What should i buy? Lens or flash?

[DRoberts]

Forget the lens or flash...invest in hand sanitizer

 

[KD5NRH]

Don't forget that the Sonys use the old Minolta oddball hotshoe. For on-camera flash, you'll need a unit made for Sony or Minolta, and even a few of those won't work right. For most off-camera flash applications, you're going to need something different. My solution was to get the Cactus triggers and the adapter they offer on the same site for a lot less than the Sony branded one. You'll need different flashes for that (since they won't fit the ISO hotshoe on the triggers, and the ones I've dealt with only have inputs for Minolta's 4-pin TTL connector) but you won't have to deal with the proprietary issues so much.

Depending on what you're doing, you might not ever need a strobe mounted to the camera. For quick snaps or whatnot, the popup does a fair job, especially if you hold some sort of diffuser in front of it. For anything else, snap on the adapter and trigger, and use a strobe handheld, tripod or stand mounted, or even just sitting on a table off to the side for much better lighting. In a pinch, you can use the adapter with an ISO shoe flash on-camera if you just need more light than the popup can give, but can't use something off-camera.



Hotshoe adapter.
Wireless triggers

 

[Chewbecca]

This thread is making me gag a little bit.

 

[Overread]

whatever you do then never ever approach the "ban the person above you" thread

KD5NRH has really summed up the flash and lighting aspects so as for the lens your going to have to be more specific as to what you want it to do for you. A wildlife is not the best for some -- er -- other types of shooting - and vis versa.
Once you know what you want the lens to do you can start to work out what budget you are going to aim for - that will in part determin what area of the market you are looking at - budget, semi pro, pro - grade lenses. What should be important here is not your level of understanding (since a $50 and $5000 lens basically operate in the same way) but your level of interest in the hobby - waitingand saving for a high grade lens is worth it

 

[William Petruzzo]

This thread is making me gag a little bit.

Yeah.

 

[Village Idiot]

Good glass is expensive and will net you minimal gains in IQ as opposed to good lighting, which can be had for relatively cheap in comparison.

But lighting won't do crap for most nature photography.

http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/03/lighting-101.html

 

[Chillaxed]

ok so you're saying just invest in a proper lens? because i really have no money to be spending at the moment, but now i know i can use mnolta lenses and flashes now. can i use any of them though? or just certain ones?

could i really make my shots interesting by just using settings on my camera and using filters? if so could you guys recommend what types of filters to use and what they make things look like? i was looking at IR filters and they look absolutely amazing. i'd really like to check those out. however i have no idea what kind of filters to be looking at, i have a feeling you get what you pay for.

 

[goodoneian]

A fisheye would give you some...different results.
And it SURELY would add a new perspective to things...

such awkward results that will give you..

 

[Village Idiot]

ok so you're saying just invest in a proper lens? because i really have no money to be spending at the moment, but now i know i can use mnolta lenses and flashes now. can i use any of them though? or just certain ones?

could i really make my shots interesting by just using settings on my camera and using filters? if so could you guys recommend what types of filters to use and what they make things look like? i was looking at IR filters and they look absolutely amazing. i'd really like to check those out. however i have no idea what kind of filters to be looking at, i have a feeling you get what you pay for.

Cheaper than a proper lens:
http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/03/lighting-101.html

you can get a two light remote setup for about $150. If you're shooting people then this is the way to go.

Otherwise, save. A lens won't make your pictures look more interesting. That's all on the photographer. In reality I could shoot with a Canon EF mount Quantaray 70-300 on a Canon 5D, and get good photos. They won't be as sharp or have as large a DOF as say a 70-200 f/2.8, but putting the $1700 lens on vs. the $150 lens won't make my photography any more interested.

 

[austriker]

what an insanely ridiculous thread

also very humorous

and id go with a lense, b/c i like to use all natural light but in your case idk

 

[Village Idiot]

what an insanely ridiculous thread

also very humorous

and id go with a lense, b/c i like to use all natural light but in your case idk

You mean, you like to use light that you have to wait around for.

 

[Chillaxed]

actually i recently discovered that my flash is fine at the moment, i never really liked using it because it turns the skin white but i found an option under the white balance called "flash" and if i turn it up to +2 it really makes the flash look like natural light.

i went to henry's and looked at a 50mm f1.4 AF lens for 350$, once i can afford it, i will get it for sure. it looked SO nice.

oh and i went and got a UV and CPOL filter. because that was all i could afford.

 

[iflynething]

Im still wondering if that's what you're really photographing.......

Great theread.....

~Michael~


Oh, I suggest a lens, but not the 28. It's a little too wide

 

[beaminge36]

You went from porn to nature and stuff and from lens and flash to IR filters. I think you really need to make the most out of what you have before spending money because you seem to want to dip your feet into everything without really being interested in anything in particular. See what you like, find what the limitations of what you have are, and then buy something that will expand the capabilities of your setup in the direction you wish to go. And as far as lens or flash, I think a versatile lighting setup (at least 2 flashes) as mentioned by VI can prove to offer endless amounts of experimentation. Lighting offers the most room for adding a personal touch or coming up with unique effects. Go through lighting 101 and 102 on strobist.org to see all the amazing things that can be done with a set of speedlights. Hope this helps,

Nick