subject.

It's a great portrait lens, due to its large aperture (the f/1.8 bit refers to the aperture. The smaller the number, the larger the aperture). Most cheap kit lenses are widest at f/3.5.

Wide aperture lenses are usually relatively expensive. The Canon 50mm f/1.8 is the exception to this rule and is one of Canon's most popular lenses for this reason.

A large aperture means the lens lets in a lot of light. It also means it can give a shallow depth of field. This means that only a small portion of the image is in focus. Notice a lot of Mark Evans photography - he often shoots with a f/2 lens wide open i.e. at f/2. Notice how only a small portion of the image is in focus. This is desirable as it forces you to see the subject with minimum distraction. Most professional wedding photographers also use large aperture lenses for this reason, and that they let in a lot of light, meaning good results in low-light situations.

On the other hand you have a small aperture, which all lenses can acheive (usually f/22 and smaller). This gives you a greater depth of field. So more of the image is in focus. So ideal for most landscapes etc. where you want everything in focus from the fore-background.

A greater depth of field (smaller aperture) is ideal for full-tank shots for this reason. The downside is that because less light is getting let through, you will need to have a longer shutter speed and/or higher ISO setting. Longer shutter speed means fish will blur and higher ISO means image noise/grain. Most modern DSLR are fine up to 800, maybe even 1600 in some circumstances. High-end DSLR can go much higher without significant noise.

If you plan on buying a DSLR I recommend learning the basics of photography in terms of aperture, shutter speed and ISO.

Once you fully understand these concepts you will be better equipped to choose a lens most appropriate for your requirments.

This is a good article ideal for beginners to photography.

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/sho ... p?t=414088
 
Blimey :clap:

Thankyou George, as always you are a legend when it comes to being generous with your knowledge :thumbup:

Hopefully i will have a camera within the next couple of weeks .. I cant wait to start taken some decent pics of my tank :D
 
+1 for 50mm f1.8
You wont regret it for sure although it will look a bit odd to someone new to photography :)
+2 on reading about iso shatter speed and aperture :thumbup:
 
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