Lens

Adam_Safar

TPF Noob!
Joined
Jun 25, 2006
Messages
16
Reaction score
0
Location
London, United Kingdom
Hi.
This is my first comment on this forum and I have a question about the lens.
I just got to the point after 3 years where I started shooting photos more professionally and I bought a camera (Canon D30) and I want to buy a lens for it.
I would mainly use it for:
- Landscape (beach-city-nature etc.)

OR
- People Portrait

Which one would you suggest?
Thanks in advance.

- A.
 
The Two Applications are very much different. Landscape shots require rather wide angles - somewhere in the 12-18mm range for a digital or the 18-27 range for 35mm. They also require a very large Depth of Field. Portraits, on the other hand, require a shallow depth of field and a closer zoom. I usually find that a 50mm f/1.8 Prime (some prefer an 85mm) to be the ideal portrait lens, and it has the advantage of being dirt cheap (often under $100) while having fantastic optics.
 
I agree as far as the portraits go. Either the 50mm or 85mm would be a good choice on that camera (or both). I'd go with a prime lens so that you can get the wide apertures.

I don't think you need to go that wide for landscapes. A 35mm lens is a very common landscape choice for 35mm film cameras. That would be 22mm on a 1.6x digital. A decent zoom wouldn't be a bad choice, as you don't need the wide apertures. If you do get a zoom, I would recommend learning what the various focal lengths do and use only certain ones on the lens, not the whole range (if it's an 18mm-55mm, use just 18mm, 22mm, 32mm, and 55mm, or something like that). A zoom is so that you can pick the right focal length for the kind of image you want to make without having to change lenses, not so that you don't have to walk. Pick the number, then walk to where you can frame a composition. Don't just stand there and zoom in and out until it "fits". That's a bad habit many begining photographers pick up.
 
Markc,
Yeah I agree with you, I had experience with that already and I figured it's not a best thing to do.
Thanks for the reply.
- A
 

Most reactions

Back
Top