Lens Questions

[Stormyva]

I need a lens in the 85mm to 100mm range and cant decide which route to take. Hopefully someone can give some opinions on which way to go.
Here's what I am looking at....
Canon 28-135mm Zoom with Image Stabilization. I like this lens because of the broad range that it will cover and the fact that it has image stabilization which will help with the long range and lower light situations.
Canon 85mm f1.8. Non-zoom so it doesnt give as much flexibility, but it's fast which means faster shutter speeds in low light.

[John_White]

Based on my experience and if your objective is wildlife photography, I think you'll get much more use out of the 28-135mm than the fixed 85mm. Fast glass isn't as important as it used to be, with a DSLR one can just dial in a higher ISO value and in many cases offset low-light conditions.

[Stormyva]

Thanks for the input John... I was leaning that way too

[Gecko-Guy]

I have absolutely no idea of what either of you just said.

[Stormyva]

LOL!
We were talking about the focal length/range of lenses
Traditional film cameras and higher end digital cameras have the advantage, and sometimes disadvantage, of using lenses that can be changed. A focal number such as the 28mm will give you a wide area that is in focus and will tend to allow you to shoot pics in darker situations, but will not allow you to focus on objects that are a long ways away. The higher the number goes the more "zoom" you will have. You could compare the higher "zoom" numbers to the X numbers on most consumer digital cameras. Such as 3x or 4x zoom.
Hopefully that helped out a bit

[Gecko-Guy]

oh!!!!!!! now i get it; so the panda eats the bean dip and the penguin settles for a coke; right?

[Gecko-Guy]

but seriously, thanks for the explanation stormy; i got it now.