Cheers

Don’t be so quick to dismiss the 400D’s kit lens, in the right hands it takes some stunning photographs. Check them out here

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=185522

For the price they chuck it in the bundle with it’s a no brainer really. Good optical quality and very useful focal range.

I’ve had one Tamron and one Sigma and they’re good lenses. Unfortunately they were different focal lengths so I don’t think a comparison would be fair.

If you’re new to SLRs then maybe get a body and a 50mm prime with it? It really helps you learn the technique and about photography as an art form because it makes you think about composition, framing and all those other things zoom lenses make people lazy about. However, if you don’t want to go the prime route and don’t want to keep the kit lens to learn with then try the Sigma 17-70mm, it’s a good lens.

Do you not have a mate whom you can borrow the camera off to have a play with it?

The Nikon on the other hand uses SD cards

@sam: I am rather partial to the canon as well, just because thats the prosumer that i’ve been using and i feel a kind of loyalty to the brand. It has served me well. I see some Tamron lenses are pretty popular bundles with the Canon XTi and these are supposed to be fully compatible with the body. If the Default lens kit is as bad as what i’ve been reading, should i get a bundle which includes Tamron lenses instead?

From everything i’ve read, they seem to be pretty decent (affordable) lenses. the only complain being that they are rather noisy when the auto focus kicks in. especially from a very wide angle position to an extreme close up zoom.

Any opinions Tamron or Sigma lenses anyone?

Regards

When it is come to SLR decision, it’s all about lenses. Once you start with one SLR product line, it’s very hard to switch to something else because you already have invested on few lenses. And lenses can last good 10 – 20 years. Camera body is relatively cheaper to replace than lenses, down the line. Also life span on electronic is not more than 3-4 years. So my advice is look at the lens line.

Sony have one good feature I like a lot, it have censer base image stabilization. That mean you can plug any lens and you have IS right a way without paying extra. But I don’t know how well it works compared to optical base IS. The reason I didn’t brought a Sony was, it is their first model and also I’m sure it will be expensive later on like most of other sony products.

When I get my DSLR, I wanted to get a Nikon 70-300 VR lens instead the kit lens. But at the time, price of that lens went all the way up to 700$ from 350$. I got a Canon, with a IS lens instead the kit lens. Pretty good. Kit lens is also not bad for normal usage. But I need an IS lens on my shaky hands.

I do not think it is good idea to buy third party lenses. Some of those third party lenses may not 100% compatible with communicating with the body.

Canon or Nikon, no matter what brand you invest in, you will not disappoint.