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Hi, I am seeking some advice on lens! I am getting quite confused with what to buy as I am quite new to DSLR. I have the cannon 550d and would like to purchase as cheaply as possible a macro and wide angle lens. All advice would be really helpful to me.
Thanks Lisa
Did you get an 18-55 lens with the camera? That's fairly wide. There's not many options that are wider and cheap. You need to look at something like the Sigma 10-20. As for macro consider the Sigma 105 if that's too expensive then consider the cheap and cheerful Sigma 75-300, or to use existing lenses for macro photography try buying some extension tubes (Canon are expensive but Kenko and Jessops ones aren't)
An indication of budget would be useful!
Personally, I think the 105 Sigma maybe quite difficult to use on a cropped sensor body - the focal length would be nearer 170mm. I seem to recall that sigma brought out a 70mm version of their macro lens which you may find easier to use. I agree with Chris re: the wide angle route. Be cautious if going for a telephoto lens as the macro feature isn't a true macro, but more of a sales pitch. Again I agree that extension tubes may be a cheaper way into the macro market.
Adam
Thanks Chris, Adam. I do have the 18-55 lens and the 70-300 telephoto macro. I did get set-up rings and 10* lens but I was very disappointed I got much better effects with the 70-300 lens. I will look into extension tubes. My budget for a macro lens would have been about £200!
Thanks Lisa
You could try for a 2nd hand 100mm Canon macro, would probably cost around £150-200.
It is an excellent lens even on a crop sensor, ideal for creepy crawleys & good for non moving items as well.
if you only want it for static shots ( flowers etc) the 60mm macro is another option.
Thank you adrian, cambirder, I will take a look and see what I come up with! Most of my shots are macro...
I beg to differ with Adam - I've used a Sigma 105mm on a crop camera, and it was a joy to use.
The advantage of using a third party lens instead of one from Canon itself, is that you can usually make the purchase on a smaller budget.
The same goes for wide angle. If you do indeed require a lens wider than the 18-55 that probably came with your camera, a Sigma 10-22mm or Tokina 11-16mm is cheaper than a Canon 10-20mm, and the quality is very high.
You might be better off looking for a Tamron 90mm Sp Di Macro, it's a good trade off between the lenses so far mentioned and on top of that, I personally think it's better than the Sigma 105mm having had both of them. But horses for courses spring to mind, I can tell you this much the Tamron is rarely of the front of my camera and it's cheaper than the other options mentioned here.
Ade
Thank you so much for your suggestions and help as it was really needed I can now go and seek out a macro lens 
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