The Canon EOS Digital Rebel XS/1000D Companion

Lenses

One of the great joys of working with an SLR is having the option to change lenses. If you're stepping up to the XS from a point-and-shoot camera, then there's a whole world of new shooting possibilities for you to explore (and a whole new way to drain your wallet).

By changing the lens on your camera, you can:

• Shoot with different focal lengths, from super-wide to extremely telephoto.

• Get higher-quality images. A better lens can improve contrast, color, sharpness, and other less definable characteristics of an image.

• Shoot in lower light. A faster lens—that is, one that can open to a wider aperture—will give you the option to shoot in much lower light. An f1.2 lens, for example, can make it possible to shoot at handheld shutter speeds in outright dark situations.

  

  Figure 12-4. With an extremely fast lens—such as the Canon 50mm f1.2—you can shoot in extremely low light at faster shutter speeds, making it possible to capture images that would be impossible with a slower lens.

• Shoot with different effects. Fish-eye lenses, the Lensbaby, and other specialized lenses let you create effects that would be unattainable with other lenses and very difficult to produce with editing software.

Choosing a Lens

Your first decision when choosing a lens is to determine what type of shooting you think you want to be able to do. The 18–55mm lens that ships with the XS is a great, general-purpose, "walk-around" ...