Aperture

Sisitecandy

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Hello!
I want to buy a DSLR but I'm wondering what happens if I get one with an aperture of f/5.6 and buy a lens with an aperture of f/1.8. Will I be able to get shots with a shallow deph of field (f/1.8) ?
Thanks.
 
Hi and welcome to the forum.
Definitely. With f/1.8 you will get nice depth of field. the better the longer your focal length. 24mm at f/1.8 wouldn´t give you very shallow depth, but 85mm f/1.8 would.
 
Hello!
I want to buy a DSLR but I'm wondering what happens if I get one with an aperture of f/5.6 and buy a lens with an aperture of f/1.8. Will I be able to get shots with a shallow deph of field (f/1.8) ?
Thanks.
Hello!

It will be fine. When you remove the standard lens with its f/5.6, and install the other lens with its f/1.8, then your camera will use the new lens aperture, and not the old one.

If you are attempting a shallow depth of field, use the wider aperture, (f/1.8), and stay somewhat back away from your subject. Also, make sure the background is farther back behind your subject as well.

So some theoretical numbers; using a 50mm lens at f/1.8, distance to subject about 8 feet, and the background is about 20 feet from your camera. Do that and you should be good.
 
Thank you for your responses. But is it possible to buy a dslr without a standard lens ?
 
Thank you for your responses. But is it possible to buy a dslr without a standard lens ?
Yes of course. You can buy it without lens (body only) or there are also kits with better lenses. But I have yet to see a kit with a prime lens. Prime lenses have the largest apertures.
 
I really want to get a 50mm f/1.8 lens, but I don't think I could afford it. So what is the best (and affordable) aperture to get good portraits ?
 
Canons and Nikons 50mm f/1.8 are pretty affordable. If a new one is too expensive, consider a used lens.
 
The aperture is in the lens (lens aperture), not in the DSLR.
A big advantage of a DSLR is the ability to change lenses.

Note too that DoF is about more than the lens aperture.
Lens focal length, point of focus distance, and image sensor size all contribute along with lens aperture.
Understanding Depth of Field in Photography

For example here is a photo that has a nicely blurred background that was made using 500 mm as the focal length and a f-stop of f/6.3.
The key is the bird (focus distance) was about 85 feet in front of the camera.

RivrSideCmtryGoose.jpg
 
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Canon's 50mm 1.8 lens is one of the cheapest lenses out there, at about $125 new. Yongnuo makes a clone which is even cheaper for less than $60 new. Nikon's version of the 50mm lens is a little bit more expensive, but it's kinda the same idea. Plus there are many ways to use older lenses than can be found on the used market.

And I hate to break some bad news to you, but it's important to know what you're getting into...

The true cost of ownership of a DSLR camera is easily 2 to 3 times the cost of the body alone. You don't *have* to spend that money right away, but you should plan on that being the case at some point.

A DSLR camera is a platform, or a foundation upon which you build a system. It is NOT an upgrade from a point-and-shoot camera. It's an entirely different animal.

I've used the "tool box" analogy before and I think it applies here. Your camera-phone is like a Swiss-Army knife. It has all kinds of gadgets built into it: knife, scissors, toothpick, bottle-opener, and so-on. If you don't buy more tools (lenses, flash, accessories) for your toolbox (camera), then you'll probably have overspent compared to the features you can get from your phone where you don't have to spend beyond the initial purchase.

A DSLR camera is like a toolbox. It *can* hold lots of tools, and way more than a Swiss-Army knife. But when you first get the toolbox, it doesn't actually have many tools in it. It's just a few starter tools. In other words, a kit lens. But it will hold many tools, and much more powerful tools than the Swiss Army knife could ever do.
 
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So what is the best (and affordable) aperture to get good portraits ?
Ignore aperture.

You should be inquiring about the focal length rather than the aperture. Let's assume for the moment that you may be talking about getting a DSLR with the "medium size" sensor; the APS-C, size, which comes in the "entry level" cameras such as; the Nikon D3300 or Nikon D5300 for example.

In that type of camera body, you would probably want a focal length of between 75mm and 135mm. Obtaining a lens in that focal length is a good choice for portraiture.
 
...In that type of camera body, you would probably want a focal length of between 75mm and 135mm. Obtaining a lens in that focal length is a good choice for portraiture.
That would absolutely work. Personally, I don't prefer 135mm on a crop-sized sensor, but each of us has a preferred style of photography. That's the beauty of this photography thing: there are so many paths to choose and pursue.

To the OP (Sisitecandy), getting a kit lens with the body is almost always the cheapest way to get a decent lens. Are kit lenses "great"? Well, look at it this way, there really aren't bad lenses out there. Yeah, there are some exceptions to that rule, but by and large almost any lens can be used for getting great pictures. It's not that lenses are "bad" as much as some are more limited and need to be used within certain focal or aperture ranges.

Keeping that in mind, buying a body *WITH* the lens is the cheapest way to get that lens. Buying them separately is definitely more expensive. For people that already have a collection of lenses, buying the body-only makes sense.

If you get a camera with a kit lens, use it for a while before buying the next lens. You'll figure out all kinds of things, including what focal lengths you actually use as well as what apertures you end up shooting with. If you're "in the middle" of a range, then you probably don't need something different. If you're always at the limit of a range, then you'll know that you're needing/wanting a different lens in that direction.

Find a friend that has a camera. Once you get a photo-nerd talking about their camera stuff, the conversation will go on for a long time. You'll get a chance to play with things and understand what you want before plunking down a bunch of cash.
 
The DSLR merely captures what the lens is seeing.

I've learned a lot from my kit lens. Everything about ISO, shutter speed, F-stop etc. With a prime lens (for your portraits) you won't widen your knowledge as much I don't think. Since, I've bought a wide angle lens which I love and I have my first child on the way so looking into 50mm prime lenses (effectively 75mm with my crop camera).
 

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