I am looking to get into photography and have just purchased a Canon EOS R7 as my first "proper" camera. I did a lot of research beforehand and this seemed to be a solid first camera. Fortunately I was able to get a good deal on an unboxed/returned one. It was bundled with the RF-S 18-150mm lens and i'm therefore wondering whether the RF 50 lens would be a pointless addition or is it better for particular situations? Eventually, as I get better, i'd like to try out some wildlife photography and have been looking at the RF 100-400m and RF 600m lenses. Would either/both of these be a good option or are there better options? Thanks for any help/advice.
You will find when buying zooms you will inherently have overlap of the zoom range. your 18-150 will do anything from a rather wide angle shot of a soccer field to zoom up on a few players. Its inherently a Swiss army knife of a lens that does a good but not great job in many situations. Is buying a 50mm 1.8 ( i assume your looking at the inexpensive 1.8 version) a pointless addition? Not at all, it while not being a zoom will be a little better optically than the zoom in sharpness and other optical factors since its a fixed lens. But it also shoots wider at 1.8 f stop where your 3.5 on that 18-150, so you will be able to get some really nice bokeh on a portrait shot for example when you shoot it stopped wide open. In fact the 50mm is the staple of the photo class, it gets you to think about and actively crop your images with location. This allows for more creative vantage points when your not relying on staying put and zooming. In short, primes have some advantages and are worth owning. I think everyone should own a prime lens or two. Will it help wild life, if you get close enough you will like the 1.8 but yes you will need to have a a long zoom for many types of shots of wildlife.
Thanks for the reply. It is the inexpensive one I’m looking at. It seems to be a good option for when I want to travel light without carrying bulkier lenses around.
Most definitely, I think you'll find it useful. I find I have my 50mm 1.4 and my 17-40L mounted on 2 of my 5D bodies 99% of the time.
i have the M50 body and they have a similar lens range in the 18-150mm, the R7 being higher up body than the M50 i find the 18-150mm easily one of the most versatile lenses so i nearly always have it with me as for getting a prime lens within the range of your zoom lens to answer is yes of coarse. also make sure the 50mm frame size is something that you like, set your 18-150mm to 50mm and only shoot at that range, obviously the other reason for you, physical size matters but worth checking it out, you may find a pancake 40mm to be more to your liking etc, like wise going the other way for me the 50mm prime on efm is only slightly smaller in physical dimensions, hence why i've stuck with my M50, it can be small system when i want it to the point of a prime lens is more for its ability to do what the zoom lens cant do at 50mm and that is a brighter aperture, a shallow depth of field and in most cases a better image quality its disadvantages are pretty much the lack of zoom and the ability to frame a subject if you cant get close or far enough away. so buying a prime lens is something you will be looking at a fair few times when you get used to the advantages they have over a zoom, esp when you start playing with shallow depths of field. something else that may have you questioning your sanity is when you start looking at zoom lenses within the same range you already have in another, yeah, that happens too, usually for higher quality and constant aperture value through the zoom range when it comes to getting creative over speed vintage fully manual M42 mount lenses are a great way to buy primes too, they are usually super cheap and have excellent optics, some having unique renders clinically removed from modern ones, there are M42 adapters for most bodies, i'm sure there is one for the R7, if you like the sound of vintage lenses ask the people which one they use, oh and that 18-150mm lens, keep that, its super useful, esp if you do walk about photography
as for the wildlife the 100-500mm RF is the top one, i do alot of wildlife myself and 400mm is minimum you'll want esp smaller song birds i held off on getting the R7 and decided to wait for the mkII way back when the R7 first came out, for sure its a no brainer to go for it ove the M50 but i already had the M50 and fell in love with its small system size, and it works very well with the bigger EF lenses too, my main wildlife lens is the sigma 100-400mm, if i had the RF i'd defiantly be getting the 100-500mm and the 18-150mm as a working combo, the 200-800mm also looks very tempting as a second wildlife lens, the prime 600mm would be a luxury to have as well but i think i would want one zoom lens for sure so if it came down to a choice only one lens for wild life it would be the 100-500mm, i do alot of walk about wildlife and stuff pops up at all different distances from you if however you more likely to be going to known distance locations like hides etc a prime lens may be the better option, again any of those lenses pairs up well with the 18-150mm,
