Apr 27, 2010

Lens and orchards

We went to the orchard after school today. The apple blossoms won't be in full bloom until next week. So we'll see. . . .

I had a lot of questions about the lens that I posted. So I'm going to give my advice again (take it for what it's worth . . believe me I still have lots to learn).

(1) If your short on cash - upgrade your lens before your camera. Lenses are so important.

(2) If your deciding between the 50 mm 1.8 or the 50 mm 1.4 go with the 1.4. I know it's like $300 more. But, I bought both. I thought I could live with the 1.8 ($150) and I couldn't. I love how much sharper my images are with the 1.4. It's not that the f-stop makes that much of a difference - it's just the quality of the lens. I promise you your images will be sharper.

(3) If you are going to buy a full frame camera or if you have a full frame camera skip the 50 mm all together and just buy the 85 mm. With a full frame camera you can shoot families with a 85 mm. You can also shoot portraits. You cannot shoot portraits very well with the 50 mm and a full frame camera. It will be like shooting with a wide angle lens. Great for groups and landscapes - bad for close ups.

(4) Because I already had the 50 mm 1.4 I just bought the 105 mm so I can do better portraits. Because I use a full frame camera I can still get more than one person in the picture. I just took pictures of my kids in an orchard and posted them on my photo blog. You can see that I got a few pictures with all three of them in there together. I did have to back up quite a ways - but not too bad.

Here's one I took today with the 105 mm lens. You can see more of the images that I took with the 105 mm lens on my photo blog. I just posted it today.

Photobucket

4 comments:

ShamelessPhotography said...

Laura,
I totally agree. My sister and I were talking about lenses and cameras just the other day and totally agree its much wiser to invest in glass. Besides if you spend all that money on a camera and have inferior lenses the camera is just going to exaggerate the shortcomings they have. And without a bright lens, whats the point of having a camera with the capabilities of shooting at high ISO's.?

I do have to agree that a prime is great for crisp images, but I also think that the 70-200 is the best lens for weddings or candids. It allows you to "sneak up" without being noticed. I like having both... gives me a lot of flexibility.

I hope all our camera jargon doesn't scare everyone away!! LOL

Cori Henderson said...

I agree the 70-200 is a great lens, creates great bokeh. I just hate how heavy it is:) I'm a wimp. I can't wait to get a new camera so I can try out your new lens - he he:) Its a good thing we tried to get those pics yesterday cause it looks like a complete blizzard at my house today.

The Ridgeways said...

I have made fun of Brent for years because there is always something more for his camera he wants, I think the light is finally going on, lol. It's a be frightening how much you can spend. I LOVE those dresses! Where did you get them?

Laura said...

Melanie, The dresses came from Naartjie. They are about $24 - I had to go to Fashion place and to 106th to get the sizes I want. You may want to order them on line. They also come in Lavendar (bought one of those too) Love the dress.