A wide angle lens is sort of just what it sounds like...it captures a wide area. Its great for indoors if you want to take a picture of a room...or for landscapes or cityscapes. What comes with SLR cameras is a wide angle zoom lens...zoomed out all the way to 55 or 70mm or whatever your lens goes to...it is less wide angle...and more of like a portrait lens...and still not nearly good enough to get close to anything far away.

That is where a telephoto comes in...like 70mm-200mm or 70-300mm...then you really can start zooming in on things.

If you go wider than 18mm you start to get into what is called a "fisheye" lens...and they are the ones that create the image where it looks like the edges are starting to curve...like a round image...hard to explain but if you google you will see what I mean. They are supposed to capture like 180 degrees of image.

Then you have your macro lens...which is what you would want if you want to take pictures of bees and flowers. I have a 30mm lens...it does not zoom...it is fixed and that is what is called a "prime" lens...one that does not zoom. It was cheap $199 because of that. A macro lens is able to focus on a subject close to the lens. Regular lenses will get confused and not be able to focus from closer than like 10 inches....a macro lens will focus on something that is only 5 inches away from the lens. It will also be able to capture it in life size (1:1 ratio). So if you take those abilities along with being able to zoom...thats a good macro lens...but they are expensive.

Stabilizer is good in a lens but check your camera manual first...some cameras have stabilizer built in...I know my Sony does.

Other things to look for in a lens....aperture...(the F number). The lower the number the more light gets in. Lenses with a big aperture (F1.8 for example)...are called "fast lenses" because the more light getting in the quicker the shutter can go to take the picture...and they are also more expensive. Some lenses are quieter than others. I have some noisy lenses and then I have a 500mm huge lens that looks like it could make some serious noise and it focuses silently...and always want to make sure the lens is threaded at the front so you can * on a filter if you want...I think most are but real cheap ones might not be.

You can buy lenses made by whatever company makes your camera but there are some good aftermarket companies out there...tamron and sigma are two good ones. You always get what you pay for with lenses but you can save some money with those companies and get good quality stuff.

I just wanted to make a different post about this...

An SLR class that is like one long session is going to probably be too overwhelming for most people. I took a 15 week college course and if you have a community college in the area that offers digital photography, I would go for that. It moves slowly and if the teacher is any good it should move at a good pace and take things in the proper order.

It takes a lot of "camera theory" before you really start learning technique. It all starts by understand how the camera works...the relationship between aperture and shutter speed. This is key to any kind of photography...because without knowing how they work together to create an exposure you will never be able to take the camera out of auto mode. Every week we learned new things and had a project to go out and take pictures using what we had learned. Hint...don't even take a class in the winter if it snows a lot where you are. I was going crazy having 30 pictures to take during the 2 weeks we were basically locked in by snow!!!

Thanks Jen, your info is great and easy to understand.
I believe what I want in a lens would be a marco..and I think
the one I was looking at was that, for the Canon...and at the time
was priced around $800 I believe (will wait for a sale, they usually have
a nice one in the fall)
I know my camera went on sale a few months after I bought it, and I could
have kicked me!!
But that is what happens, they bring out a newer model and the other one goes
way down in price

IF I took a course, it would be one offered at the community college during
their fall session..it would be a few months long, probably classes once or twice a week.
I've seen the work of the girl who gives it, if she offers again this year, and she does
take fantastic pictures.

Thanks for your help!!
Joan

Yeah that sounds about right for a good one...you can post up a link to it if you want I can check it out. I assume it is an online shop? I buy my camera stuff online because, well mostly because its hard to find good camera stuff anywhere else. Online you don't pay tax and a lot of places do free shipping. Sometimes you can find a coupon code online for places to save 10% or so too. Adorama, B&H Photo, Tri State Photo and Unique Photo have all been very good experiences for me.

Yeah a class is good stuff...it really helps So much. And then you all know if you have any questions I love to answer them!

I think when I buy, it will be locally from Golden Image, same place
I bought the camera, I like the support and they are always willing to
answer my questions.

I did go online last evening, and found a site called cameralabs.com,
and they give a review of both good points and negative points on these
three Canon lens..

Canon 17-85mm IS USM (leaning towards this but will see what the camera
shop guy has to say)

Canon EF-S 17-55 IS USM (pricest, over a grand, and I think that was American dollars)

Canon EF 17-40mm L ( only one that would be compatible should I upgrade the body at
some time) and only one that Canon provides a lens hood with...

They have a little video on the site, giving a little talk on pros and cons..if you have time,
maybe watch it and give me your views?

Purrs,
Joan

Love the bee pics Joan! Did you adjust the color settings at all with the Nikon? Like the contrast or brightness with the photo editing software? It is an excellent photo too. I have a Coolpix 3500. Thought about getting another camera but for now, that is low on my list.

No Joan, just had it on the normal setting, held the camera as close as I dared to the bee,
and snapped the photo

Yeah I will check the site out...I am heading out now but will check it out later.