Serarching for Lenses for Portrait (n+1 thread)

[cumi]

It's not a matter of the 50mm being covered or not. I too have the 18-70mm, it's the lens I use most, but I always carry my 50mm around with me for the ability to use f/1.8 and get the depth of field up AND be able to photograph in low light situations.

Try and find out how much zooming really means to you. Walk around one day with your lens set only at 50mm, or only at 38. And dont touch the zoom ring. I know 2 people who don't even own zoom lenses. Just about 5 fixed ones.

Also it is not really possible to apply mathematics to photography. Yes the DOF calculation is true, but this formula should not be applied. EVER. The choice of focal length an aperture should come from choosing the amount of perspective distortion you want, and the DOF or capturing the light provided. Remember a 70mm photograph from across the room looks different to a 12mm photograph standing right next to the person. The choice is ultimately a creative process not a mathematical one.

You're damn right (especially red text)! This made me think a lot and now I tend more to 2 primes I mentioned in the first post, plus the 50mm 1.8.

It is also -as you said- the ability to photograph in low-light situation, or at least catch 2 stops more ambient light when using flash. The low-light situation is mostly indoors, mostly in rooms, living rooms. That means, with focal distances above 100mm (nominal), I can take photos of noses, but not portraits... I could get the 50mm 1.8D new one for € 120*. I didn't ever read a bad critics about that lens... Actualy, never read a critics, that states something else that it's a fantastic highly recomanded lens...

*Please don't tell me, how much would it cost in USA. I don't want to know.

 

[Mike_E]

Why not? But at 100mm-150mm surely. If the subject is on 5m away from me, I need at F4 GN=20. With my External flash I have even more (GN42), so I can even at F8 add some fill-flash with my SB600.*

The big question for me is, if I can use fill-flash (iTTL) with an non-D lens. I think no.



I know that guy, I read almos every article from him. He's great.



Actualy, not a bad option. Is there a D version, too? I have to check ebay again...



* Sorry, I love calculations. I know, too much engineering thinking for photography.

1: The 70-210 f4 was discontinued before Nikon started making D lenses I believe.

2: With the crop factor 100mm equals 150mm and at that focal range and beyond using a flash is tough to do for a number of reasons. Off the top of my head, here are two. First is that you can only get tight head shots unless you move way back which makes you flash work harder and may go beyond it's usable range. Second the further back you move the wider your DoF gets around your focal point which means that the background will be more in focus unless you get even further away from that, which renders your flash even more useless because you will have a shot looking like it was taken in outer space.

3: Yes you can still use fill flash. Just dial down the flash exposure on the flash itself to suit.

4: Yes there is a 70-210 f4-5.6 D, they are well thought of and tend to be a bit pricey. The only difference is that the D focuses faster in auto. An annoyance that I can put up with for an extra $300 US.

HTH

mike