NEWSLETTER
INSPIRATION
DIGITAL SCRAPBOOKINGFocus on Photos
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Hi everyone! Beckie here with another photography post! This week we’re going to explore…lenses!!
There’s no need to rush out and acquire tons of equipment when you’re getting serious about improving your photography. In fact, it’s far better to start simple and master a few basic pieces first! I suggest investing in a good lens to get you up and running.
Most of you reading this post will have a camera with a “cropped sensor”. This is because consumer grade digital SLR cameras have a sensor that is smaller than traditional 35mm film cameras. This means that some of the image is not captured, or is “cropped” when compared to the image captured by a full frame 35mm film model. It is important to know that the images shown later, and my assessment of the usefulness of each lens, are based on a crop sensor camera. New to digital photography and not sure what you have? Well, unless you spent more than $2,000 for your camera – odds are that you have a cropped sensor ;o)
OK – so now that we’ve gotten the sensor issue out of the way – let’s look at lenses. The lens is what interprets the scene that is sent to your camera’s sensor as a photo is taken – so obviously investing in the right lens(es) is critical!
Let’s look at three sample photos…taken just last night at a triple-A baseball game with my family! I had to bribe my son with a root beer and do a SUPER FAST switch out of my lenses to capture this series of photos, so please excuse the technical imperfections ;o) {Oh, and in case anyone is wondering – these are all SOOC – which means “straight out of camera”. They haven’t been color corrected or sharpened at all in my photo editing software. Professional photographers reading this post are appalled right now – this is akin to a model being caught out in public without her make-up, LOL!}
All of these photos were taken at ISO 400, f4.5, 1/125. I sat in the exact same spot and didn’t change ANY settings on my camera, just the lens itself:
above: 30mm lens
above: 50mm lens
above: 85mm lens
Things to Consider
- How much “image” do you need to capture? If you’re like me, a scrapbooker aspiring to be a better photographer, you’re probably in need of a versatile lens that will let you capture all of life’s every day events: birthday parties, t-ball games, family gatherings, etc. This series of photos illustrates the most basic consideration for selecting a lens – the amount of the “scene” that can be captured in the photo.
- Will most of your photos be taken inside or outside? This is critical for two reasons: indoor situations are usually lacking sufficient natural lighting, meaning that you need a lens that will let you open up the aperture as wide as possible (a LOW f-stop number) to let the most light reach your camera’s sensor. Then there’s the amount of space available to take indoor pictures; notice that I’m about 7-8 feet away from my son and husband in the last photo, yet all that fit into the frame was their faces with the 85mm lens!
- Sharpness. Most lenses have what is referred to as a “sweet spot”, or that aperture value that yields the sharpest, most clearly defined image. It is a widely held opinion that prime lenses, or those that do not support a range of focal lengths, are generally sharper than their zoom lens counterparts. (Zoom lenses support a range of focal lengths, indicated as “18-55mm”, for example.) Prime lenses with the largest apertures yield the sharpest results. For example, a 50mm 1.4 prime lens produces images superior to those of a 50mm 1.8 prime lens.
- Cost. See everything I wrote about sharpness? The larger the aperture, the more glass…and the more the lens costs. There are also some exceptions to what I said about zoom vs. prime lenses…Canon and Nikon have high-end lenses that can offer you the zoom you desire AND the larger aperture – but you pay a steep price! The Canon series is indicated with “L” for “Luxury”. They start at $1000 and go up. WAY up. And…they’re usually very heavy.
So what does all this mean??
Well, you kind of need to decide for yourself. I suggest pricing the lenses that are supported by your camera between 28mm and 85mm to see what is available. You’ll also see how the aperture of the lens influences price.
I started with the 50mm 1.8 ($100) as my first addition beyond my kit lens. I still LOVE this lens, but wish I had the 50mm 1.4 ($400ish) version instead. I just couldn’t grasp the thought of spending that much with my first lens! But at my daughter’s birthday party last fall, I realized that the 50mm was too “tight”. Specifically – I couldn’t get both my daughter and her birthday cake in the frame when she was blowing out candles! I literally couldn’t get far enough away to make it work. So I put the Sigma 30mm 1.4 on my Christmas wish list…and Santa was good to me ;o) The 30mm 1.4 is my favorite lens, the one that is most versatile, and is also sharper than my 50mm 1.8. I still do use them both though, as the 50mm has been my outdoor go-to-lens.
The 85mm is, well…gorgeous – FOR PORTRAITS. It’s not a lens that is overly versatile for cropped sensor cameras because of the crop factor. But when I get the kids outside – on the slip-n-slide, or playing with friends where I have room to navigate around them – the results are simply stunning. (the sample images above have not been sharpened for web and are actually much crisper when I view the source file that what they appear to be here!)
Oh – and one more thing about crop factor…to understand how different the image would be on a full frame camera, multiply the focal length by the crop factor (1.6 for Canon, 1.5 for Nikon). For example, a 50mm lens on a crop sensor camera produces an image equivalent to an 80mm lens on a full frame camera. (50 x 1.6 = 80).
This is just my personal assessment of the lenses I have. I welcome all of you to share your own lens experiences in the comments section below! tell us what you have and what you love, and even what you want next!! (we always want more, right?!)
Whew…that was a lot! And I thought this would be a SHORT photography post, LOL!
Aug 18, 2010 @ 16:11:54
I’ve been visiting SP for a couple years to download free kits, but I just found the blog today! There are some great tips here. My 35mm prime has become my go-to lens. I started with the 50mm, but yeah, on a crop-factor camera, it was often just too close to the subject. It’s always fun to read about other photographer’s faves!
Jul 17, 2010 @ 11:44:08
I love reading about which lenses people use, because it is so hard to decide what to buy, particularly when you are not hugely experienced. I bought the canon 40D body without the lens kit and with it, bought the 18-250mm lens. This is a Huge lens and I needed the big body to mount it but it has been amazing for taking photos of small children at play, landscapes… well anything really. I have been told it is a cop out lens, as it doesn’t require any thought or planning or knowledge. But it has such a huge range that you can have a lot of fun zooming in and out and capturing pictures that you might not otherwise have got. I guess it is a lazy person lens, but then again it is perfect for travel and trips. I do have another lens. 50mm 1.8, which I bought largely because it was very cheap and the shop assistant recommended it for portraits. He was right and it is brilliant, I have been rapt with my shots on this. I would like to collect some more lenses, but slowly as I learn the ins and outs of my camera.
Jul 17, 2010 @ 07:54:18
Hi Becky ~ I just discovered this section tonight.
Thanks for the photo tips. We’ve only just got a Canon 1000D (I think it’s the Rebel over there?) as a first go with a DSLR so am not up with the play on it yet. It shoots well enough in auto, lol.
I’m wondering – in your comments below the heart bullet points, you say the 30mm 1.4 is your favourite lens. Do you mean 50mm? Or is there a 30mm 1.4 and you like this better than the 50mm?
I read somewhere else about the 50/1.4 and how sharp it is. I doubt we’ll get one soon but I’d like to consider it for sometime later when I’m more used to the camera (& have the extra funds!).
Jul 17, 2010 @ 10:00:01
Hi Robin! ahhh…this is the dilemma with lenses, LOL! WHICH ONE?! here are my thoughts about your situation and what lens to get…since you’re just getting started in your photography journey (and by the way – the Rebel is an excellent camera and will do ALL of the stuff we’ve talked about here!), I suggest going with the 50mm 1.8 to start off. It will only cost you about $100 (US) and will let you test out all of the various techniques we’ve discussed in these posts. Since you have the kit lens that came with your camera, you can continue to use that lens for “all-around” activities, especially in-doors or tight spots, where your 50mm will be “too tight” for you to get the shots you want. Take several months with that lens and just learn all the basics of photography, how your camera functions, etc. Having a $400 lens won’t help you if you haven’t mastered your camera anyway!
Once you’ve used the 50mm for a while and learned how to really use your camera, you can decide for yourself which way to go next. For me, I desperately wanted another prime lens that would give me sharp focus and gorgeous bokeh but that would be better indoors and in tight spots, so that’s why I went with the Sigma 30mm 1.4 next. But like I said – I definitely want to get the 50mm 1.4 at some point, as I’ve read so many wonderful reviews and seen so many gorgeous photos first hand.
Welcome to blog! we’re so glad you found us! drop us a line or a question any time! :)
Jul 10, 2010 @ 14:48:03
hi beckie,
i just wanted to say that this was a very helpful post. i’ve been reading photography tip blogs for about a year now, but i feel like i’m learning new things from the SP blog! thanks for keeping it fresh and informative!
Jul 17, 2010 @ 10:01:01
YAY! thanks, Rikki!! We’re really glad you’re finding this information to be helpful!!
Jul 08, 2010 @ 10:30:18
LOOOOOVE it, beckie! another great photo post with TONS of wonderful info :o) THANK YOU!
Jul 07, 2010 @ 23:08:29
Beckie – another fantastic post! I’m like Christine and don’t YET own an SLR – digi or manual! But so love reading all your fantastic tips and am learning heaps in preparation for the BIG moment when I finally make that wonderful purchase. In the meantime, I’m having fun playing around with the manual settings on my little Canon Ixus to see what tips I can master now. Thanks Beckie!! :o)
Jul 07, 2010 @ 16:19:04
Beckie, I love all the photo tips. As silly as this sounds, I don’t even have an SLR, but sometimes I’m able to take the photo tips and apply them to my point and shoot. One of these days I’ll save up for a real camera and all this knowledge will come to more use for me:)
On another note- I’ve really loved the new blog and all the tutorials, LOTW, template challenges, and featured kits. It’s all so inspiring and has me scrapping a ton more these days. So, I’d consider myself fairly new to the digiscrapping world (2 years), and I’m always amazed at the new things I learn and all that I’ve missed out on. My latest question is this: What are all the different ways that scrappers at the Shabby Princess create their final books? I’ve been using a publishing company on the web to print my pages in photo books, but do other scrappers use printing companies to print individual pages? Do they print them at home? Do they use traditional scrapping books? I was hoping to learn about more ways to “publish” my pages other than through a photo book. Thanks so much!
Jul 07, 2010 @ 17:05:03
Hey Christine! thank you so much for your sweet comments! ;o)
I think everyone does something different for printing, but here’s what I do: I have an action created in photoshop that saves a web version (for uploading to my FAVORITE site, ha ha) – and saves a high res .jpg version to be printed to a folder called…PRINT. ;o)
Then I watch my favorite on-line print sites for sales and upload LOTS of them all at once to get printed. Normal US rates are about $1.99 for 12×12 plus shipping (watch out – some sites REALLY get you for shipping). But with sales you can get either free shipping and/or prices as low as $1.49 per sheet. Then I buy d-ring albums at craft stores and put my pages into the clear plastic sleeves. I don’t scrap in chronological order, so this gives me the freedom to scrap what I want, when I want!
I use scrapbookpictures.com, but I see good reviews from persnicketyprints.com and mypictales.com also. I’m sure there are more (others jump in here, LOL!)
Jul 07, 2010 @ 15:15:15
Hi Beckie,
I invested in a Canon 500D last Christmas which is my first DSLR. I love it although it only came with a standard 18-55mm kit lens. I bought the Canon 55-250mm soon after (boy, my husband was feeling generous!) and I love it. It’s basically my all-round action lens but I started the hunt for a higher aperture lens and have just purchased the 50mm F1.8 (the nifty fifty!) for a bargain price on Amazon. I love this lens and not having to use the flash so much indoors has really helped. I was amazed by the detail in the photographs – very sharp – compared to my other two lens.
As for other lens…., I have enough to keep me going for now….. xxx
Thanks for your fab posts (without Shabby princess, I wouldn’t be scrapbooking, without scrapbooking I wouldn’t have a DSLR – life works in mysterious ways!).
Jul 07, 2010 @ 17:07:24
me, too! SP was one of the first sites I ever discovered…and through scrapping I’ve developed an insane desire to become a better photographer. I love how things work out that way! ;o)
The Canon 500d is branded as the T1i here in the states…I’ve heard great things about it! I hope you love it!!