New 50mm lens C&C Welcome!

[Shawnda]

The nifty fifty has introduced me to a whole new world, large appertures and shallow depth of field. It is lovely and addictive, since I bought that lens, I fell in love with bokeh and started to buy fast primes and L lenses. It is a great lens to start with and it will teach you a lot.Antonio

I totally agree... what an addictive little lens! I started out taking photos of wildlife, birds mostly. Although I've gotten better I was getting very discouraged. FINALLY, I found someone who told me in two seconds what I was doing wrong. Sadly I had to leave the Photo Forum to get my answer, but at least I found help.

I'm beginning to think I went about this new hobby totally backwards. I'm not giving up on the birds, but working with objects that SIT STILL has been a very pleasant change! Not quite as challenging, but definitely not as heartbreaking!

What were you doing wrong and what was the feedback that was given?

 

[JWellman]

What were you doing wrong and what was the feedback that was given?

I started out following this article, but have tweaked things a little. I joined a forum specifically for bird photography which goes even a little further by having subforums specifically for the 100x400 lens that I’m using. I posted a few photos of birds that were out of focus and also gave them the settings I was using. In a nutshell, my shutter speeds were not nearly fast enough. I made some minor adjustments and started to improve. Although most people suggest AV mode, I’ve switched back to Manual and it seems to work better for me.

I still have a very long way to go but since purchasing the 50mm I can't seem to get back to the birds!

 

[JWellman]

Specs for the photo above:
File Name IMG_8016_E.JPG
Camera Model Canon EOS 50D
Firmware Firmware Version 1.0.7
Shooting Date/Time 1/20/2011 3:21:47 AM
Owner's Name
Shooting Mode Manual Exposure
Tv( Shutter Speed ) 1/400
Av( Aperture Value ) 8.0
Metering Mode Spot Metering
ISO Speed 400
Auto ISO Speed OFF
Lens EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM
Focal Length 400.0mm
Image Size 1159x1524
Image Quality Fine
Flash Off
FE lock OFF
White Balance Mode Auto
AF Mode AI Servo AF
Picture Style Landscape
Sharpness 4
Contrast 0
Saturation 0
Color tone 0
Color Space sRGB v1.31 (Canon)
Long exposure noise reduction 0:Off
High ISO speed noise reduction 0:Standard
Highlight tone priority : Disable
Auto Lighting Optimizer :Standard
Peripheral illumination correction Disable
File Size 964KB
Drive Mode High-speed continuous shooting
Live View Shooting OFF
Date/Time(UTC)
Latitude
Longitude
Altitude
Geographic coordinate system
Camera Body No. 1520702117
Comment

 

[JWellman]

I had to return to the Governor's Mansion for today's Valentine Photo... I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Happy Valentine's Day! :hugs:

 

[mix1983]

Wow I really like that. I've seen so many fantastic shots from the 50mm. I really need one.

 

[Ron Evers]

Your Valentine Photo is nice but would be improved with a bit more DOF. Just because one can get a shallow DOF it is not necessarily a good thing.

I like 50 something lenses so much I have 8 of them, all manual aperture & focus.

 

[JWellman]

Your Valentine Photo is nice but would be improved with a bit more DOF. Just because one can get a shallow DOF it is not necessarily a good thing.

Thanks for the advice Ron. Sadly I'm not quite sure how to achieve that but I'll see if I can find some articles to help me with this new lens.

 

[ghache]

Your Valentine Photo is nice but would be improved with a bit more DOF. Just because one can get a shallow DOF it is not necessarily a good thing.

Thanks for the advice Ron. Sadly I'm not quite sure how to achieve that but I'll see if I can find some articles to help me with this new lens.

To get a deeper dept of field, open your aperture a little bit, going from 1.8 to F2.8 F4 F5.6 will give you a deeper dof. if you have nought light or your camera can handle the noise of course.

 

[dxqcanada5]

Understanding Depth of Field in Photography

Ron is pointing at the lens aperture (AV) size.
Smaller aperture value ... shallower depth of field. Less objects (foreground and background) in acceptable focus.

 

[JWellman]

Gotcha! Thanks guys, and yes I was stopped all the way down. Well shoot... I wish I could go back and try again today! Oh well, it's very close by and I'm sure I'll be heading back soon.

 

[dxqcanada5]

f/22 ?

 

[JWellman]

f/22 ?

I was afraid I worded that incorrectly :blushing: I was at 1.8 not 22 :blushing:

 

[dxqcanada5]

I figured that was what you meant.

You do not need to go to f/22 ... I think that would get too much background in acceptable focus.

 

[JWellman]

I figured that was what you meant.

You do not need to go to f/22 ... I think that would get too much background in acceptable focus.

Thanks for going easy on the camera virgin. I rarely post on this forum for fear of sounding like a babbling idiot.

 

[Ron Evers]

I figured that was what you meant.

You do not need to go to f/22 ... I think that would get too much background in acceptable focus.

I agree. I would have likely shot the roses @ f4, checked how the DOF looked & made an adjustment from there if required.