Wide angle or telephoto based on above thread?

[victorfrankl]

THE GRILLROOM AT BEL-AIR Country Club at L.A. just was not the same during this year's Nissan Open at Riviera with no Frank Chirkinian holding court from"The Smart Table." The former CBS golf manufacturer has taken his act to West Palm Beach, where he's the czar in Emerald Dunes Golf Club, the Tom Fazio-designed, daily-fee course that went private last year. Chirkinian says his four years as"The Ayatollah" in CBS serve him well in the club he and partners purchased last year. "I preached to my crews for years that democracy has become the most ineffectual form of government," Chirkinian states, while standing on the first tee with crooner Vic Damone. "It leads to confusion and corruption. Conversely, under autocratic rule--The Ayatollah--there's no confusion."

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Chirkinian is back in Florida along with Bel-Air board member John Haas, financial funding from RFR Holdings and Investcorp, and a mission statement from the Clifford Roberts handbook. Chirkinian wants Emerald Dunes to become a 21st-century variant of Augusta National and Pine Valley, using a bit more political correctness. This will not be Burning Tree South. Emerald Dunes already has women members, and the bargain is, they have to hang out with the guys when they're there. There will be no cliques beneath Chirkinian's watch. "We need good men first, golfers second," he states. "I do not care if a guy is a 30-handicap as long as he's nothing but a smile on his face along with very good things to say about life. I'd rather have this than some guy who's an ass with a great deal of cash, a single-digit handicap and a chip on his shoulder. If we're going to get attitude at this bar, it is going to be mine."

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Memberships cost $125,000, and an annual fee of $15,000 that covers everything, including meals and drinks. Emerald Dunes has an excellent golf course but not the opulent clubhouse most high-price clubs demand today. "You don't play the clubhouse," Chirkinian says. And members love the coverage of no registering for meals, no monthly bills. "It means everybody has the exact same member number: 1 ) ."

Amy Alcott flew throughout Palm Beach just before her 50th birthday in February to celebrate with cousin Jim Karp of Louisville and play golf using restaurateur Davis Sezna in The Floridian. The LPGA Hall of Famer, who performed Sezna during a golf trip to Scotland last summer with Howard Lester of Williams-Sonoma, made five birdies at The Floridian on a Friday, and was back home in Santa Monica, Calif., and attending the Nissan Open at Riviera on Sunday. Alcott is working on a book and exploring course-design opportunities. She also has the unofficial women's course record at Bel-Air after shooting a 65 from the men's tees recently. Now, in addition to her U.S. Open decoration (1980) from the trophy case, she has her name on the wall. "I didn't win much money daily," she says. "One man in our group shot 78, and he had been a 14-handicap."

Andrew Shuck, that had been groomed under Bob Ford in Seminole and Oakmont, is the new head pro at Ocean Forest Golf Club in Sea Island, Ga.... Maria Floyd's touch is represented at the new clubhouse in husband Raymond's Old Palm Golf Club in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.. Maria brought in Palm Beach/New York-based designer Scott Snyder, that generally does not do clubhouses. "I needed it to feel like you're walking into somebody's house, versus walking into a clubhouse," says Maria. "I knew that he could pull it off, and he did."
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[weepete]

You'll probably struggle to get a telephoto lens suitable for wildlife for $500. Popular wildlife lenses are Tamron 150-600mm, Sigma 150-600, Canon 100-400L, Canon 300mm f2.8 (prime),Canon 400mm L (prime). Prices start in the $1000 range. Might be able to get a second hand 150-600mm for that though so it may be an option if you were willing to buy used (The sigma 150-500mm if you are really tight on budget).

Ultra wides are a bit of a niche, working best when you have big foreground and big sky, but unimportant verticals as they will squish the centre if the frame. Options include Canon 10-18mm STM, Canon 10-22mm, Canon 16-35mm L, Tokina 11-16mm f2.8.

Which of these will depend what you shoot and what you want out of a lens to enable you to get the shot. But honestly if you are just a week into it you probably just need to spend time using what you've got

 

[ac12]

I am going to say, GO OUT AND SHOOT.

Then determine where you feel you have the greatest need.

• 18mm is decently wide, but maybe you want an even BROADER sky scene.
  • You may want to consider pro grade lenses.
• Maybe you want to shoot wildlife, and you cannot get close enough.
  • For wildlife, the primary variable, is how big is the wildlife, and how far away is it? This drives the lens requirement.
  • The cost of the lens goes UP as the focal length increases, so you may have to stalk closer to use a more affordable and shorter lens.
  • The longer the lens, the farther you likely are from the subject, and the more air between you and the subject. So you will get subject degradation from the air.
  • My suggestions, though I don't know if you can find them within your budget. You may have to buy used.
    
    • 75-300
    • 100-400

Ultimately you may want both wide and long.
You will have to prioritize which way to go first, and only YOU can make that decision.

The other thing is I have no idea how photo gear will perform in sub-zero temperatures.

• Batteries cannot put out as much power when COLD.
  • In the film days, a remote battery pack was kept inside the parka, with a wire running to the camera.
  • I don't know how to do similar today, you will have to research.
• The lubricant in the lenses may harden and focusing and zooming may become difficult.
  
  • I recall in the film days, that cameras would be sent in for cold weather preparation; lubricants were cleaned out and replaced with cold weather lubes, which would not freeze solid at the temp that were expected.
• I would normally recommend getting the IS version of a long lens. But I have no idea how well the IS mechanism will work in the freezing COLD.

 

[ceemac]

I think you should stick with what you have until you decide what you want to do, landscapes or wildlife. Get a tripod and a good panorama stitching program. Set your camera in portrait orientation, take a couple of shots and see if that works for you before you buy a wide angle. To get nice wild life shots you're going to have to spend a few bucks.

 

[Dave442]

I think Canon has an ultra-wide zoom that starts at 10mm and is very popular for astro-photography and I think it is in your price range. If you don't have a tripod then you might consider that first (and it can be harder to decide on a tripod vs a lens).

 

[petrochemist]

Stars & Northern lights probably work best with a wide angle.
As above wildlife generally wants a good telephoto, but IMO there is some wildlife that can be successfully captured with more normal telephotos something going up to ~300mm which should be affordable.
Neither is an easy target, and getting familiar with your camera first is a very good idea. When experimenting with your existing lens you should be able to judge how much further you would need to capture the images you are hoping - the wide end of your kit (18mm) might wide enough or only be half as wide as you want - so a 10mm might be suitable - or you might want more still which generally means a fisheye & distortions... Which ever field of view suits you may well want a faster lens for stars in particular!
The long end of your kit zoom is unlikely to get you even nearly close enough to most wildlife (though large animals can come quite close to cars in places). If you find ~4 times bigger would be enough a 200mm lens should give you that. It's all too common to find you always want that bit more but finances tend to restrict whats practical. Again faster glass would be nice apart from the weight & cost.

If you've not already got a good tripod one will be needed for the stars & night shots.

 

[TCampbell]

If you want photos of the northern lights & night sky... you want wide-angle lenses with a LOW focal ratio.

Specifically which camera body (model) do you own? We might be able to provide more specific suggestions.

 

[keen.observer]

Eventually, you should have both wide angle, and telephoto, lenses. When funds are short, get a wide to tele zoom. Buy used / refurbished when possible to reduce cost. Sigma makes an 18-250mm zoom which Adorama has used for $209.00. When you have more money, get a wide angle prime, and a telephoto prime.

 

[keen.observer]

Consider third party lenses...Tamron, Sigma, Rokinon, Tokina, etc.

 

[mycognitivecreations]

I am not a seasoned photographer but this is my 2 cents! I started out with the 18-55mm kit lens as well before getting myself a 35mm prime lens. I was loving the crisp photos and bokeh it provided. However, after photographing with it for a while, I realized it did not give me a 'wide enough view' (I am using a crop sensor camera) and I bought a Sigma 10-20mm next. Same thing, after photographing for a few trips, I wanted to have a 'longer reach' with my lens for portrait and capturing spontaneous moments on the streets, so I ended up with a 50mm next. Bottomline is that you should experiment with your current lens and determine what you really enjoy photographing and how you would like to compose your images. And like what ac12 mention, you should go out and shoot for a while more before making a decision and avoid doing what I did . I bought the wide angle lens because I thought it would be great to get the whole landscape in view but after photographing in Iceland, I realized I would like to be able to get a closer view of a particular element in the landscape.