I teach photography and off-camera lighting and used to run group workshops.
My advice to new students has always been "Get the best and fastest glass you can afford and whatever tripod you can find that feels right, solid, and stable."
I used an inexpensive tripod from a big box store for a few years over my better tripods because it had longer legs than any other I'd seen and I was working a lot of shoots where I wanted exaggerated angles and longer exposures. Tripods are easier to come across and afford than is good glass. Get a good lens and you'll have it forever. You can work your way up in tripod quality much less expensively.
I shoot Nikon, so my specific zoom lens suggestions won't work, though here's a page of
Canon zooms.
The lower the f/stop number, the faster the lens will be, meaning it will gather more light, resulting in a wider range of images you can make in lower light situations. Many zooms have one lowest f/stop at one end of the zoom and another at the other end of the zoom. You'll see it listed like this: 75-300mm f/4-5.6. Higher end, more expensive, zooms usually have a consistent f/stop across the range.
My favorite zoom for landscape and night sky work is my
14-24mm f/2.8 . My fave for general work whether human, animal, or not, is my
24-70mm f/2.8, which I've had for about ten years. Favorite zoom for just animals would be my
70-200mm f/2.8 . My least fave zoom is my
200-500mm f/5.6 because it is a big, heavy, long mother and wears me out if away from camp, though helps make some incredible images.
I would not discount prime lenses,
@Jeepmedic46 , those that have one focal length and don't zoom. You will learn more about composition, angle, framing, and relation of all the variables in your settings working with a prime lens like a
Canon 50mm f/1.8, which is a highly regarded, and quite inexpensive lens. Also a well-thought of Canon lens is the medium telephoto
85mm f/1.8. Amazing for portraits and having greater control over depth of field and
bokeh.
A great exercise for both learning your camera better and creating solid, appealing, images is to go on a photo walk around town with a 35mm or 50mm lens, just one, don't even bring another lens, and work it hard, making yourself move back and forth to frame and compose your image instead of zooming in and out with a zoom lens.
I guarantee you will start to see things differently and that it will improve your images and how you later work with a zoom.
Good luck man, hope you find good gear and enjoy the hell out of it.
Here's a recent single-frame (meaning not two images stacked and not a double exposure) night sky image done with the 14-24mm f/2.8 mentioned above, and a rock-solid
Manfrotto tripod with a
Manfrotto Ball Head:
