Canon Lens 70-300mm Vs 70-200mm - Which One For You

Every photographer who totes a Canon digital SLR camera needs a medium telephoto lens for that camera. There is no argument about that. It's a given.

The debate comes in when you try to decide which one is right for your needs.

Canon EF 50mm

First things first. We are considering the Canon lens 70-300mm, we are speaking of the f/4-5.6 IS lens, not the f/4.5-5.6 IS DO lens. The later lens costs more than twice as much, but it does not give you that much more value for your money.

Canon Lens 70-300mm Vs 70-200mm - Which One For You

So lets take a quick look at the benefits of this excellent piece of equipment. Almost unanimously, buyers agree that they are pleasantly surprised at the image quality. The reason they are surprised is that the lens does not "feel" as substantial as one of the better built "L" lenses.

Another plus is the IS (image stabilization) which will allow you to hand hold your camera for even low light shots. Normally there is a 1/focal length equation that works with a non-IS lens, but with the 70-300mm lens you can add a few stops to that equation.

In addition to the sharp images and IS, you have fast auto-focus. It has a hypersonic motor that allows almost instant focus.

Finally, you will be getting an additional 100mm of focal length. A total of 300mm on the long end is quite impressive, indeed. If you are using one of the crop sensor cameras like a Rebel, essentially that equates to 420mm compared to a full sensor camera body. You can do a lot with that kind of reach.

On the down side, as already mentioned, the build quality is not the same as an L lens. As with almost all zoom lenses, there is some barrel distortion at both ends of the focal range.

Another point that some users find fault with is that the outside of the lens moves during focus. If you are holding the focus ring, the lens can't operate, so you will need to adjust your shooting technique to compensate for that.

Not much in the way of criticism at all. Read the buyer reviews at the online photo stores and at FredMiranda.com and you will see that folks who lay down hard cash for the Canon 70-300mm lens are mostly quite satisfied... to the tune of about a 9.0 rating (out of 10 possible).

On the other side, the Canon lens 70-200mm that compares in price is the f/4 L without IS. As far as performance, it is the f/4 L IS, but the IS makes the price just about double.

Now, there is nothing wrong with either of these two models. After all, they are both L lenses, and they are considered the very best that Canon has to offer.

They are built to last with the very best materials know to photographic engineering.

Images are tack sharp.

Auto-focus is speedy, making them great for action events. Also consider that there is no exterior movement during the auto-focus.

Another benefit is that they have a steady f/4 aperture across all focal lengths.

If your decision leads you to one of the Canon lens 70-200mm models, you will not be disappointed.

Canon Lens 70-300mm Vs 70-200mm - Which One For You

Canon Rebel Portrait Lens - Which Lens Is Best for Canon Rebel Portraits?

Let's say you just got your very first DSLR and it's a Canon Rebel. You are now a pro, or at least a semi-pro. That's what everyone around you will be thinking.

So what about portraits? What are the requirements for a Canon Rebel portrait lens?

Canon EF 50mm

Every photographer is a portrait photographer at some point. Your family will assume that you are a great portrait shooter. More importantly for them you will do the job cheap.

Canon Rebel Portrait Lens - Which Lens Is Best for Canon Rebel Portraits?

It's just a fact. When people see that monster camera, they just take it for granted that you are a pro and you can take any kind of picture with excellence.

Don't tell them you are just getting started. Keep that awesome camera in front of your face and let them think you are great at your chosen hobby.

Here are a the two main things to keep in mind for getting a decent head shot.

First, you will want to be anywhere from 6 to 20 feet away from your subject. Any closer than 6 feet and you will be seeing some distortion in the body features.

Second, you should choose as wide an aperture as possible, like f/2.8 or f/4. A wide aperture will result in a narrow depth of field, meaning that the plane of focus is limited to a couple of inches in front of and behind the main focus area (the face in the case of a head shot). The object of a narrow depth of field is a blurry background.

Selecting a lens to accomplish this may simply mean looking in your camera bag or on your camera, because you may already have a good lens.

Your Canon Rebel has a sensor that multiplies the focal length of the lens by a factor of 1.6. So, if you have a Canon Portrait lens of 100mm, you are actually taking a picture with an effective focal length of 160mm (that's 100 x 1.6).

A head shot usually involves a photo area roughly 3 to 4 feet in height. Taking a picture with a 100mm lens would put you about 15 feet from your subject... perfect.

The very least focal length you could use to get that same shot would be a 50mm lens with you positioned about 6 feet from your subject. A Canon EF-S 60mm macro lens will do the job, too, and it is made specifically for a Rebel.

The perfect Canon Rebel portrait lens could also be a longer focal length. In particular, a 70-200mm zoom lens works really well because of how totally awesome the images are. It is actually what many consider the Canon "Flagship" lens. If you own one of the 70-200mm lenses (and there are five of them now), you are set.

However, many photographers think that a prime lens takes the best portraits (a prime lens has a single focal length rather than a zoom). There is no argument that a fantastic head shot can be taken with a 100mm prime or a 135mm prime lens. These are excellent lenses. But they are also more expensive than some others.

Assuming budget will play some part in your decision, keep in mind that the focal length can be anywhere from 50mm and up. It is really your position (distance from your subject), the perspective of the shot, and the quality of the lens that make the shot.

If you will be taking lots of portraits, then a quality lens with the right focal length and aperture will be a good investment. However, if you are not planning on making head shots your main type of photography, you may want to get a lens that will suit your needs for whatever kind of images you plan to major in and let it double as a Canon Rebel Portrait lens.

Canon Rebel Portrait Lens - Which Lens Is Best for Canon Rebel Portraits?

Canon Lens Reviews: Top 5 To Wow The Competition

Business is booming for photography. Clients are calling constantly to set up appointments and they all want the best in their area. What makes you the right photographer for the job? Not only does it take skills to successfully capture a perfect shot, but it also requires a camera lens built for the job. Check out this list of top 5 Canon lens reviews which can separate you from the crowd.

1. Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM Medium Telephoto Lens for Canon SLR Cameras
One I Used for a very long time a few years back, this particular lens has 70-200L, 16-35L, Fish-eye, 50mm and the Kit lens. This absolutely takes one the best "portrait shots" I have ever seen. The details this lens does with people brings out so many details that the pictures look like they could jump out. The depth of the focus of the background tops off the package. If you plan on taking shots for weddings and parties this will be absolutely stunning. If this seems like your area this could be the lens for you.

Canon EF 50mm

2. Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM Lens
This particular lens has a horrible shutter speed. But, if you can live with that then you can find an incredibly sharp and detailed focus that will make any viewing that perfect shot felt with every shot. It also has an incredibly great level of detail to nature and insects. This is a great value for those in this price range, but that shutter speed may turn you off from this one.

Canon Lens Reviews: Top 5 To Wow The Competition

3. Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM Lens
This particular lens may be a general lens for you. It is a very sharp image producing lens, and this may cause you to use it a lot. It also has a very fast shutter speed so that is another plus. The only thing is when you focus in close ranges. This can be helped however with getting a decent tripod.

4. Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM Telephoto Zoom Lens
This is definitely an excellent macro camera for taking outside shots. it is one of the best all around Canon lenses in its price range, and it is definitely one to build an pretty good reputation of taking quality pics. It has amazing fast performance, an amazing and quiet focus, and durability that blows competition away. If you are looking for a good all around camera, this is your lens hands down.

5. Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM Telephoto Lens
if you have the cash to dish out for this one, you will have one of the most amazing lenses I have ever dealt with. This lens is by far the leader in amazing sharpness to every photo and every aspect of its performance is just phenomenal. It also has an amazing to use image stabilization system and can deliver crisp shots under pretty much any condition. If you're looking for the best of the best, this lens will satisfy your every need and you will be able to build an amazing portfolio relatively easily with this one.

All of these cameras have a lot of skills for your photography needs, and if you are still undecided and are in the price range of any of these, you will be sure to find your perfect lens. Now its time to impress everyone with your amazing photos!

Canon Lens Reviews: Top 5 To Wow The Competition

Camcorder Lens Accessories

Some of the most popular camcorder accessories on the market today are accessories that focus on the camcorder's lens. Although camcorders are great on their own, there are a variety of lens accessories that you can use to spice up your videos! Let's take a look at some of the most popular lens accessories available for purchase today.

If you are looking to purchase accessories for your camcorder's lens, you might start with lens filters. Lens filters are tiny glass pieces that you place in front of your camcorder's lens. Lens filters are used for a variety of things including changing the color of your image, altering the brightness of your image, or creating a special visual effect. When looking to change the color of your video, there are 2 types of lens' to choose from; solid and gradient. The difference between the two is that solid filters change the color of your whole frame, while gradient filters only change the color of a frame portion. On top of changing brightness and colors, lens filters can also produce a variety of special effects. They can reduce glass or water reflections, add a sparkle to lights, cast a fog, or create multiple images like a kaleidoscope. Depending on which lens filter you purchase, they usually range from -0 in price.

Canon EF 50mm

Also a great lens accessory to have are telephoto and wide angle adapters. These accessories allow you to extend the range of your camcorder lens, allowing you to zoom in on distant subject or make the most of a tight shooting space. Wide angle and telephoto adapters are super easy to use. All you have to do is tighten the adapter onto your lens and voila! The downfall with these lens accessories is that they can be quite expensive, ranging in price from 0 to 0.

Camcorder Lens Accessories

Another camcorder accessory, that many people are unfamiliar with, is the lens controller. The lens controller is a great accessory to have because it allows you to have control over your camcorder without even touching it! Once your controller is attached to your camcorder, simply set up your camcorder and begin recording without even touching it! Camcorder controllers are great for family parties and events because they allow you to record and socialize at the same time. No longer will you have to walk around with a camera attached to your face! While the cost of camcorder controllers is quite variable, they generally cost somewhere between 0 and 0.

If you own a camcorder and would like to begin experimenting with different camcorder effects, the lens is the place to start. Lens filters are great for changing colors and hues, and adding effects to your videos. Wide angle and telephoto adapters give you the opportunity to shoot wider angles and farther distances. Finally, lens controllers give you the ability to control your camera without even touching it! The accessories discussed in this article are just a few of the many out there. Search for lens accessories today and begin experimenting with your camcorder!

Camcorder Lens Accessories

What's the Best Wide Angle Lens?

What's the best wide angle lens?

Best wide-angle lens? Two steps backward. Look for the 'ah-ha'.

Canon EF 50mm

-Ernst Haas, Comment in workshop, 1985

What's the Best Wide Angle Lens?

Ernst has hit the nail on the head. The answer to "What's the best wide angle lens" isn't Canon's new 16-35mm f4.... but which ever lens you have with you at the time.

As a professional Photographer, I can truthfully say that sometimes, I can't see the wood for the trees and get fixated about the next generation of new lens with a faster "this" and smaller "that", and for a couple of weeks will lust after it until the feeling finally subsides.

Photographers in general tend to be "gear hounds", but at some point you have to use what you have and not make an excuse that you didn't get the shot - but if you had the new "X" you would have!

When travelling, I can't take all the gear I'd like to because:
I'd never fit it into the small hand luggage size requirements airlines use these days. I'd never be able to carry it all day out and about.

But overall, this can be a good thing, because it forces you to think about what you're going to be shooting, and more importantly what you can do without. I've had occasions when I've been shooting landscapes in the middle of nowhere and I'd wish I'd brought along X piece of kit, but it's possible to work around the shortfall 99% of the time. Either by better technique, or moving position, I'd rarely had to compromise a particular shot because due to lack of kit.

Learning who to use the equipment you have more effectively can often mean you don't necessarily need that extra piece of equipment.

For instance:
What if the wide angle lens you have isn't wide enough for the shot? - Result, learn how to take panoramas where you can stitch images together. Because wide angle lenses tend to distort, you usually shoot at around 50mm anyway, so you wide angle lens wouldn't be any use in that situation. Didn't bring your tripod for the long exposure shot? - Result, learn better camera handling through stronger posture, which means you can hand hold to a lower shutter speed, or learn how to fashion temporary camera stabilisers from what you've got in your kit, coat, pockets.

A good bit of lateral thinking can take you along way, and it starts with furthering your education, not just about your camera, but with photography in general. The more you understand about the process of why things happen the way they do, the more you can understand to use them to your advantage, or not (i.e. camera shake at long shutter speeds, useless for landscapes, but potentially good for action shots). As an aside, this will also make you a better photographer, and let's be honest, who wouldn't find that useful?

What's the Best Wide Angle Lens?

Choose Perfect Camera Lens for Night Photography

Night Photography can be very intriguing. You cannot just think of clicking photographs in the night under normal circumstances. A lot of factors come into play and influence the photographs. During nights the most important aspects of photography are focus, weight, image quality and the price of the lens. The lens that offers all these qualities automatically qualifies as the ideal choice for night photography. The Nikon Telephoto Lens and the Canon Wide Angle Lens do the needful to qualify.

The reason why both the Nikon Telephoto Lens and the Canon Wide Angle Lens qualify is because of the variety available. The AF-SDX 35mm f/1.8G, AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D Autofocus and the 2180 AF-S NIKKOR 50mm f/1.4G are three fine examples from Nikon. All these have been categorized under the Nikon Telephoto Lens and have shown their capacity to produce visually appealing images during the nights. The ambience might be dark and the light dim, but these lenses get to work quickly and show why they are top preference. They have a good focal length, curvature, and aperture and produce good snaps.

Canon EF 50mm

If Nikon has these to boast of, then Canon too is not far behind. The 24-105mm f/4L IS USM EF, EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM UD Wide Angle Zoom and the EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM are Canon masterpieces that have been made for night photography. During nights, whether artificial light is available or not, these lenses show competence in taking clear photographs. They are the finest Canon Wide Angle Lenses that have been produced so far with a proven track record of doing well during nights.

Choose Perfect Camera Lens for Night Photography

These are the perfect examples of the lenses used during nights for photography. The photographs taken through these are neither blurred nor distorted. They are as apparent as they can ever be. Once the photographer puts them inside his camera and starts using them, issues such as picture quality and image stability which are otherwise very important seem very petty.

The nights do not have the good fortune of broad daylight. Hence, the lenses in the camera have to be so strong that absence of light gets compensated for. Distorted lenses lack clarity. The images come blurred, and the darkness sets it up for a double whammy. This can really become frustrating for the photographer, for he has to put in twice the effort during nights. These lenses do not let that happen, and give the photographer a reason to cheer for.

Laying focus during nights is not that easy. Same goes for establishing stability and ensuring texture. All these things only fall into place when the lens itself has something special to offer. The features that have been talked about above have to be there in the lenses to get good pictures. Their absence is bad news and will leave the photographer in dismay. These are the most ideal lenses that fit the bill for good night photography. There are plenty of artists vouching for their efficiency, reason enough for usage.

Choose Perfect Camera Lens for Night Photography

6 Must Have Items for Your Canon EOS 550D (Rebel T2i / Kiss X4)

When I wrote the article "5 Lenses You Must Have for Canon EOS 7D", I realised that there are a lot of cropped sensor users who were keen to consider what they should buy for their gear. Keeping the total investment as low as possible, here is a list of 6 items which I believe are must haves to get the most out of your Canon EOS 550D.

1: Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 Mk II

Canon EF 50mm

The Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 Mk II is without a doubt the best value for money lens you can buy. Not only will you get a lot of shooting out of it, the quality is almost as good as the f/1.4 version. While the build quality will not earn much praises, it is definitely good enough to last you long enough that when it does eventually gets damaged, you will have no hesitation getting a replacement. This is definitely the best lens to start with in the world of Canon primes and it's very rare that you'll see a dissatisfied owner. You may move to better options but you'll be hard pressed to find anything remotely close in terms of value for money.

6 Must Have Items for Your Canon EOS 550D (Rebel T2i / Kiss X4)

2: Canon EF-S 55-250mm F4-5.6 IS Lens

The Canon EF-S 55-250mm F4-5.6 IS Lens is a very economical option for those who need to shoot telephoto. With a 35mm equivalent of focal range of 88-400mm, this lens will give you plenty to play with as you understand your 550D better. It comes with image stabilisation so you comfortably shoot handheld under decent light conditions. Are there better telephoto options you can consider, sure... but unless you are determined to do a lot of telephoto shooting, this lens will allow you to invest your money into other areas of your gear. Either that, or save it towards getting the 70-200 f/2.8L IS II. Once you've mastered the 55-250, you will be ready to get your money's worth out of this much more expensive upgrade.

3: Transcend 16GB Class 6 SDHC Memory Card

A memory card is without a doubt a very important component in your overall workflow. Some prefer to have multiple cards (which I wholeheartedly agree with) while others will always go for the largest sizes possible so they won't be interrupted with a full card. I currently shoot with multiple Transcend 16GB Class 6 SDHC memory cards as the price for these are much more reasonable than their 32GB counterparts and at the same time, give you enough room for a large mix of JPEGs, RAWs and HD movie files. If your budget allows, I would say go for the Sandisk 16GB SDHC Extreme Class 10, but considering that its price is almost double that of the Transcend, you'll just have to decide if the additional performance is worth the cost. My Transcend cards have been good to me so far but then I tend to shoot in fair conditions and treat my cards very carefully on my social shoots. However, with work related shooting, I always go with the Sandisk for the extra peace of mind.

4: Canon Battery Grip BG-E8

I have mentioned many times that I love to shoot portraits and so the vertical grip is one of the main reasons I have a battery grip on my camera. Other reasons to be considered include your hand size as well as the amount of shooting you will be doing. Many male shooters may find that the 550D to be a tad small for their hands and so with a grip attached, it feels a lot more comfortable and reassuring. For those with smaller hands, the grip issue with or without the battery grip will be less important and most would likely find it equally comfortable even with the grip added. If you shoot for a long while and more importantly, if you shoot lots of video with your DSLR, the additional battery slot allows to you shoot continuously without interruption.

Another thing about the battery grip which many overlook is the ability to take AA batteries. When travelling, I always have the AA battery carriage with me so that if I run out of battery at a scenic location, I can resort to shooting on AA batteries and not miss the opportunity for some great shots.

5: Canon LP-E8 Battery Pack

This Canon LP-E8 Battery Pack is really a follow on from the Battery Grip but even if you decide the battery grip is not for you, I would still recommend getting extra batteries. After all, you don't have the option to fall back on AA batteries without the grip so if you run out of power, you need to have your charger, a power socket and a bit to time before you can keep shooting. If theses inconveniences are not an issue for you then you are definitely a very lucky shooter. I have the habit of having at least three batteries for my camera model at all times when I shoot anything remotely serious or will be travelling. Battery failures are a lot less common nowadays but you never know and can't be too careful.

6: Tamron SP AF17-50mm F/2.8 XR Di II VC LD Aspherical [IF]

Now, items one to five are definitely items which I recommend you get regardless but the Tamron SP AF17-50mm F/2.8 XR Di II VC LD Aspherical [IF] has a touch of extravagance to it though it's very much justifiable. If your budget is really tight, then just you should get the Canon 550D with the 18-55mm kit lens and save this option for another day. However, if you want to really get some shallow depth of field in the standard focal range then this lens is definitely one of the best options with an attractive price tag. I always advocate the VC (Vibration Control) version, especially if you are going to take advantage of the movie shooting with the 550D (You WILL notice the difference!) If you don't shoot much video, then the Tamron SP AF 17-50mm F/2.8 XR Di II LD Aspherical would be a cheaper option that shoots just fine handheld in most cases.

6 Must Have Items for Your Canon EOS 550D (Rebel T2i / Kiss X4)