Help which lens for 600D ? no idea :-(

[SAW]

Hi,

I am pretty new to imaging and I've only used my 600D (modded) with my 80ED for AP, I don't own any lens for the 600D I just bought it modded ready for AP. I am away on holiday in a week and I'd like to take my 600D with me and do some AP with it but I really don't know what lens I need. I have a tripod and intervalometer to use but have no idea on a lens. I have been recommended the Samyang 14mm F2.8 a lot.

What can I expect to image with this lens ?

What other lens(s) should I be looking at for imaging other night sky things ?

As I say I have no idea on camera lens, I'd never used a dslr util I took up AP !

Thanks.

[Alien 13]

The std 18-55mm kit lens is as good as it gets at the price.

Alan

[SAW]

So the smaller the number (mm) the wider the view ? is that correct.

I don't want to spend £250 on a lens I might only use once if I can buy the standard lens and get reasonable results at 1/3rd of the price.

[newbie alert]

Samyang is so much better than a kit lense..

 

[Star Struck]

Try going to mpb.com and look for a good used lens if you want something that you may not use a lot.

 

[kendg]

Start with what you have and then see where you want to go. As stated above the kit lenses are a great place to start.

Use them to experiment and see where you need to go.

I picked up a few of the kit lenses and they all work well. I just needed to fill in a few things at the wide and telephoto ends for traveling.

I've got a 500mm f6.3 mirror lens and it's great for lunar and solar.

I've recently got a Rokinon 14mm. Great for wide field.

 

[Alien 13]

The two best value for money entry level lenses above the kit one are probably the Canon 50 mm f/1.8 stm and 40 mm pankake lens, after that then the Samyangs.

Alan 

[SAW]

I don't have the kit lens, I do not have any lens all I bought was the camera body. 

[RichM63]

You are away on holiday in a week, with no real experience as you say, and no time to get any.

I too would recommend the 18-55 IS STM kit lens, and 50mm 1.8, you could buy both for a lot under your £250 price combined and they will always have a place in your kit should you get into Photography in a big way, and they don't weigh anything if you are flying.

Yes smaller mm = wider angle, but 14mm could easily be far too wide unless you are on top of a mountain. ie buildings and other unwanted stuff could easily get in the way, and it is a lens that would require some practice.

Don't start out with a specialist lens as a first go, it will likely then remain unused in the future. see my sig', some of those lenses only get used once in a blue Moon when I want to try something different.

Best, Rich

[SAW]

Thanks all.

I noticed Canon do two 18-55mm lens one is f3.5-5.6 and the other is f4-5.6 which do I need, i presume the f3.5-5.6 ?

What can I expect to take images of using the 18-55mm lens ?

and what will the 50mm 1.8 be good for ?

Is this the one,

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Canon-EF-50-mm-F-1-8-STM-Prime-Lens-for-Canon-EOS-SLR-Auto-Focus-Black-/292017541208?epid=219511586&hash=item43fd9a1058:g:6ggAAOSwdGFYnYzq

[happy-kat]

The canon 85mm is f1.8 the 100mm if f2 and they do a 100mm lens that does marco as well as distance.

I have the pancake lens 40mm f2.8 and it is a very handy walk about lens as so small. The 85mm f1.8 is a great day time lens (I have that too) but needs stopping down from astro as can be quite CA. If going to use for daytime as well then the pancake lens it is my go to lens but it hasn't had much astro use yet it was cloudy for me on recent holiday.

 

Edit: just seen post edited I replied to so probably the above is irrelevant now.

Edit 2: you don't need IS for astro use so that maybe the difference between the two kit lenes.

[happy-kat]

The pancake and plastic fantastic 50mm both use focus by wire (electronic) the kit lens is mechanical focus turn the focus ring and focus is mechanically changed the other two need the camera on an metering (as does the 85mm also electronic focus ring they feel different under the fingers as turning instructs the stepper motor to adjust focus).

[SAW]

I can switch of AF though can't I ?

I found out the differences between the two lens, the f4 one is the latest version.

Oh I'm so confused with all these lens that are available :-( 

What would I use the 50mm f1.8 for ?

[newbie alert]

A 50mm lense you're going to get roughly the whole Orion constellation in the frame...how wide you want yo go is dependant on what you want to image but on a static mount if you go too narrow then the exposures will be very short.as a e.g... if you had a 14mm lense on a crop camera you get about 20 seconds without star trails..on a 200mm you get 1-2 seconds

[SAW]

If I budget around £200 Should I get the standard lens + the 50mm or just the Samyang 14mm

[geordie85]

If I was you I'd get the standard kit lens. The samyang is very good but can be very tricky especially if you've got no experience with dslr's and lenses.

You may find this an interesting read http://www.nightofmanywords.com/articles/kit-lens-astrophotography

[RichM63]

Your choice.

Physically go to a local photographic dealer's and try the lenses.

Personally I would not buy a 14mm lens as my first and only lens, it only has limited uses.

[happy-kat]

Maybe if you are going to also use the camera during the day just get the kit lens it covers 18-55mm. I'm not personally a fan of wide wide as I don't like bendy straight lines.

[SAW]

Which of these would be best,

http://www.camerajungle.co.uk/products/72033/canon-ef-s-18-55mm-f-4-5-6-is-stm-lens

https://www.mpb.com/en-uk/used-equipment/used-photo-and-video/used-lenses/used-canon-fit-lenses/canon-ef-s-18-55mm-f-3-5-5-6-is-ii/sku-686028/

the first one seams to be the latest version. 

[Mick J]

Kit lens is would be a good buy, I guess I would go with the mpb lens above (I don't know camerajungle) - f3.5 or f4 won't make much difference to you, you will be able to shoot astro (short exposures stacked) and star trails, play around during the day taking holiday snaps and learning. What fun.

Holiday snaps set save to jpeg for astro set to raw (big files), get as much playing in before you go, the internet is full of guides.  Back when dslr's were film the 50mm lens was supplied with most cameras because that was thought to be what we see out of our eye.  The Canon 'nifty 50' lens is thought to be very good value for money and the f1.8 means twice as fast as the kit lens = half the exposure time for same shot perhaps - with astro you are juggling with exposure - f stop, iso, time (speed).  Best advice is keep it simple.

[happy-kat]

camera jungle is Jessops outlet as far as I know.

[Alien 13]

I think the STM version might have a smoother focus ring when used manually, I know my old 18-55 IS ii was difficult to use in manual mode because of all the free play in the ring.

Alan 

[geordie85]

3 hours ago, happy-kat said:

camera jungle is Jessops outlet as far as I know.

Yes this is true. They are very good and I've found them to be cheaper than mpb for the most part. 

I got a very good 600d from camerajungle for less than £200 with a shutter count less than 5000. 

[SAW]

Thanks for the help so far.

Decided I'm going to get a couple of lens, managed to get a used Samyang and I'm going to get the standard lens as well.

I'm now looking for a bag LOL, costing me a fortune this hobby !

Anyway found this and I have Prime :-) is it any good ? I would like one to hold my Lenovo Thinkpad then I can do some editing on holiday :-)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Backpack-Multifunctional-Organizer-Waterproof-Accessories/dp/B0142OHJJY/ref=pd_lpo_vtph_421_tr_t_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=6SCT0S61C8NM0QKV1ZDW

[SteveNickolls]

Thanks for posting. You could read up here- http://www.astropix.com/html/i_astrop/lenses.html and do some background over what takes your fancy. This site https://www.lenstip.com/lenses_reviews.html contains many lens reviews. Longer term you might want to get a Samyang 135mm f/2.0 ED UMC Canon fit, it is very good.

Cheers,
Steve