Photography

4745 readers

25 users here now

A community to post about photography:

We allow a wide range of topics here including; your own images, technical questions, gear talk, photography blogs etc. Please be respectful and don't spam.

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

Any recommendations for the most versatile, highest-quality lens for the R50 (for ~$600)? (lemm.ee)

submitted 1 week ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

29 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Total beginner here, looking to buy my first camera and looking for a lens that would be able to deal with the widest range of situations (a zoom one) all in one package. I've got about 600usd to spend on it and I'm fully aware it's not much, but I want to get a good start.

I can't buy used ones where I live (even from online platforms around the world), so it'd have to be new.

At the moment my goal is to take photos of pretty much everything: nature (apart from moving animals), landscapes, streets, portraits, objects (large and small), architecture, and I also plan to film videos quite a bit. Nothing fast moving and no sports though.

I'd love to shoot in close-up macro, too, but I understand it's not possible within one lens.

What could you recommend?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Thank you. Great recommendations! What one or a few important things do you think I'd not have access to with the stock 18-45 lens?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Kit zooms these days really aren't bad starter lenses and I wouldn't immediately jump to replace it if the lens is meeting your needs. I would consider this from two angles.

First, is the lens preventing you from achieving the photos you want? IMO there are only two things here:

Focal range. Do you find yourself wanting to "zoom out" and/or "zoom in" with the 18-45?
The ability to capture enough light. Assuming shooting wide open, do your photos have a lot of noise (ie high ISO) and/or blur (ie low shutter speed)?

If the answer to either is "yes" you know the answer to your question - you want more/less focal distance and/or more light gathering ability. If the answer to both 1 and 2 is no, then you don't need a new lens and this brings us to the second area.

Second, does the lens give you the aesthetic you're after? Kit lenses are generally decent, but the opportunities from improvement come from three big things: subject isolation, "pleasing" image quality (bokey, rendering, etc), and sharpness. A "faster" lens will offer much more isolation than your kit lens. The others are really up to your eye.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Not much else to say but thank you! You've basically given me a quick tour of the photography world and I hope others can get as many insights as I have 🙂

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

No worries, happy shooting! Make another post or three if you hav questions! 🍻