Like many others who bought the Canon Digital Rebel (aka 300D), it came with the kit 18-55mm lens. After spending so much on the camera, there was not too much left over for any other additional equipment. So much of my photography early on was using that particular lens. In itself, it is a useful lens as it allowed for wide angle shot as well as close ups with the medium length telephoto (remember on the Rebel all lens factor at 1.6x). So the versatility was a greatly appreciated but I soon outgrew the lens. The problem was that at most apertures, the results tend to be quite soft and the colors always need a boost in the post-shoot processing. It was not just the softness that was bothering me but also that as I was doing indoor photography, the kit lens was just not fast enough; to get the image properly lit I used a flash. Using the bounce flash technique took some of the harshness off but it still made things look a bit unreal. To get the fast apertures with the perquisite sharpness and saturation there is only one real choice and that is using a prime […]