Lens.........ugh

mitsugirly

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Ok, so I spent the entire weekend out of the house, away from home DOING something in the nice weather (it was 85+ all weekend).
Went to 2 different parks, 3 different "street" places (my husband and his friends were aggressive street skating) and then on Sunday spent the day at the conservatory park with the butterflies.


I have FALLEN IN LOVE with my zoom 100-300mm lens. It gets the BEST DOF shots ever compared to my prime 18-70mm. I'm just loving it!
However, I spent both days switching back and forth, back and forth between the lens because the zoom is SO ZOOM that I have to be back really far to get any shots anywhere near me or portrait type shots. When I was at the conservatory, it worked great for all the zoom butterfly, fish, flowers and neat items...but of course in order to get pics of my hubby and baby or the entire "rain forest" ect., I'd have to switch lens. I swear I switched lens at least 50+ times each individual day. I was so sick of it.


I'm thinking I need to get just 1 lens with a HUGE range. There was another guy that was at the conservatory that looked like he had one of those MEGA huge lens. I mean this sucker looked BIG! He was right up on the butterflies. I stopped to ask him what lens he had and he replied a 18(?or something like that?) to 270mm lens. I'm thinking...ugh, ok, my lens is a 300mm and it didn't look as big as that. Then I started thinking how nice that would be to not have to change lens back and forth. It's such a pain.


So what kind of lens do I look for? Who makes what and the range? I have a Sony a300 so I know that not only the sony lens will work, but the Minolta Maxxum lens will as well. Can I go with some of the other off brands for my camera? Do you loose quality when you have a lens like this?


Someone guide me in the right direction. I'm so frustrated after this weekend. lol
 
There is a lens that Tamron makes thats an 18-270mm which would cover such a wide range that you would never have to remove it, the problem is that these lenses are like swiss army knives. They can do everything, but not very well. The larger zoom range will enable you to get some of the shots you want without changing lenses, but you'll be sacrificing some image quality.
 
Personally, I stay away from those 'super zoom' lenses.

In order to make a lens with that amount of range...there have to be compromises made...and the image quality is usually something that suffers.

To some people, the convenience is worth it. And for me, in some situations, it might be...but when I buy a lens, I'd rather have something with awesome image quality...and I'll change lenses if I need to. (or use two cameras so I don't have to change lenses).

Sigma makes an 18-200mm lens to fit Sony.

You don't loose quality because it's an off-brand lens. Sigma, for example, makes some great lenses...but they also make some that aren't so good. Same thing for Sony/Minolta, Canon, Nikon, Pentax etc. So you really have to evaluate the specific lens rather than the brand.
 
Personally, I stay away from those 'super zoom' lenses.

In order to make a lens with that amount of range...there have to be compromises made...and the image quality is usually something that suffers.

To some people, the convenience is worth it. And for me, in some situations, it might be...but when I buy a lens, I'd rather have something with awesome image quality...and I'll change lenses if I need to. (or use two cameras so I don't have to change lenses).

Sigma makes an 18-200mm lens to fit Sony.

You don't loose quality because it's an off-brand lens. Sigma, for example, makes some great lenses...but they also make some that aren't so good. Same thing for Sony/Minolta, Canon, Nikon, Pentax etc. So you really have to evaluate the specific lens rather than the brand.

:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

Don't get a superzoom lens, instead get a second body. Then you have the best of both worlds.
 
If you're inlove with the depth of field then superzooms are not something for you. That Tamron would be f/6.3 at 250mm which would not give you a very nice depth of field at all.

But not only the image quality is a problem. The lens elements extend way beyond the barrel making them unstable and damage prone, and some (the Nikon variant) suffer from horrible usability too and lens creep making shooting up or down difficult.

They are good for those who have an aversion to changing lenses, and those who want a vacation lens where they can minimise their kit to be as small as possible, but not much more than that.
 
Thanks for your advice everyone. I guess I'll stick with changing my lens.

Getting another body would be a great idea. My husband and I both like to shoot and we were just discussing it over the weekend. Maybe I'll just have to invest in that instead, then we can just switch off when needed.

Another person told me that you should take the highest zoom and divide it by the lowest it can go and if it's over 4 then you are loosing quality. I really don't want to loose quality. So going with the Sigma isn't for me I guess.
 
That is a general rule of thumb. But it really varies quite greatly between lens manufacturers. For instance the 18-55mm kit lens that comes with the Canon 1000D has a 3x zoom factor but produces very subpar results. Compared with say a 24-70mm L series lens which also has a 3x zoom factor and is a lens to drool over.

My advice is pick a lens and do a bit of research. Welcome to Photozone! has some real tests on most lenses, and additionally I'm sure between the forum population here there is experience with nearly every lens out there so just ask.
 
sounds like you are excited and have a lot of pics to take :)
clear.gif
 
If you like the dof of the zoom, but want a lens that you don't have to stand back from your subject to get that dof, then consider buying a 50mm f1.8 to compliment your zoom. You'll still be switching lenses, but you'll get that tight dof that you like, and your 2nd lens will be extremely light and easy to carry around.
 
If you like the dof of the zoom, but want a lens that you don't have to stand back from your subject to get that dof, then consider buying a 50mm f1.8 to compliment your zoom. You'll still be switching lenses, but you'll get that tight dof that you like, and your 2nd lens will be extremely light and easy to carry around.


I already have a 28mm which I wanted instead of the 50mm because of the wider angle.
 
2 bodies is definitely the way to go. if you had a consumer/prosumer grade body with an 18-55 and 55-200, generally buying an additional entry/consumer body will be cheaper with much better quality than buying a super zoom. then, as you said, you have an additional body for when the both of you want to shoot.
 
I agree with the dual body setup. I have a D90 as my main, but I'm thinking of upgrading to the D300 replacement when it comes out so then it will be my primary body with the D90 as a secondary. With a dual body setup you can be sure you wont miss any shots because you were fumbling to change lenses. All you do is drop one body and pick up the other.

But don't actually drop them :lol:
 
I already have a 28mm which I wanted instead of the 50mm because of the wider angle.

True, but you like a tight dof (blurry background) as well.

A 28mm f2.8 "in focus" area is over 5 times that of a 50mm f1.8. Meaning that shots where only the subject is in focus and the rest of the photo are far easier to accomplish with a 50mm f1.8.

Here's a nifty dof calculator: Online Depth of Field Calculator
 

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