I have a Rebel t8i and I have the 2 standard lens. The ef-s 18-55 mm and the 75-300mm. I love to do landscape photo's and long distance photography of animals, i.e. birds. What would you suggest at a reasonable price. preferably under $1000 for my next lens. Please don't tell me about pixels, iso, and shutter speed. I know this is important. I am an RN, I am not stupid. I just can't get the hang of all the specifics. So please help a camera illiterate.
Decaster, the two you have got cover most things, the question you must ask yourself is what do I take the most images of and at what focal length. For example if it is landscape then maybe a 28mm F1.8 or a general purpose lens such as the nifty 50, that is a 50mm F1.8, they are plentiful and can be found cheap but allows for more light to reach the sensor due to its wider appeture. The advantage of these lenses is they are better quality lenses.
I might try different approach. Would you consider upgrading your APS-C (crop body) to a full sensor mirrorless? If you want to stay with your current camera look for used wide EF lenses. 16-35 f/2.8, cheaper option is EF 17-40 f/4. For zoom it depends on how far you want to reach, EF 70-200 f/4 or f/2/8, perhaps 100-400 f/4.5-5.6 or even the 400mm f/5.6. If you want both for around 1000 used EF 17-40 f/4 and 70-200 f/4 will be best options with high IQ.
I like the 17-40 i have for wide angle landscape it is better glass than your 18-55, but it wont change angle of view much from what you have already. A good upgrade if your ever move up to a nicer camera body as well, not a noticeable upgrade for the non-technical person unless you think your images are soft. If your looking for longer reach than the 75-300 which is a very meh consumer lens, i think i would recommend reading reviews of the sigma 150-500 or sigma 15-600 lenses to get you some real long zoom and decent glass. My larger question is what are you looking to get out of you next lens purchase? I have 17-40 for wide zoom with L grade glass, i have 50 and 85 fast lenses for shallow 1.8 images. I have a 100 macro for 1:1 closeup images. I have the 70-200 2.8 so the zoom can have really shallow images with soft bokeh. I also have the 24mm tilt shift to modify the perspective of the image in the lens. As you can see some lens do specific things, others are more swiss army knife. I have payed up for higher grade zooms that open wider than the cheap ones.
with regards to the wildlife i'm using a sigma 100-400mm c which new is around £600 and probably cheaper from mpb etc i do also have the sigma 150-600mm c but its the 100-400mm i use the most, purely down to weight, i find it an easier pick up and go for walk about hand held wildlife, the 150-600mm for me is more of a tripod lens, for sure the extra 200mm is worth it though like you i photograph birds too, one here from the sigma 100-400mm c on my canon M50 crop sensor camera, a wren one of our smaller british birds
Lovely and sharp, Caladina, with it's tail at a funny angle, looks to be suffering a bit of a gas poblem.
