Help me with a lense!

[Noraa]

So I just purchased a Canon Rebel T3i Kit with a 18-55IS Lens. I noticed the quality isn't that great. I'm mainly taking pictures of people and clothes, dealing with fashion. I'm on a tight budget and need some recommendations on a better lens. I heard that 50mm / f1.4-1.8 is the way to go.

Are these any good?
Rokinon 85mm f/1.4 Canon-ef
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you.

 

[thetrue]

Why don't you post a photo or two and we can try to help you figure out what's wrong

 

[Overread]

I second that point. The kit lenses sold with most modern DSLRs at entry level might not be top of the range lenses, but they are more than capable of giving a good result, especially in the fields that you've mentioned. If you can show some examples and list down:

1) The settings used (right click the photo and to to the properties selection then look at the further details tab in the new window - it should have a list of the properties of the photo and you can list down teh aperture, shutter speed and ISO used for each photo - note make sure you list the photos aperture not something like the listed lenses max aperture)

2) The lighting and other setup components you might have made use of.

3) The mode you used to shoot with as well as the overall method you used to take the photo.

The more details you give the more specific we can be with feedback and there is a very good chances that a few corrections to your method could result in greatly increased performance. Furthermore it might also identify that you have an equipment lacking which could be in an area other than the lens of camera body (for example lighting equipment).

 

[Dao]

As stated above, the issue may not be lens related. The optical quality of the kit lenses nowadays are not that bad although they have limitations. Without knowing how the kit lens limits you, it is hard to recommend you a lens.

 

[Mike_E]

Have you tried a tripod?

Looked into proper hand holding technique?

I'm not trying to be a SA here but generally when you aren't getting good shots it's as simple as camera blur.

 

[Noraa]

Thanks for the quick responses guys. I agree that maybe it's the settings or something I'm doing wrong since I'm pretty new to DSLRs. It seems like only the cat picture has decent quality. I'm also not using any professional lighting at the moment, which I know is a large factor. It's just for my shop on eBay.

Here are a few pictures:
http://whateverwereawesome.com/aaron/1.JPG
http://whateverwereawesome.com/aaron/2.JPG
http://whateverwereawesome.com/aaron/3.JPG

Other camera settings:

Settings of each picture:

Image 1 -
Image 2 -
Image 3 -

 

[PlanetStarbucks]

What is it that you aren't liking about those pictures exactly? They look sharp and don't have much noise (particularly for 6400 ISO). Now, that said, they do look flat, but that's really a lighting issue and not a camera lens issue.

 

[Mike_E]

You might also clean you lens.

Is there a smoker in the house? Lenses have also been known to come from the factory needing cleaning.

 

[Noraa]

I just feel like the quality isn't great compared to my little Sony digital camera

 

[Overread]

Have a look at the shutter speeds that you are using (it is listed as exposure time in the properties).

1/50sec for the cat shot
1/40 for the second
1/25 for the third shot.

Those are very slow shutter speeds which even on a short lens are really pushing the ability to shoot a clear sharp shot of something alive and whilst handholding.

The typical rule of thumb for handholding is 1/focal length of the lens - so a 50mm lens (or zoom set to 50mm) would need a shutter speed of at least 1/50sec to avoid handshake.
Now that is a general value and will vary from user to user a bit. It also assumes that you've good posture and holding skills. However I would also add that, in general, 1/60sec is the minimum shutter speed you want when shooting even if you are using a shorter focal length lens.


Now the next factor to consider is the subject itself. Even a person standing very still is going to have motion show at 1/25sec and sap some of the sharpness. If you want to shoot a living subject with those speeds its just not going to happen with natural light without a lot of trial and error.



Now to improve you can do a few things:

1) Use better light - shoot during the day with some light through a window able to contribute to the exposure. At present your shooting indoors which whilst more than fine for eyes, is very dark for a camera. This has meant that your ISO has been pushed up very high and that your shutter speeds are very slow. Adding more light will let you overcome both of those problems.

2) Add additional lighting - typically this is best delivered with flash when you need a major lighting addition. Even a simple flash used with the head pointing upward so that the light bounces off the walls can make a significant difference. This subject area can be more complex and is honestly the most important part for product style photography. You will find that with some investment and learning you can get some fantastic results just by improving the light.

3) Use a tripod - for any static subjects you can easily use the slow shutter speeds without fear if you've got the camera set on a stable tripod.



I would advise that you read up on lighting as a subject. The time you invest in this will let you move ahead with leaps and bounds in the quality possible. I would strongly recommend the following resources:

Strobist 101 - Strobist: Lighting 101
Light Science and Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting (book)

At your stage of learning you would also do well to study the elements of exposure. This is a topic which is covered in many photography publications so is easily found as a topic. The book
Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson is an often used starting resource for getting to grips with exposure.

The Digital Photography book series by Scot Kelby is also a great series of books for the starting photographer.

Remember many books can be found or ordered through your local library if you can't afford to purchase them.

 

[Solarflare]

In certain light situations, a p&s with a bright lens (such as the Panasonic LX7, which offers a whooping f/1.4-2.3 lens) might actually have an edge over an APS-C sensor sized DSLR with nothing but a kit lens (which are typically something like f/4-5.6).

Thats because f/1.4 is a whooping 8 times brighter than f/4, i.e. the sensor gets 8 times more light.

 

[KmH]

Lighting is pretty important for making nice photos of people or clothes.

Check out this group of tutorials - Digital Photography Techniques