my favorite lens is the 50mmf1.8, one of the best values available to photographers, amatures and professionals alike. <BR> <BR>my question is, are there other lenses as sharp and "cheap" as the 50mmf1.8 for nikon?

The 50 f1.8 for Canon. <BR> <BR>There's not much else that cheap that's any good at all. There's a lot of 3rd party lenses in the $300 to $400 range that are very good.

used lenses

I am happy with my Tokina 12-24mm. I bought if for pocket change literally, thanks to coinstar and amazon. Still 4 times more than my 50mm f1.8, but half the price of a Nikkor equivalent.

I am thinking of getting a Tamron 18-250. This lens is highly rated as a good value for the money. It will be used as a walkaround lens and sort of overall utility lens. Any thoughts?

That Tamron is a very good all around lens on a 1.6X crop body. The wide end is very good, if it suffers at all it's on the long end where, besides being a bit slow at max f6.3 aperture, it starts to lose some sharpness. (which is somewhat expected given it's zoom range) It's really good in the mid range (50-180mm) especially at one stop down from whatever the max aperture is. A good outdoor lens for sure.

My favorite "value" lense in my bag is my Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM. I use this for my daughter's basketball and volleyball games, as well as a great indoor low light lens. Very fast autofocus as well. <BR> <BR>(Message edited by lgndracer on May 14, 2008)

I love the same lens as Mike but I have to say that I've had some very good luck with image stabilization zooms from Canon for sports. Even the non professional ones have done a good job considering their cost. <BR>But you're right Joe, it's hard to beat the 50 1.8