What Equipment Next?

fstop · Nov 30, 2009

For the low light 5-10 feet you could get away with a 35mm 1.8 easily. (effectively ~ 50mm on crop frame) For the "sometimes more" part, it really depends upon how much more. Up to 30 feet you could probably even live with the 50mm (effectively ~75mm on crop) 1.8 or 1.4. for a full body shot (eg you won't be able to get just the persons face).

For the two of these (albeit you'll have to change lens but you'll get more light than a 2.8 constant) your around $350 for decent glass that you can resell for 75%+ of your price a few years down the road *if* you go to a full frame.

I'd start with just the 50mm, use it and see if you really need anything to "back off" the subject.

Nice thing about this path is that it's cheap, can do it now and recover most of your cost if your compelled to upgrade down the road (either full frame or different glass)

TJ K · Nov 30, 2009

Ya a 1.4 would be a great lens. Especially because on DX it's about 75mm so they will give you like short telephoto so depending on your distance it can give you that little extra reach for the subject you might need. Also what iso do you usually shoot at?
tj

BoxPhotographer · Nov 30, 2009

Well, I try to keep it as low as possible, but usually I stick it at 320. I'm also about 10-20 feet away from the subjects so the 50mm should work?

TJ K · Nov 30, 2009

Ya the 50mm would be fine. If the 1.4 is too expensive you could get the 50 1.8 and put the iso up a little more. What camera are you using again? As long as you nail the focus and exposure even iso 800 could be clean and maybe a little higher depending on camera.
tj

BoxPhotographer · Nov 30, 2009

The Nikon D80

TJ K · Nov 30, 2009

Ok that shouldn't be too bad if you did have to raise the iso a little. I don't think it's as good as the d90 but i'm sure you can still get decent results if you had to bump it up a little.
tj

BoxPhotographer · Nov 30, 2009

I also own that SB 600 flash. Will it come in use? If so where should it be pointing? The ceiling is extremely high, so I wont be bouncing it but I do own a Lumiquest Ultrasoft and FXtra. I also have a flash cord, but I'm not sure where I should be point it at either.

I've owned this camera for over a year, but in the past 3 months, I've been taking over 50GB of raw images!

TJ K · Nov 30, 2009

I'm not too sure about the flash but i think that either an sb800 or 900 would be better for shooting the longer distances requiring more power. It's hard to say where to place it. Is flash allowed? Maybe off camera somewhere and get wireless transmitters.
tj