I think it would be great if people would share information about lenses that they have found to be excellent value for money. We can help each other track down the bargains.
I will kick off we my best value for money.
A second hand EF 28-105mm F/3.5 – F/4.5 USM. It’s a surprisingly sharp lens through the entire range, it’s light and compact , has a fast focusing usm motor with full time manual override. It has minimal distortions at the extremes of the focal range. It cost me a whole $60 Au. It’s the one I take with me when I want to travel light.
this is a great idea. My main lens for every day use is the Canon EF-S 17-85. sure its not an uber red band jobbie but for many scenarios it does the trick. prior to my camera kit being stolen, the main candidates were an EF 24-105mm L series and an EF 85mm f/1.2L both of which were so sharp you could cut yourself on them.
I have three favourites when it comes to lenses. I'll start with the one that is probably the best value for the money. My 50mm 1.8 is an awesome lens. Its very sharp (when i get the focus right, which can be tricky sometimes with such a shallow depth of field) and it is tiny and light. It also was under $200. I'd recommend any nikon shooter to pick one of them up.
The next lens i really like is my sigma 10-20. It is kind of slow, being a F4-5.6, but it is great outdoors where i find want to use it the most anyways. It is nice to be able to go out as wide as 10mm. That puts more into the picture than you can really focus on with your own eyes, and makes for interesting shots.
My third favourite lens would have to be my 70-200 2.8 vr. I don't know if i would consider it a great value for my money since it definitly the most expensive piece of equipment in my kit, but i don't regret for a moment buying it (other than i just see that the price has come down a couple hundred bucks, probably because of the stronger/weaker Canadian/American dollar). It is sharp all the time as long as i've focused right and have a decent shutter speed to handhold.
I told you that the 28-105 was my best value lens. The one that gets the most use though is my 70-200 F/4 L. It gets used for everything from landscapes to portraits and with extension tubes it makes a versatile macro lens.
I will kick off we my best value for money.
A second hand EF 28-105mm F/3.5 – F/4.5 USM. It’s a surprisingly sharp lens through the entire range, it’s light and compact , has a fast focusing usm motor with full time manual override. It has minimal distortions at the extremes of the focal range. It cost me a whole $60 Au. It’s the one I take with me when I want to travel light.