Hi, I have a Canon 80d which I purchased at Costco several years ago. The purchase came with a 18-55mm and a 55-250mm. I really haven't used the camera but my wife has. I'm gonna be honest, we are both rookies here. We travel a lot to national parks and are wondering what kind of lens you would recommend for getting good pictures at national parks to capture overall scenic pictures but also capture close ups of the animals on the ground and those flying. Is there a lens that does this all? Or do I need separate lens for each specific thing we want to capture? I been told it's all about the lens and not the camera, I hope we at least have the right camera (80d) for this. Could you guide us here and throw out some lens recommendations for us?
Well closeups of things far away are limited to the length of your telephoto. In this case 250mm. Closeups of thing inches away from you will require a very close focusing distance, you get this with a macro lens. Your 80d is a very nice starting camera, it is a step above many starter kits and will save you the feeling to upgrade quick if you really dig in on photography. Your lenses are plenty adequate, and do not need to be upgraded any time soon, but yes the glass on the camera is far more important than the body itself. Nicer cameras ad features and more control, the image quality is controlled mostly but the quality of the lens glass on the camera. No recommendations until you have a good idea what you want that the lens you have is not giving you.
My suggestion would be to rush out and spend nothing on anything new. Yes I agree about your statement it's about the lens. As you and your wife both use this camera. What I would do is go and out to the national parks, and try out what you already have. It is so easy to go and buy stuff and this can be an expensive process to find out that you have not brought the lens that you thought that would work for you. If you go and use your current equipment, the both of you will find your style and what sort of images you like. Then you can decide what would work better for you. Post a few images here with what your thoughts are, and what you are trying to achieve, and I am sure you will get some suggestions. Have a look at the images that get posted here, and if you like that style of image, ask the poster of the image about it. Gary
I'm a relative rookie myself, but have the same camera body and both of these lenses. I only have another couple of lenses, but if I have nothing specific in mind to photograph, these are the two that I take "on spec." This is because the 18-55 is good enough for my general scenic shots, and the 250 has that bit of extra zoom when needed. It won't give you fantastic close ups of anything 30 yards away, but it is good enough to stay fairly sharp if you crop/zoom in once back at home on the computer, and it is very light compared with longer lenses. These are both "cheap" lenses, but plenty good enough for finding your/my feet when it comes to deciding what you enjoy photographing most. As the (far more experienced) guys say, go and take a few thousand photo's before you spend any more money.
if you are only wanting to take one lens, something i do in that situation is to take either my sigma 100-400mm or my canon 55-200mm then take a set of extension tubes as well, this gives me the long or very long from those two tele zooms and with the extension tubes i can get close up pictures of stuff right in front of me. the sigma(ef mount) i use if i'm going some where specific to shoot and i take the canon (m-mount) if i generally walking round alot more. both i use with my Canon M50
