Offlate, especially after I had bought the SLR, most of my spare time is spent on reading about lens, checking for deals on lens, lens accessories, camera accessories, tripods, monopods etc., It is indeed an exciting experience to get to know the basics- but as always, my "hands-on" brain is not very comfortable in understanding the apertures and focal length lessons, unless I am able to shoot some snaps in the conditions mentioned and see the difference for myself.

Having given my camera for some sensor cleaning, I am without the luxury of trying hands on and have to be satisfied with some theoretical understanding. The camera wouldn't be back for another 4 weeks at the least and I want to buy a lens in the July 4th sales. I am not sure if there would be any discounts available for lens and accessories during the sale- but then no harm in trying your luck. If there are any, I can very well afford to buy a better lens. That leads me to the most important of all questions- what and which lens to buy?

I am torn between a Macro lens and a telephoto lens. I want the best of both worlds, and then there is this budget constraint. This is a perfect trade off world, how much ever I think I am unable to decide on the trade off component. I am actually looking at under 400$ lens. That set, the things that I need to decide are- the nature of the lens- macro or telephoto and the make. There are Tamron, Canon and Sigma. There are pros and cons of all these lenses and that is precisely what makes my decision making even more tougher. I am sort of positively disposed towards Sigma. The range is good, the reviews are better and the price is excellent[;)]. But not yet decided on the lens.

Let me wait for the July 4th.