If you had the choice between the following which would be your choice? Wide Angle Lens Tele Lens Macro Lens/Magnifiers Just interested to see which is the most popular...

I just did that. My choice first is a zoom.Next will be a regular lens, but a fast one. Then a macro. Macro is my las choice, because I have a 8mp Nikon8700 that does good macros for now.I like how you can put it on the ground and turn the LCD viewfinder up to see what you are taking in a nice frame. Spending a few thousand on a macro lens is just going to have to wait.

Good advice Doug.I was thinking the same thing.Actually getting all three would be nice,lol. ;^)

Doug made perfect sense there. I would go with his advice. #:O)

I would too but I can only get conversion lenses I can't get actual lenses...

What kind of camera do you have and how much do those conversion lenses cost?

A panasonic FZ5 and the conversion lenses and magnifiers range from R300 (US$50) to R3000 (US$500) ... Not worth it?

I bought a teleconverter to my Dimage A200.... well I'm not very impressed :( cost me 1500 SKR (aprox 190 USdollars) looking in the rearview..I should have saved the money... the macro I haven't tried

Tx MB I'm beginning to think that I should've saved my money too. But I'm looking to buy a Canon EOS 350D now... Hope I'll be satisfied... But when is one ever?

I guess that it may have something to do with the type of images we prefer... I am actually thinking of buying a macro first and probably a wide-angle lens next.

Go with Doug's advise. :) I'd personally love a Wide angle lense, then a macro.

... quoting DBgrafix : " ... a regular lens, but a fast one ... " ---------- that it will be my next choice although not cheap if really fast .............. :)

If I could only have one lens it would be a 50mm prime no question about it. My reasoning Wide aperture and fast lens good in low light You can compensate to some degree by composition move away or closer to subject (not always possible) Add close-up filters for macro type photography (not true macro but a close 2nd best) Excellent optical quality far superior to a zoom, (and much cheaper like for like) so sharp you will cut yourself. IMO every beginner should have a 50mm prime in their kit bag, to learn compo the hard way, instead of staying in one place and zooming in and out, and to experiment with the wide range of apertures that it offers.

Attached Link: http://tinyurl.com/cooy2

This is (like) what i got for my dimage Z5 -> http://tinyurl.com/ca2ng

Message edited on: 02/15/2006 15:48

"Every beginner should learn the hard way" They sure would - they would learn that it can't be done. I think your point is that the photographer should look for composition before deciding how to shoot it and not hunt for the composition with a zoom lens. If you try to compose all your shots with a fixed focal length say 50mm what happens is you are very limited in what shots you can capture because if you move closer to get a tighter framing the perspective also alters and your subject has changed size in relation to the background and vice versa of course. So that great composition that caught your eye and made you first want to capture the scene has gone. If however you have a zoom lens and stand still having seen the composition you want and increase your focal length to get a tighter framing what happens is the compositional relationship stays the same. Example: You see a great vintage Bentley car parked in front of a house on the gravel drive. So you decide to capture the scene as you saw it from the end of the drive. Oh but the problem is with your 50mm lens you also get the rusty Ford parked next door. So you move closer to get a tighter framing, now you have got the house entrance and the car, but what has happened is the car is now appearing a lot larger in relation to the house and the scene doesn't look the same at all. So you go back to the end of the drive change to your zoom lens and use that to get a tighter framing. Voil The relationship between the size of the house and the car stays the same and you get the picture you saw.

Of course you could always have a prime for every occassion depending on resources - the money to buy them and a willing and strong assistant to carry your kit bag.

Thats very true Richard (or the owner sets the dogs on you for trespassing) lol My point was really in relation to the question asking what would you (being I) choose. I will rephrase hard way to proper way, when I started out in photography; zoom lenses werent generally available, so having primes was the only option. To that end a 50mm prime was my choice then, and if faced with the same situation now my choice would be the same. Perspective of course plays a big part, you can only work with what you have Im not saying people shouldnt have a standard zoom as a first/only lens, Im just saying it wouldnt be my first choice. I on occasion go out with just the 50mm lens as a challenge to myself (yeh ok Im a bit odd) to see what I can achieve, the result is generally less shots taken and much more walking about. My choice though and I enjoy it.

Hee Hee and the opinions begin... I've a fav of zoom lenses but was hunting last night to see what the prices of a good zoom for the 350D would be and holy wally, R22000 (US$4000) I nearly died!!! Maybe I should just get the FZ30 and stick to the manual focus with that with 12 optical zoom... Is the optical zoom on these all in one cams the same as a DSLR zoom lens?