I want to buy and DigitalSLR

Hi Amu,

Good to see that you are doing some nice research on Canon DSLR's :)
I will answer these questions one-by-one.

1. "So does this mean that the SLR cant click good pictures without the lens? "
Canon EOS 400D (Rebel XTi) is capable of clicking outstanding photographs with 18-50mm kit lens. I have a huge collection of fabulous photographs with that lens.
You are graduating from a consumer camera (Canon powershot's) to hobby/amateur camera. DSLR 400D with kit lens is great. Now, when you read people mentioning about18-50mm is not a good lens, they are talking in a professional photographers point of view.
I have just blown-up one of my snap that I clicked with my 18-50mm lens to 4" by 6", and that's when I noticed that the photo could and should have been more sharp, that's when I felt a need to upgrade my lens to professional range of lenses. (L-series lens) which are highly priced.

2. "The lens that you mentioned below are they a must? Is there no in built lens? what is the purpose of these lenses ? zoom ? distance photography? clarity? I am kinda confused"
Ok... now about lens in-depth. There are basically 3 range types of lens wide-angle, normal and telephoto. (I am talking about Digital camera here not the film based camera's 35mm)
Wide-angle: Ranging below 20/30mm (Clicking landscape)
Normal: Ranging between 20-80/100mm (portraits, etc)
Telephoto: 80/100m and above (wildlife, birds, etc)
Again lens are of 2 kinds: fixed (or box) lens or zoom lens. example
fixed lens: 50mm, 60mm, 400mm
zoom lens: 18-50mm, 100-300mm
Zoom lens have range. You must have always seen zoom lens. The word "zoom" is miss- understood by many. Zoom doesn't mean that you get a telephoto view but you get the range.
So the lenses that I have are:
18-50mm - normal zoom lens
75-30mm - telephoto zoom lens
50mm normal fixed lens
I took 50mm because it picture quality is superior. In general, fixed lens give better quality result to their zoom lens counterparts.
There are specialized lens too: like Macro lens, etc. Macro is for minute objects, like flowers, insects, fine marking on the leaves, etc.
Read this: http://web.canon.jp/imaging/enjoydslr/part3/3A.html

3. "WHat if i dont buy a lens immediately and buy it later.... what are the things I wont be able to do without these lenses?"

You can start-off good with 18-50mm, with standard photographs of trips, people, landscape, mountains, etc, etc, Its one of the most used range. And when you feel the need to a telephoto then buy a 75-300mm ($200) or a professional 100-400mm IS($1500). You will feel the need when u want to click flower details(macro lens), birds, wildlife, telephoto shot of a scene. I got my Canon 350D in May 2005, purchased the telephoto lens in Jan 2006.

I would also suggest you to look into Canon S5IS. When you see Canon S5IS is 12x zoom, it has a 38-450mm equivalent lens, it has a great range (zoom) and its telephoto end is awesome, fabulous Macro mood and super-macro mode, where you click great details of flower et al. But its missing the wide-angle range, it does have a wide-angle attachment. As a whole I was pretty impressed with S5IS. But its not an SLR, and you cannot achieve the SLR type quality in this camera. Also, do you really need that high quality?

The main feature of SLR is that lens can be changed. But, it also is the draw-back. You will have to change lens for different kind of shoots. For example when you are out for a trip to a scenic mountain place, you have 4 items to shoot:
1. Great mountain range landscape (20mm) or (17mm)
2. Silhouette of a lone tree in background of sunset(20mm) or (200mm) as per your framing
3. Great flowers on the ground. Nice macro shot (50mm) or (macro lens 90/100mm)
4. A bird sitting on the tree top (200/300/400/600mm)
All these photo can be achieved with 18-50mm lens, when you not too detailed about photography like correct frame etc. Forget bird shots with 18-50mm, unless the birds are in captivation.

4. "This might be a very basic question but wanted to get the funda cleared in anycase."
Phhheww, that was some details I have given you here. This thread is surely going in my blog... I ain't be typing this all over again.

Hope these detailing clears most of your question. Feel free to ask question till you get the answer that you want, coz I have gone through these question in 2004-2005, before finalizing on putting some Rs,60,000+ on Canon EOS 350D in May 2005 :)

Conclusion:
1. Get Canon 400D, if you want great quality, and planning for inclination to photography, ready to spend of future specialized lens (macro, tele, etc). Want large prints
2. Get S5IS, if you want an all-in-one solution. Good quality is fine, I don't want great quality. Want readily macro, tele, etc. Video recording inside the camera, etc. Get a 4GB memory and u are done! :)

Regards,
Pramod

On Nov 17, 2007 3:42 AM, Amruta Bhogale wrote:

So does this mean that the SLR cant click good pictures without the lens? The lens that you mentioned below are they a must? Is there no in built lens? what is the purpose of these lenses ? zoom ? distance photography? clarity? I am kinda confused. WHat if i dont buy a lens immediately and buy it later.... what are the things I wont be able to do without these lenses? This might be a very basic question but wanted to get the funda cleared in anycase.

AMu

On Nov 16, 2007 3:22 PM, Pramod Goggi <pramodgoggi@gmail.com> wrote:

Canon EOS 400D (in US called as Canon EOS Rebel XTi) 10MP, is the successor of Canon EOD 350D (Rebel XT) 8MP, is the camera that I have with 3 lens.

I have been using Canon 400D and its an awesome camera, and no doubts that you can get any better camera at that price. Its the cheapest SLR camera for amateur and professionals.

Go with the kit lens 18-50mm, or if you are getting a good deal go with the 17-40mm L series lens, that is around $250.

So basically with SLR you will get outstanding picture quality, but you will have to get different lens for different zooms. I have a 50mm (fixed lens), 18-50mm and 75-300mm, all Canon lens. 300mm end is still less zoom for me during wildlife photography.

Note: With SLR's there is no video recording possible. On screen shooting view in not available you will have to see it through viewfinder.

I would also suggest you to see Canon powershot S5IS as it has great zoom (38mm-410mm) IS lens. For me to get a IS lens (100mm-400mm IS) is costing somewhere like $1500. But the quality of DSLR is surely superior.

On Nov 16, 2007 9:58 PM, Amruta Bhogale <amruta.bhogale@gmail.com> wrote:

hey I am buying a canon 400D slr . I am not sure of the 18-50 mm lens.
Over all i wanted your review on both. I have researched and found out that the above lens that comes with the camera if taken as a kit is not of very good quality. Please reply wanted to know your views also.

Amu

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Regards,
Pramod Goggi

pramodgoggi@gmail.com | www.goggi.net

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Regards,
Pramod Goggi

pramodgoggi@gmail.com | www.goggi.net