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?

  • stoy
    2·
    10 days ago

    The “RF-S” lenses are the budget lenses of Canon RF lenses.

    This scheme started with the EF mount and EF-S lenses.

    This is not to say that RF-S lenses or even EF-S lenses are terrible, but they are built down to a price.

    An RF-S lens will be perfectly servicable for the vast majority of usecases.

    Look for reviews on the lens you are interested in and look at the sample shots (ignore any review that does not supply full resolution sample shots).

    When I started doing photography, I had a Canon EOS 400D with the kit EF-S 18-55mm lens, it was fine, I sometimes go back and look at some photos taken with that camera, and they still hold up, granted I don’t pixel peep, but they are fine.

    With regards to your question about what type of lens you should get, since I don’t know the market where you are I will simply not comment directly on price.

    The lens with the largest reach I have ever had is my 14-140mm zoom lens for my GX80 m43 camera, it is a brilliant lens, the range makes it work with just about anything.

    The RF-S 18-150mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM seems like a fine budget lens.

    I skimmed several reviews, and saw several 4/5 grades, with one mentioning “mediocre image quallity”, which I personally wouldn’t put a lot of stock into, it is difficult to judge a budget lens fairly is you are used to the top of the line.

    Look at the sample shots and decide for your self, there is no perfect lens or camera, and at the start you will usually start at the lower levels.