[dogdots]

I have a Rebel XTI and I am looking for a good lens that will take sharp pictures of birds, my dogs and have some wide zoom/telephoto with it. I have been looking at the Canon 28-135 and the Canon 17-85. I don't know if these will do the job I am looking for. I was even thinking of a Canon 70-200. I am really at a lost for making this decision. I did purchase the Canon 70-300 and it was beautiful on objects you see around, but soft to the point of blur with my dogs and birds. I couldn't believe that I couldn't get a sharp picture of a Robin or Sparrow. I had a good shot at a Woodpecker and it just wasn't sharp. My kit lens does better in picking up detail--although it does blur. Also a big factor in lens choice is I do alot of cropping. No, not for scrapebooks---just cause I like to. Maybe that is some of the fault. I hope you all out there can help me. Thanks!!

[dabhand16]

I wonder if the lack of sharpness with your 70-300m was due to camera shake? The longer the lens, the more difficult it is to get sharp images. Also if you were using it at wide apatures too, it might make a difference.

I would have thought that the 70-300 would have been an adequate lens to do the job, and I'm sure I've seen some excellent shots on here using that lens.

If you crop to excess it will also exaggerate any imperfections in the original images

I think you need to check out your settings and technique before you make your lens choice, particularly if you find your kit lens also gives you blurred results, otherwise you may be relying on incorrect perceptions, and that could prove costly.

This might be a good place to start.

[dogdots]

Thanks for the info Graham...I will try all the info in the article you passed along. Since I am new to this site I haven't figured out how to post my pics otherwise I would have sent some examples. I do see how cropping does damage to an image.

[dabhand16]

Yes - a good place to start. I'm a little concerned that you say you are having similar issues with both the 70-300 and the kit lens, and this makes me wonder if it is your technique that might be behind the problem. I'm not having a go at you, it is just that you might need to be a bit more aware of some of the conventions that are around for photography. You might well find that your existing lenses will be able to do the job for you with no other outlay. It has to be worth trying.

For instance, would you be surprised if I said that if you are hand holding your lens at 300mm, you ought to be using 1/500th of a second shutter speed as a minimum?

Here is a guide to re-sizing for Pixalo. If you are not using Photoshop, the principals are the same, so you should be able to get to correctly sized images.

This is where you should post images, and this is how to post images.

Let us know if you are having problems and somone will be able to assist.