New lenses are on the way, and I’m pretty excited!

I finally got around to ordering a couple of lenses for my Rebel XTi, both of which should be a marked improvement on the somewhat underwhelming kit lenses that I have now.

The first is the Canon EF 28mm-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM, which I plan to have serve as my general-purpose “walk-around” lens. This covers most of the range that my kit lenses offer, but also featuring much better optics and image stabilization.

The latter feature - image stabilization - uses a combination of electromagnets and gyroscopes to essentially “float” certain lens elements, mitigating the small amounts of blur you often see with pictures taken at low shutter speeds (ie. in low light) and/or while hand-holding the camera. I’ve never used an IS lens before, but this particular lens apparently permits the use of shutter speeds up to 2 stops slower.

Having had trouble with somewhat soft hand-held shots in the past, I’m hoping that this will result in my pictures being tack-sharp more often than not. I like to avoid using a tripod when I can.

The second lens that I ordered - the Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM - is a specialty lens of sorts.

My main photographic interest is landscape photography (think Ansel Adams), and one of the things I’ve been lacking with my kit lenses is the ability to take truly wide angle shots - a necessity for landscape work. This lens should help me to photograph dramatic, wide sweeping vistas and the like. I’m also interested in photographing architecture, and this should help there as well.

One thing to keep in mind about both of these lenses is that, because they will be attached to my small-sensor Rebel XTi, they are subject to the “cropping” effect that it (like most low/mid-range DSLRs) exhibits. The XTi has a crop effect of 1.6x, meaning that the 28mm-135mm is effectively a 45mm-216mm lens, whereas the 10mm-22mm is functionally equivalent to a 16mm-35mm lens (which works for me - extremely wide angle lenses offer a “fish eye” perspective than I’m generally not a fan of).

Between these and my cheap-but-fast-and-sharp “Nifty Fifty” (Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II), I should be able to cover most of what I want to do, photographically speaking. I would still like to get a Lensbaby 3G for artistic/macro shots as well as a good telephoto zoom for longer distance shots (I’m leaning toward the Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM), but this should serve me well for 95% of the shots I want to take.

This is an expensive hobby, though. If I ever develop a taste for L-glass, I’m doomed.

Anyhow, my biggest problem really is finding the time to get out and actually take photographs. I’m toying with the idea of take a day or two off of work and wander around southern California, spending the time taking a bunch of photos and enjoying what the region has to offer. When I do, I’ll be sure to post the results here.