I recently purchased a T1i and along with the 18-55IS I also acquired a 75-300 f4-5.6. I don't really like the 75-300 as I like to shoot landscapes and portraits and it seems like to much lens. Does anyone here have any recommendations for another lens? I was looking at a 50mm f1.8. Its relatively inexpensive and I head its a good walk around lens. Any insight would be great. I wish this board had more action!

Is the T1i a Canon Rebel? If so, my comments may help you. I have a Canon 40D, which is reduced frame DSLR (1.6 crop factor, same as the Rebel, using EF and EF-S lenses). I used to use the 28-135 kit lens, with a 75-300 for longer telephoto shots. But I rarely, if ever, used the long lens and got an 18-200 for general use.

The 18-200 is one of the new breed of extremely wide-range zoom lenses, and like the rest in its class it has a few problems. Most notably, there is some distortion, vignetting and maybe a few other gremlins at the extremes of the zoom and aperture range. Working with these limitations, I find it gives consistently good quality images.

When I was shooting film, I usually used a 50mm f1.8 or 2.0 lens. It was great because of the small size, image quality and speed. But with the ability to push the ISO to 1600 without significant noise, lens speed takes a back seat to zoom-ability (in my book).

Koda, The T1i Is a rebel.. It fits all ef and ef-s lenses. It too has a 1.6t crop. I'm looking for a good all-purpose lens. I like moving water and want a fast lens to give an image like this with a more "dreamy effect". Handheld, shutter@0.06 F12. CPL filter.

quote RainGearRight: "Koda, The T1i Is a rebel.. It fits all ef and ef-s lenses. It too has a 1.6t crop. I'm looking for a good all-purpose lens. I like moving water and want a fast lens to give an image like this with a more "dreamy effect". Handheld, shutter@0.06 F12. CPL filter. "

wow! you must have some steady hands... nice shot!

you don't need a fast lens to do that, just a long shutter speed and a tripod. if by what you mean by "dreamy effect" is water that looks like silk.

50mm lenses are some of the sharpest lenses made and for the price a great deal. there a little more work as you have move forward or back to frame your shot instead of zooming. also great for low light shooting.

since you already have the 50mm range with your 18-55mm i'd suggest getting a 60mm macro lens (still a very sharp lens). you'll have pretty much the same angle of view but with the addition of close focousing capabilities and still fast with a f/2.8 aperture.

I know you posted this a month ago, but I thought my input may still have use to u. Likewise, I use canon equipment for my photography and I have experience with a variety of canon lenses. I don't know what your budget is like but I would highly suggest canons 17-40mm f4 lens for the price. Considering u enjoy landscape photoghaphy and portraiture this lens would suit u well. I have found this lense very useful for wedding and landscape photography. This lens retails at $840. If price isn't a huge issue I would even further suggest the 17-55mm f2.8 IS. This is a "fast" lens, which, to clarify, is in relation to the light gathering ability of a given lens. These lenses excell at capturing sharp images in low light, stopping action, and portraits in which you want the background blurred. With your cameras 1.6 crop factor this lense would give u an effective range of 27-88mm which would cover nearly all photography situations you will face while photographing landscapes and people. This lens is $1180. The extra money is worth it if you can afford it.

In my opinion, the ultra range lenses are terrible lenses. Variable aperatures, poor image quality, cheap builds, distortion, vignetting, lack of contrast, terrible for low light work, slow autofocus and so on.