70-200mm 2.8 HA..uh no LOL!

[Overread22]

wait 35mm isn't for portraits?

 

[gsgary]

If you still find the 70-200mm heavy you can always use it with a monopod. For wedding type work that should not be too limiting - and if you get a very good one they can go very low to theground whilst still being very strong

I don't think you would be able to handle the 300F2.8 then

 

[Overread22]

pfft its not like she needs a 300mm f2.8 for weddings (could work- great bokeh but you'd have to be soo far back!)

*waits for gary to start posting his DJ 300mm f2.8 pics*

 

[Rrr3319]

I once attended a local digital photography seminar and the guy teaching it was talking about lenses. He said that while manufacturers MAKE a 50mm lens, he has never once heard of anyone buying one because they're pretty much useless. I guess he never heard that the fifty is "nifty".

 

[Overread22]

I guess he also missed any photography from before the digita era 50mm lenses are almost the standard lens fitted with most film SLRs!

 

[Rrr3319]

I'm not sure what his qualifications were to teach the seminar, but I suppose I should have guessed that it wasn't going to be chock full of useful information since it was free and put on by the local park district. I mean, when is the last time you've heard "free" and "photography" used in a sentence together?

 

[sleist]

The 70-200 f/2.8 is an amazing lens. I have the VR1 version and consider it my absolute favorite piece of glass. My Sigma 50mm f/1.4 is a close second. With the Tokina 11-16 not far behind.

I guess everyone has different tastes.

 

[gpardo64]

Excellent story. I really enjoyed reading it.

 

[vtf]

I just wish I had the money to open the door to a camera shop and pay retail.:er:

 

[magkelly]

When I went to check out my Fuji S7000 in 2003 it was just a joke the way the men in the shop treated me. Admittedly it was a glorified point and shoot because the DSLR's at the time were just out of my range financially, but I'd done my homework and decided I wanted to look at that one.

I swear they tried to sell me every camera BUT that one I came in to see at twice the prices that I kept seeing online and none of them had what I walked in there to get in terms of capacity! Just getting them to understand that I really wanted a bigger camera, one more like an SLR with manual settings and some kind of optional lenses, and that I didn't want just a pocket point and shoot was near impossible.

Both of the guys in the store were apparently so bemused at the very idea that I might actually have some idea of what aperture, ISO and film speed were despite the fact that I was a woman that they apparently couldn't contain themselves from acting like complete sexist idiots. One guy was just trying to sell me anything "easy" and probably overstocked and the other was so busy telling me how "sexy" I looked with a good camera in my hand that it was just insulting dealing with them. Needless to say I didn't buy a thing from them. To my dismay I also found their very unprofessional attitude was very normal for that area.

It took me over a year to find a decent camera store, with a knowledgeable staff that didn't treat me like that walking in the door. Now, I'm living somewhere else, and the ONLY camera store in town, one that literally advertises that they can "fix anything ever made" doesn't even know there is such a thing as a Pentax Spotmatic sans hot shoe apparently.

I'm sitting there in an email telling this guy that I want to buy a clip on cold shoe and cable from them if they carry them so I can actually use a flash with my SP1 and he's suggesting that I check the camera again more closely because obviously I am missing the fact that there is a hot shoe right there on top already.

Ritz Camera in the mall may be pretty much useless, but I can't say the local home grown small camera shop is any better or that they deserve my business. A repair guy who can't even be bothered to do a Google search on the Spotmatic and see that the earlier SP1's didn't have a ####@@@!!! hot shoe can't be worth a whole heck of a lot when he's actually got his hands on a camera!

I definitely wouldn't trust these people with my Spottie and I can just imagine what horrors they might do to an expensive DSLR if you brought it in to be cleaned or serviced.

uke:

 

[benlonghair]

wait 35mm isn't for portraits?

Sure, you can use it, but as I have understood it you're better off in the 60-100 range.

/photo's not mine, obviously.

 

[o hey tyler]

tl;dr

 

[ivomitcats]

wait 35mm isn't for portraits?

Sure, you can use it, but as I have understood it you're better off in the 60-100 range.

/photo's not mine, obviously.

Erm, 35mm lenses are very often used for portraits...

 

[Overread22]

wait 35mm isn't for portraits?

Sure, you can use it, but as I have understood it you're better off in the 60-100 range.

/photo's not mine, obviously.

Erm, 35mm lenses are very often used for portraits...

I think it might have to do with the crop factor of the camera as to the more popular dominant use of 35mm lenses.

 

[manaheim]

Camera stores are weird places. I swear they scare so many customers off by confusing them and none of them seem to have any real clue on how to read what kind of customer they are looking at.

If someone came in and asked me for that kind of gear, I would show it to them. If they handled it and were comfortable and asked the price and I told them and they didn't fall over, I would support them. I might ask them a few questions to gauge their intentions and understanding, I might ask them if they had considered this or that alternative, but that would be about it. If they balked at either the size, weight or price, I might suggest they consider X or Y and show them those instead.

That's how you work with people in retail and sales. It's really not complicated.

Bizarre.

Anyway, thanks for the read.