Do I need a new lens?

[SabrinaO]

Whats a good lens for studio work? I mainly use my 35mm 1.8 but I find its too long so I have to back up considerably to get in landscape orientation, then detail is lost in eyes and such so I mainly use my 35mm in portrait orientation. I do have my kit lens but I don't think my shots come out as sharp as with my 35mm. Maybe im just imagining it, or user error? I don't know.... what do you all recommend?

 

[Robin Usagani]

If 35 is too long then you need to have a new studio. Sorry I think 35mm is way too wide. Maybe buy a full frame camera first.

 

[subscuck]

LOL. I don't believe I've ever heard anyone complain about a 35 being too tight in a studio! I love your threads Sabrina, I hope you never leave. Seriously, at the very least on a crop body I'd want a 50, ideally an 85. Not to sound like a dick, but I agree with Schwetty. Maybe you need to improve your shooting space to accommodate a more appropriate fl. With a longer fl you'll have better control over your bg blur. A 35 loses bg blur pretty quick as you back up from your subject. 50 not as much, 85 even less.

 

[behanana]

OK, please Schwettylens and subsuck you can verify if I'm correct in this. If you have a 35mm lense on a crop body, with the conversion factor doesn't that give you an effective length of just about 50mm? I'm going to try to turn this thread into something semi-informative and I don't know if it can be done.

 

[subscuck]

OK, please Schwettylens and subsuck you can verify if I'm correct in this. If you have a 35mm lense on a crop body, with the conversion factor doesn't that give you an effective length of just about 50mm? I'm going to try to turn this thread into something semi-informative and I don't know if it can be done.

Yes, it will have the same field of view as (approx) 50mm. But even 50mm is considered "normal" perspective, and shouldn't be tight, unless her studio is in a hall closet or something.

And why would you not let one of Sabrina's threads take it's natural course? That's just wrong.

 

[shortpants]

Yes a 35mm on a crop is close to 50mm on a full frame. I couldn't imagine shooting with less than 35mm for portraits, unless you were purposely doing some funky wide angle shots with a lot of the environment in the frame. Shorter focal length is going to distort body parts.

 

[Robin Usagani]

Is it me? I find it very hard to explain to people about this crop and full sensor thing. I need a scatch paper and stuff. Dont worry about crop or full sensor. You need lens that has less distortion and that is about 85mm. 50 mm is not ideal but a lot of people use it because of the lack of space. I try my best to be around 85mm and certainly not less that 50mm with full frame or cropped sensor. 35mm (or wider) is more of an event or landscape lens. Certainly not a portrait lens. If it is for portrait, it is for a very specific shot where you want to see distortion.

 

[shortpants]

See, I always consider 35mm a "normal" perspective on a crop. I learned on film so I find it hard to explain also. I just know visually to me, a 35mm looks like a 50mm on an old camera, and 50mm was always considered normal then. I guess there is an ever so slight distortion at that length if you're very close to your subject or at certain angles, so yes 50mm or longer would be ideal for portraits. I like my 35mm for documenting and when people may or may not be involved. I wouldn't say it's landscape wide.

You know what though, you're right it doesn't matter. I think it does if you've shot both, if you've only shot on a crop than you don't know any different. My head is spinning now I need coffee.

 

[behanana]

subsuck, my appologies for slightly derailing this tread into a semi-intellegant conversation. She posted another thread earlier today, I figured I could derail one and everyone would be ok with it. For the short time I've been really learning about photography, what everyone has basically said is what I've seen, 50mm is close to "normal", 35 and 85 are good "all around" prime lenses for wide and zoom. All this being based off the full frame bodies, and exceptions do apply.

And who the hell knows, she might be using a closet as a studio, would be easy to control the light , just pop her 600 in there and waa-laa, light!

 

[msuggs]

... if you've only shot on a crop than you don't know any different. My head is spinning now I need coffee.

Me too.....

I'm trying to decide between a 35 and 50 myself.
I think I'll just get both.

 

[Dao]

I have to back up considerably to get in landscape orientation, then detail is lost in eyes

I think Sabrina's studio may be big enough since she mentioned she need to backup. But I think the problem she had was related to details lost in the eyes when shooting with the 35mm lens in landscape mode when the subject is correctly framed.

So she thought the lost of details was related to the distance between the subject and the camera. I am not 100% sure what she meant by lost of details. But 1 thing I know for sure is, when you compare 2 photos with same setup while one is taken with camera closer to the subject, the one with camera closer to the subject should show more details in 100% crop.

 

[Robin Usagani]

The perfect example is lets say you are taking a photo of a car in an angle (front left bumber corner is closest to your camera. Lets say you take it with 35 mm with a crop sensor and you try to put the car barely fit the frame. Then you shoot it with 50 mm and full frame and do a similar shot. Theoratically speaking you probably take the photo almost at the same spot for either scenario. But these 2 photos wont look the same. You will have more distortion with the crop sensor and 35mm. Maybe Ill do this test when I have time and put the 2 photos on the top of eachother and do a gif animation so you can tell the difference.

 

[Dao]

Schwetty, I think this photo from wikipedia shows what you mean.

Photo quoted from Wikipedia (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e5/Focal_length.jpg)

 

[behanana]

Schwetty, I think I see what you are saying now. Although the crop body with a 35mm lense will give an effective focal length of about 50mm, due to the fact it is still a 35mm lense you are going to have some fuzzy distortion/oof area towards the edges of the frame. Using a 50mm on a full frame body will keep that distortion at the edges of the frame down. If that is the basic gist, then it's good to keep in mind. I know as I am thinking about purchasing new lenses, I alway keep in mind that eventually I may go to a full frame camera and if that is the case I don't really want a bunch of crop sensor lenses, so I look at the focal length that a lense will have when used on a crop body.

 

[shortpants]

The perfect example is lets say you are taking a photo of a car in an angle (front left bumber corner is closest to your camera. Lets say you take it with 35 mm with a crop sensor and you try to put the car barely fit the frame. Then you shoot it with 50 mm and full frame and do a similar shot. Theoratically speaking you probably take the photo almost at the same spot for either scenario. But these 2 photos wont look the same. You will have more distortion with the crop sensor and 35mm. Maybe Ill do this test when I have time and put the 2 photos on the top of eachother and do a gif animation so you can tell the difference.

Could you? I'd love to see it. I don't think I've ever seen such a comparison.