Digital cameras 101

[ddwoodard1213]

My canon Rebel came with the standard 18-55mm lens.  But I remember some time back that a Wide angle zoom lens offers a better picture.   I have used one back in the days of SLR days, but not sure what type to purchase if I went with a macro zoom lens.  Any suggestion?  thank you.

[ShutterbugGail]

Hi there, and welcome to the Q&A Forum!

There are a number of decent macro lenses, at varying prices. I highly recommend you take a look at the Fred Miranda site that provides excellent lens review not only those made by Canon, but third party such as Sigma. Don't forget to read the user comments.

You can begin here:

http://www.fredmiranda.com/reviews/index.php?cat=45

For some very basic information on macro lenses, take a look here:

http://www.digicamhelp.com/accessories/dslr-accessories/dslr-macro.php

http://www.digicamhelp.com/accessories/dslr-accessories/lens-uses.php

[ddwoodard1213]

thank you very much, I'll look into those sites.

[bdery]

I will add that www.slrgear.com and www.photozone.de also give great advice on various lenses.

Most lenses will indeed be better than the kit lens of your Canon. The kit is not bad, but as with everything you get what you pay for, and by paying more you can get a higher quality lens. That being said, at f8 most lenses are excellent.

But I remember some time back that a Wide angle zoom lens offers a better picture.

There is no direct relation between the focal length of a lens and its quality. A lot goes into the design of a lens, and a "better" lens is usually not that easy to define. Contrast, sharpness, saturation, distorsion, aberrations all play a role in the final image quality.

As Gail recommended, visiting the user and pro review sites is probably the best way to find some information on specific lenses.