Advantages: Cheap and light
Disadvantages: Grainy photo quality, low zoom

...I recently purchased a sweet Canon 400D/XTi Rebel from Amazon.co.uk (£45 cashback!) and this standard zoom lens (Canon EF-S 18-55mm) came with it. As far as I know, you cannot purchase the Canon EF-S 18-5mm on it's own, as it's designed specifically to be sold with the 400D/XTi Rebel package. I'm sure you can pick up a cheap one on eBay though (probably removed from a kit package, or being sold due to an upgrade from kit package). I've seen the EF-S 18-55mm sell for around £25-£35 at undamaged/rarely used condition on eBay, which is quite cheap! I obviously chose the kit lens package with my 400D/XTi Rebel as it only adds about £40 in the price difference, and I couldn't afford a new lens at that time. Before I start reviewing the actual lens, I'd like to say that is is a kit lens. It doesn't have a great built quality... Read review

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Advantages: Good for shooting in low light, compact, discreet, low weight
Disadvantages: None really

...This lens is an ideal "normal" lens for a digital SLR camera. It gives a similar field of view to using a standard 50mm lens with a film SLR camera. The reason for this is that most DSLR cameras have a sensor that is smaller than the standard 24x36mm area on each exposure in a roll of film. (24x36mm is often referred to as "full-frame") All Nikon DSLRs (apart from the new D3) use 16x24mm sensors known as "DX" size. These dimensions are 1/1.5 the size of full-frame, so the term "1.5X Crop Factor" is often used. If you take this 35mm lens and multiply by the 1.5X crop factor then it gives 52.5mm, which is the equivalent field of view this lens gives compared with using film. DSLRs are often sold with a basic "kit lens", for example an 18-55mm zoom lens. While being able to zoom is often useful, the downside... Read review

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Advantages: compact; lightweight; sharp
Disadvantages: small zoom range; designed for 35mm film; no image stabilisation

...This lens is widely available from many sources, both new and secondhand. It is compact and light in weight and offers a significantly wider zoom range than the 28-55mm lens supplied as 'standard' on many Canon digital SLR cameras. Used on most Canon digital cameras, the effective focal lengths become 1.6x bigger (as the sensor is APS- sized, not 35mm sized), making it a 45 - 170mm zoom. Hardly wide-angle, but, at the lower end, it is roughly the same as the 50mm lens that all 35mm cameras used to be fitted with as standard. With digital cameras, the argument goes, you can 'stitch' several shots together to create a panorama and so overcome the lack of a wider angle lens. That's only true to a limited extent - but TRUE wide-angle lenses need a second mortgage at present! With focal lengths between 80 to 120mm being regarded... Read review

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Advantages: Works with Canon, Nikon, Minolta & Pentax DSLRs.
Disadvantages: A bit slower on AF than other lenses.

...for the price. It’s small, light, easy to use, and it does everything I want it to. I did some comparison tests with the Tamron and the Nikon before I sold it, and posted the results on my new photo website : http://www.harrisphotography.co.uk/test.htm These tests show that the Tamron gives lower colour fringing and much better lens edge definition than the budget Nikon and the price difference is quite apparent here (Nikon £90 ish, Tamron £240 ish) - you really DO get what you pay for. This actually makes me wonder how good some of those really, REALLY expensive lenses must be :-) One of the other features I like is the internal rotation for focusing - this means that (unlike the Nikon) the end of the lens body does not rotate when you adjust the focus or zoom. With a Cokin P type filter holder in place this makes a BIG difference to the ease... Read review

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Advantages: Fast Focus, well built, reliable excellent performance all round
Disadvantages: Heavy, you will need a tripod

...As you may be gathering, I have been investing in camera stuff recently... This is the 2nd lens I bought for my camera which is excellent. It takes very good and sharp pictures all the way through and is not prone to glare, possibly due to the very large hood it comes with! The operation of the lens is very simple and fits on both the Sony a-mount as well as the Konica Minolta mount. Zooming is done through a large in the middle and if you are focusing manually it is through a front ring. Again there is no distance indicator for the focus ring but that is only useful for nerds as you will not be able to focus and measure distance at the same time unless you want to get a tape out to check! The longest zoom is at 300mm. Now bear in mind that digital SLR cameras have a "crop" factor in the majority of cases and the Sony a-100 has... Read review

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Advantages: Awesomely sharp. Wide Aperture gives great control. Great colour.
Disadvantages: A little fragile. Would prefer with Image Stabiliser.

...This is the professional photographer's portrait zoom lens of choice. The constant F/2.8 aperture across the zoom range provides excellent performance in low-light, and the best control over depth of field in any zoom lens on the market today. Lens performance is exemplary. If you take the time to use the full time manual focus, pictures of exceptional sharpness can be achieved at any aperture. Some users complain of getting "soft" copies of the lens, but always refer to the excellent and free Canon service of calibration (within warranty). My own lens doesn't suffer from this, I have to say, and I do wonder whether some photographers claim that they're not getting a "sharp copy" when they're not taking the time to focus properly. Commonly referred to as "the brick" amongst Canon users, this lens is noted for its heft. It weighs... Read review

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Advantages: Excellent field of view
Disadvantages: none that I have found in months of use

...Sigma Wide Zoom Lens. If you want a panorama of a landscape then you should try this lens. Described as 12 - 24mm f5-5.6 EX DG Aspherical HSM Technical details first. To fit Sigma, Canon and Nikon (D) Lens construction Groups/elements 12 / 16 Angle of view (degrees) 122.0 - 84.1 Diaphragm blades 6 Minimum Aperture (wide) F22 Minimum Focus (cm/in) 28/11 Filter size (mm) Rear Mount gelatin filter Dimensions diameter x length 87/100mm / 3.4" x 3.9" Weight (g/oz) 615/21.6 Fitted with Hypersonic motor. Comes with its own carry case with a belt mounting attachment and template to make the gel filters. This is a lens designed for a digital camera. It is an ultra wide angle lens (122 degrees) at 12mm along the diagonal axis and is ideal for both indoor and landscape photography. The lens... Read review

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Advantages: Lightweight
Disadvantages: None

...This is a good quality lens that offers good value for money. It's a great lens for any canon enthusiast and incorporates plenty of features that I would highly recommend. This really is a wonderful piece of kit that should go well with many accessories because it really looks good. After using this product for a few months I have not so far come up against any reliability issues but only time will tell. I therefore would recommend the product. However, always think carefully as to whether you actually really need something before you buy it. We buy so many things nowadays that we don't really need. Product Features * Product Description: Canon EF telephoto zoom lens - 70 mm - 300 mm * Lens System: Telephoto zoom lens * Mounting Type: Canon EF * Lens Aperture: F/4.0-5.6 * Focal Length: 70 mm - 300 mm... Read review

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Advantages: standard zoom kit lens, KM compatible
Disadvantages: some darkening at widest angle

...(that's the lenses) from dislodging. This lens is at it's most closed position on the 22mm mark and then opens up going to the 18mm mark so closing is not as easy as just pulling it to the widest angle, which is what you do with the 75-300mm telephoto zoom lens.... Read review

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Advantages: Fantastic zoom range, exceptional image quality
Disadvantages: Heavy to carry, difficult to hand hold at 500mm in low light.

...on to the positives. The flexibility of this lens is the key. At 50mm, you are pretty much at the magnification the eye naturally perceives. You then have a 10x optical zoom to take it to 500mm. Bear in mind that on a digital SLR with APS-C sensor, this is multiplied to a 75-750mm lens. I cannot state enough how flexible this allows you to be. You can choose to fill the frame with something like a sheep, or zoom in and fill the frame with just sheeps eye and nose, while maintaining amazing detail, sharpness and clarity. You can even fit a 2x teleconverter from sigma to get a 150-1500mm f8-12 lens, the likes of which you cannot buy as a standard lens! You will be rewarded with stunning shots if you buy this lens, and i haven't regretted its high price tag once. If you want to try it out, pop to your local Jessops and see if they'll let you... Read review

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