Lens now or Later? For Rebel Xti

[Macmaniac]

So for Christmas I got a Canon Digital Rebel Xti with the kit lens. I am going to London (for a semester) and of course I will be taking it with me. I don't have a zoom telephoto to go with it and I am curious what your suggestions might be.
Right now my budget for a lens is around $200, but after London it should be more since I will be working again. I can probably afford around $500 once I get back, so the big question is so I wait and get something betterr? or get something now to tide me over?

I would probably be using the zoom lens for shooting sports and some wildlife, most likely football and basketball.

Any advice would be appreciated!

 

[ClassicBean]

I picked up a 75-300 lens for my xti. For the price, it's quite decent. It was $249 at the time. I am not a professional by any stretch of the imagination. I just wanted something to mess around with.

 

[taylorwilsdon]

I picked up a 75-300 lens for my xti. For the price, it's quite decent. It was $249 at the time. I am not a professional by any stretch of the imagination. I just wanted something to mess around with.

I had the 75-300 and frankly I'd skip it. The image quality is okay but its very slow to zoom and even slower to focus it. If you like it, no worries, but its almost unusable in fast pased situations.

I would look into used lenses at that price, maybe a Canon 28-105mm MK II
(http://www.amazon.com/Canon-28-105mm-3-5-4-5-Standard-Cameras/dp/B00004YZQ8)

105mm really is not that horrible as a zoom. Its quite an improvement over 55mm and the image quality will be better too, especially for $200.

 

[gvg45]

I would wait. IMO, buy right the first time and save yourself the money and time of having to upgrade down the road.

For ~$500 you can get the Canon 70-300 IS or Canon 70-200 f/4L (my pick of the two) which are both good lenses.

 

[miloblithe]

A picture you take is better than a picture you don't take.

I'd get the Sigma 75-300 "Macro". Not a great lens by any means, but it'll be fun to play with and will give you perfectly good results in broad bright daylight. And for $140, it's not a lot of money. And I'd get the 50mm f/1.8. At $70, it'll give you low light and portrait results that the other two lenses won't be able to come remotely close to.

If and when you find these lenses too limiting, then you can start looking at $400-1000 lenses.