What are the MUST HAVE accessories

[burgoid]

hey everyone i was wondering what you all would say are the must have accessories for doing aquatic/ macro and sporting shots with the 350D. i know these's will be a macro and tele lenses with a good flash and controller. but what specific lenses, flashes and controllers would you reccommened without busting the bank.
cheers Dave

[hir0]

I'm not a canon guy, but i will give the macro and aquatic part a shot. i think a canon 100mm usm macro lens (http://www.adorama.com/CA10028AFN.html) will do the trick for both. if you have large fish, you might want to pick up a 50mm 1.8 (http://www.adorama.com/CA5018AFU.html) also. a good flash - maybe a 580ex (http://www.adorama.com/CA580EX.html), 550ex (http://www.adorama.com/CA550EXU.html) or if you really don't want to spend the money a 420ex (http://www.adorama.com/CA420EXU.html) should suffice. for aquatic photos a ST-E2 wireless transmitter (http://www.adorama.com/CASTE2.html?searchinfo=st-e2&item_no=1) works wonders as Ed (paradise) has shown consistently.
as for sporting shots, it really depends what sport (what distance you will be at, what type of lighting you'll be shooting in...)

[paradise]

Hiro is dead on. 420 EX or better, STE2, and 100mm Macro are THE BEST!!! If you have bigger fish, make it 60mm macro. 50mm 1.8 prime is a very inexpensive alternative.

[Ibn]

I agree with what Hir0 said in regards to the sport part. Really depends on what you're shooting and where you'll be positioned. Most lenses used for sport photography are fast (due to the lighting conditions and the shutter speeds needed). Depending on what you shoot, I'd take a look at the 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS to start out with (you could get away with primes also depending on the answer to the question).

[Andreas Werth]

I don´t think i will give my 60mm macro away (equivalent to 100mm with 35mm). It is designed for use with 20D/350D
And if you have a master-slave flash combination (550EX-420EX or 580EX-420EX), you don´t really need the transmitter immediately. But it is on my wishlist, too.

[burgoid]

thanks guys for the quick replys, the sporty shots will be bodyboarding, so shots will be taken from the beach with the subject about 25-50 meters away (75-150 feet i think) the lighting should be quite good due to it being outside in full sunlight. beacuse i am new to SLR photography when you talk about prime what do you mean? lol. and F-stops after the mm of the lense is that the lowest F-stop that can be used for that certain lense?
thanks agian Dave

[phishphorphun]

I believe the best way to describe a "prime" lens. Fixed focal length as opposed to a zoom. The 70-200mm zoom offers focal lengths between 70mm and 200mm. Whereas a 150mm prime lens would only offer 150mm focal length. You have to "physically" move forward or backwards with the prime to frame your shot. With the zoom, you adjust the focal length with a push/pull or ring adjustment. If I left something out, those who know will add a better or more accurate explanation.

[Ibn]

That description is pretty good to describe what a prime lens is; fixed focal length vs. a zoomer. The number after the focal length (mm) is the max aperture that the lens is capable of (the smaller the number, the more light it lets in; it's an inverse thing). A lens with a max aperture of f/2.8 lets in more light than say a mirror lens (these lenses start out at around f/8) and due to this is faster, since it needs less light to focus.

For capturing something at that focal length, I'd take a look at the something in the 300-400mm range. Depending on what you plan on spending, Canon makes the 70-200mm f/2.8L IS that's just a bit shy of this, but with a 1.4x TC you'll get there (becomes a 98-280mm f/4 lens); you can use the 1.7x TC for even more reach. Another option is their 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS. Third party options include the Sigma 100-300mm f/4, Sigma 50-500mm f/4-6.3, Sigma 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6 OS. Each of them are very capable lenses. It just depends on how much you want to spend.

[burgoid]

ok thanks you both explained it very good. so i would expect that prime lenses are quite a bit cheaper due to this? when you use a TC is there any noticable drop in quality. finally my budget is not all the high there is no way i want to spend more then what i did on the body for a single lense if i dont need to.
o and just quickly do most of you's use manual focus for your shots?

[burgoid]

i've been googleing all the reccommened lenses and the sigma 100-300 f/4 seems quite reasonable and so do the canon macro's, cheers everyone how does the sigma quality compare to canon is there much more noise?

[hir0]

the sigma 100-300 F4 HSM (http://www.adorama.com/SG1003004EOS.html) is a pretty nice lens. Ibn has one so he could tell you more about it. noise isn't created by the lens.

[burgoid]

o really i thought that a bad quality lense could create it? i guess not

[Ibn]

Noise isn't really introduced by the lens. However, it can be introduced by oversharpening a picture (done to compensate for the soft images that some lenses produce).

The Sigma 100-300mm f/4 is a great lens especially for what you pay for. The HSM focusing is supposed to be on par with Canon's USM. Here's an old picture that was taken with this lens.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y36/Onei/Mammals/_DSC3289.jpg

[burgoid]

wow that is sharp, wat focal lenght is that, and did you use manual or auto focus

[Ibn]

That's at 300mm f/8 on a tripod and autofocus. The lens is really sharp even when wide open. Here's another one at 300mm at f/4.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y185/Ebn/Baylands%20043005/DSC_5437.jpg

[burgoid]

that looks like a very nice lens. thanks for sharing

[benny]

what specific lenses, flashes and controllers would you reccommened without busting the bank.

I think you should define "busting the bank". With a fixed budget, it's easier to recommend the right gear. Otherwise, this thread will just degenerate into a wish list for Canon mount equipment.

From what I can guess, the minimum you need to get decent pictures will be a flash (Canon 420 EX or Sigma 500 DG) with a big white board. You will also need 70-200 or 75-300 or 100-300 mm (depending on make and budget). Lastly, you will need a close up filter to achieve the macro shots you need.


Cheers,

[burgoid]

ok for my budget i dont want to spend much over $1400 in that price i hope to get a macro, tele, flash and controller. i just had a quick look at filter prices and most are around $25. but how do they help the close-up shots and what is the purpose of the big white board is that to bounce the flash into the tank?
p.s i am also open to buying good quality used accessories

[hir0]

hrmm, well i don't know how much things cost over there... but from what i've seen it's gonna be tough to swing all those things @ $1400 AU. yes the purpose of a whiteboard etc.. is to bounce the flash back into the tank.

[burgoid]

well i dont think the prices are that different over here. what do you think would be a reasonable budget