which lens should i buy?

kristianhenderson86 · Jun 30, 2017

hello everyone!!

im new to photography and am wondering which lens to get. I currently have a canon 80D (body only) on its way via royal mail.

I want to take specific photography, night time street photography to be exact. I have posted some pictures below to give you an idea of the type of photography i like and wish to recreate, photographers like liam wong, vicky moons LA Expired series, patrick joust, Masashi Wakui etc
Please have a look at my pinterest boards as i have alot of really cool photography -https://uk.pinterest.com/kristiankhender/

ive done some research and I think a canon 35mm 1.4 prime Lens seems like a good fit for low light. I think a prime lens would be better for me as i wont really be using zoom (i dont think). Its very expensive!! sigma seem to have one at half the price (sigma 35mm f1.4 DG HSM Lens for canon)
but ive read things online that say the autofocus is sometimes off with 3rd party lenses.

p.s - i realise the photography i like is probably heavily adobe lightroomed! haha. im learning to use lightroom at the moment.

Please help! thanks

1. Patrick Joust

2. Masashi Wakui

3. Vicky Moon

4. Liam Wong

Please do post images to which you do not.hold rights.

5. unknown

qmr55 · Jun 30, 2017

If you like the focal length of 35mm you could go with the 1.8 instead of the 1.4 to save a little coin.

kristianhenderson86 · Jun 30, 2017

qmr55 said:
If you like the focal length of 35mm you could go with the 1.8 instead of the 1.4 to save a little coin.

thank you for the reply!! with the 1.8 is there any trade offs in quality of image? as i will be taking pics with lights in them (either neon street lights, street lamps, windows etc) will 1.8 be sufficient to capture the rest of the dark image with minimal image noise? thanks man

photo1x1.com · Jun 30, 2017

The Sigma 35mm 1.4 Art is awesome. I used it with an adapter on the Sony a7rII. A very nice lens. The only reason I didn't buy it was because the focus of the same Sony lens was faster, but that sure was because of the Adapter. On the Canon that wouldn't happen.

kristianhenderson86 · Jun 30, 2017

photo1x1.com said:
The Sigma 35mm 1.4 Art is awesome. I used it with an adapter on the Sony a7rII. A very nice lens. The only reason I didn't buy it was because the focus of the same Sony lens was faster, but that sure was because of the Adapter. On the Canon that wouldn't happen.

Thank you for the reply, quite a few people online are saying that the exposure meter and auto-focus are very inaccurate if shooting below F4.....I hate photography already and i havent started haha :ambivalence:

fmw · Jun 30, 2017

The lens required depends on the subject and what you want to convey in the image. More important for night photography is a sturdy tripod.

qmr55 · Jun 30, 2017

Take the money you save from getting the 1.8 instead of the 1.4 and buy a sturdy tripod and the 35mm 1.8 would be fine.

As far as will 1.8 capture enough light, well if you're doing landscapes at night...then you'll be using longer shutter speeds so you can adapt using 1.8 instead of 1.4. You might even end up shooting higher than either of those to get the correct DOF for a landscape scene.

I would venture to say at least 3 of those images you posted above were taken at a higher aperture than 1.8 even.

kristianhenderson86 · Jun 30, 2017

qmr55 said:
Take the money you save from getting the 1.8 instead of the 1.4 and buy a sturdy tripod and the 35mm 1.8 would be fine.

As far as will 1.8 capture enough light, well if you're doing landscapes at night...then you'll be using longer shutter speeds so you can adapt using 1.8 instead of 1.4. You might even end up shooting higher than either of those to get the correct DOF for a landscape scene.

I would venture to say at least 3 of those images you posted above were taken at a higher aperture than 1.8 even.

so you think 1.8 could take all those style of image above? if so i will purchase a 1.8!! thanks and sprry for all the questions, im the type of person that hates to send things back or worse have to buy twice haha

kristianhenderson86 · Jun 30, 2017

Sigma 30mm f/1.4 DC HSM Fit Lens for Canon??

its only £350?

Derrel · Jun 30, 2017

The Sigma 30mm f/1.4 rocked the APS-C photo worls when it ws released some years back...look it up on-line and look at pictures from it. There's a certain "look" to the way it renders out of focus point light sources! Sometimes a sort of cat's eye shape to the OOF background blobs of light, which is often referred to as cat's eye bokeh.

I have seen that lens sold for low,low prices; at one time I saw some examples at ProPhoto Supply for $149 US; this is as far as I know, now considered "old stock", or NOS, New Old Stock, and as far as I know, is not a current lineup item, but from the earlier era of Sigma lens production.

MUCH night photography of the type you show above can be done at f/8, with 10 to 60 second exposures, hence FMW's comment the need for a good, sturdy tripod! TIMED exposures will be common, with exposure times measured in seconds, with the lens closed down to the f/5.6 to f/13 range, to get good depth of field on most scenes. TZhere is NO need whatsoever, for these types of night landscapes to be shot wide-open, unless you need soft, glarey, wide-open looks; most 35 and 50mm lenses will be much better stopped down from f/1.8 or f/1.4, to the f/2.8 to f/3.5 range, and markedly better at f/5.6 than at f/4 or f/2.8.

For the kinds of scenes you show above, a 28mm or 35mm lens on APS-C would be fine. A good prime lens that is flare-resistant and which has good optics, well-corrected against coma, would make a nice basic lens.

benhasajeep · Jun 30, 2017

The 30mm or 35mm lenses discussed would do very well for your night scene shooting. I think you will be very happy with 35mm f/1.8 lens. And like the others said a sturdy tripod and decent head will be important. It's not absolutely necessary but a remote release would be nice. You can use the self timer though.

kristianhenderson86 · Jun 30, 2017

Derrel said:
The Sigma 30mm f/1.4 rocked the APS-C photo worls when it ws released some years back...look it up on-line and look at pictures from it. There's a certain "look" to the way it renders out of focus point light sources! Sometimes a sort of cat's eye shape to the OOF background blobs of light, which is often referred to as cat's eye bokeh.

I have seen that lens sold for low,low prices; at one time I saw some examples at ProPhoto Supply for $149 US; this is as far as I know, now considered "old stock", or NOS, New Old Stock, and as far as I know, is not a current lineup item, but from the earlier era of Sigma lens production.

MUCH night photography of the type you show above can be done at f/8, with 10 to 60 second exposures, hence FMW's comment the need for a good, sturdy tripod! TIMED exposures will be common, with exposure times measured in seconds, with the lens closed down to the f/5.6 to f/13 range, to get good depth of field on most scenes. TZhere is NO need whatsoever, for these types of night landscapes to be shot wide-open, unless you need soft, glarey, wide-open looks; most 35 and 50mm lenses will be much better stopped down from f/1.8 or f/1.4, to the f/2.8 to f/3.5 range, and markedly better at f/5.6 than at f/4 or f/2.8.

For the kinds of scenes you show above, a 28mm or 35mm lens on APS-C would be fine. A good prime lens that is flare-resistant and which has good optics, well-corrected against coma, would make a nice basic lens.

Thanks So much for the detailed reply! It is much appreciated. Is there a particular lens you could recommend around the £350-500 range? Id like something of great quality that will last for a long time. Thanks

kristianhenderson86 · Jun 30, 2017

I actually found the sigma 30mm for £250 so I might go with that! Unless you could suggest something better. Really appreciate the help

benhasajeep · Jul 1, 2017

kristianhenderson86 said:
I actually found the sigma 30mm for £250 so I might go with that! Unless you could suggest something better. Really appreciate the help

It's in your price range, and will produce good pictures. And if you ever wanted / needed the fast aperture for some indoor work, you will have that as well. Sounds like a winner to me.

kristianhenderson86 · Jul 1, 2017

benhasajeep said:
kristianhenderson86 said:

I actually found the sigma 30mm for £250 so I might go with that! Unless you could suggest something better. Really appreciate the help

Click to expand...

It's in your price range, and will produce good pictures. And if you ever wanted / needed the fast aperture for some indoor work, you will have that as well. Sounds like a winner to me.