Larry - 50mm Lens - 1.4 v 1.8?

[Big Mark]

I'm looking at the fast (relatively) Canon 50mm Lenses. How much difference will I notice between the $90 f1.8 and the $300 f1.4 on my XTi?

[LarryD]

a little bit, for sure. the 50/1.8 is widely considered canon's best value lens. it's a steal at that cheap. it'll have a more plasticy feel, but it's also much lighter. you don't need the 1.4 yet.

post some of your pics -- i'd love to see!

[Big Mark]

will do - I'll resize and post some tonight.

[magnus]

I saw in one magazine, there was a zoom lens for mount on a Hasselblad mount that has a focal length of 5.5 ft (1700 mm?). Damn thing's supposed to weigh a couple hundred pounds.

Just thought it was a geeky kind of neat.

[Big Mark]

I saw in one magazine, there was a zoom lens for mount on a Hasselblad mount that has a focal length of 5.5 ft (1700 mm?). Damn thing's supposed to weigh a couple hundred pounds.

Just thought it was a geeky kind of neat.

here's canon's big boy - 1200mm

http://www.e-fotografija.com/markII/1200mm.jpg

[Big Mark]

All photos taken last week with Canon XTi with EF 28-135 f/3.5-5.6 IS lens. All comments, feedback and suggestions are welcome.

[Big Mark]

more

[Big Mark]

more more

[Big Mark]

more more more

[Big Mark]

more times four

[LarryD]

awesome! good work on the fireworks -- you didn't hand-hold those, did you?

that 28-135 just right on there?

do you shoot in JPEG or RAW?

what limitations are you finding with the lens/camera? what do you find yourself wishing you cold do?

i'm gussing low-light is one of them -- with you asking about the 50/1.4

[LarryD]

also, i recommend http://www.rentglass.com to test out some lenses. it's great -- fast, easy and good prices. lets you try out lenses before you buy them.

[Big Mark]

awesome! good work on the fireworks -- you didn't hand-hold those, did you?

- yeah, I handheld them, but I took a ton (probably 200) and only got 12 "keepers". I've got a tripod (nothing great) but didnt want to haul it around the park all day just to take fireworks pictures. the IS on the 28-135 really helps with that though.

that 28-135 just right on there?

- huh?

do you shoot in JPEG or RAW?

- so far everything's been in jpeg. I've been focusing my energy so far just on learning the camera and lenses. Haven't really spent much time learning processing yet. That, combined with wanting to squeeze as many pics as I could on my cards during this trip, led me to shoot everything in jpeg. I know the benefits of shooting in RAW, but just dont have the knowledge or experience to maximize those benefits yet.

what limitations are you finding with the lens/camera? what do you find yourself wishing you cold do?

i'm gussing low-light is one of them -- with you asking about the 50/1.4

- at this point my biggest concern is low light. I took a lot of pictures of a friend's wedding reception and they were all either underexposed or washed out from the (built in) flash. So yeah, I want a faster lens and eventually a better flash. I also want a longer lens (300-400mm), but can wait for that. I'm thrilled with my 28-135 for a "walk around" lens, so I may just go with primes from here on out.

I've read a lot of things talking about the drawbacks of the crop sensors over the full frames, and I'm sure that they're valid, but at this point I feel like the XTi meets all my needs as far as a body goes. That being said, I want to make sure all the lenses I get are ff compatible for down the road - just in case. I have noticed that many (not most, but a lot) of my pictures I take as portraits tend to be crooked. I'm thinking of getting the vertical battery grip just to help remedy that.

[magnus]

who's the girl?

[Big Mark]

who's the girl?

Snow White.:jumprope:

[Big Mark]

oh THAT girl - she's a friend of mine from back in the day who was in the group that went to disney. You may have known her little brother, Brian, who went to SHS (Lisa went to North with me).

She also came to one of Steve's flag football tourney's with me.

[Big Mark]

I got the 50mm as well as a Speedlite 430EX flash and the battery grip today from Amazon. I'll post pictures as soon as I take some that are post worthy. Any tips on shooting shallow DOF/low light images?

[JuliaGulia]

I got the 50mm as well as a Speedlite 430EX flash and the battery grip today from Amazon. I'll post pictures as soon as I take some that are post worthy. Any tips on shooting shallow DOF/low light images?

Go to photo.net and look up "flash bounce". You'll want to learn that junk backwards and forwards for EXCELLENT shot indoors where flash is a must. Oh wait, even more important than that... "dragging the shutter". I would say in the last two years, draggin is the most important thing I've learned about indoor flash photography.

PS- You're low light stuff, as you know, looks more like crap the higher your ISO goes. There are workarounds... never underexpose a high ISO shot or the noise is unbearable.

Also, I have the 50 1.8... it's a great lens but it is kinda slow to focus. You'll figure out quick that even the 1.8 ain't gonna work everywhere... that's where you need to be really proficient with the flash and dragging the shutter for natural looking flash photos. :)

[JuliaGulia]

Go to photo.net and look up "flash bounce". You'll want to learn that junk backwards and forwards for EXCELLENT shot indoors where flash is a must. Oh wait, even more important than that... "dragging the shutter". I would say in the last two years, draggin is the most important thing I've learned about indoor flash photography.

PS- You're low light stuff, as you know, looks more like crap the higher your ISO goes. There are workarounds... never underexpose a high ISO shot or the noise is unbearable.

Also, I have the 50 1.8... it's a great lens but it is kinda slow to focus. You'll figure out quick that even the 1.8 ain't gonna work everywhere... that's where you need to be really proficient with the flash and dragging the shutter for natural looking flash photos. :)


I realize now your post was addressed to Larry... sowwy :(

[Big Mark]

I realize now your post was addressed to Larry... sowwy :(

Dont be sorry at all, I addressed to Larry to get his attention, but I'm more than grateful for any help from anyone. Thanks so much, I'll be sure to check that site out.

[LarryD]

julia, i didn't know you were a shooter!

i've been using the 35mm/1.4 all week. great glass.

mark, i've learned to absolutely love my 17-40/4 with the sto-fen omnibounce and the 430ex. close it down to 5.6, bump the iso to 400-800 and set the shutter at 1/4 or 1/5 -- great results.

i've got a few thousand images to sift through, but i'll post a few.

i've thought about starting up a photoblog.

would you guys be interested?

[Big Mark]

I'd be all for a photoblog - I'm trying to pick up anything I can.

What body are you using?

[LarryD]

i shoot with a canon 5d. i love the full frame.

i've got 17-40/4, 24-70/2.8, 70-200/2.8.

i've been thinking of selling the 24-70 and 70-200 to help fund a prime lineup. however, i wouldn't have nearly enough for the 50/1.2, 85/1.2, 135/2 and 200/2.8.

and that's not including the 35/1.4 -- which i love.

i still want the 100 macro. that'll probably be my next lens.

[JuliaGulia]

i shoot with a canon 5d. i love the full frame.

i've got 17-40/4, 24-70/2.8, 70-200/2.8.

i've been thinking of selling the 24-70 and 70-200 to help fund a prime lineup. however, i wouldn't have nearly enough for the 50/1.2, 85/1.2, 135/2 and 200/2.8.

and that's not including the 35/1.4 -- which i love.

i still want the 100 macro. that'll probably be my next lens.

Lemme know if you really are selling those two... they are on my dream list.

[Big Mark]

Slightly different application, but I figured I'd keep my photog questions in the same thread.

If I take my XTi with my 28-135IS to a high school basketball game, what are my chances of getting decent results? Would I be better off using my faster 50mm lens and cropping? Will my flash be effective from the stands, or should I just try using available light? Or am i just trying to do too much with not strong enough gear?

thanks

[LarryD]

depends upon how well lit the gym is, but you're probably expecting too much with not enough gear.

if it's HS, you can probably get down low. the 135/2 or the 85/1.8 are the indoor basketball lenses of choice.

get close (remember closer is always better) and use your 50/1.8. that'll work for inside the arc --- assuming you're on the baseline.

[magnus]

I'm facing a similar option - kit lens is OK, and fairly sharp at the wide end 17mm/3.5, but lacking indoor and certainly not built for bokeh/portrait. my sister swears by speed flash and I'd enjoy flash bouncing, but for both my logic and wallet the 50mm is more reasonable (I'm also looking forward to extreme macro shots using a reverse adapter).

I certainly don't want to get into all-primes (like this (http://205.209.50.117/forum/showthread.php?t=126884)) but this seems like the reasonable way to go. Minolta lenses (almost all autofocus lenses fit the alpha setup) fit, and the anti-shake's in the body so it's a great way to get good, durable glass cheap. The minolta-carryover to Sony-50mmf/1.4 isn't terribly expensive, but the previous minolta f/1.7 is $80-120.

think I'm going to notice that much different in half a stop? Gotta say with the narrow viewfinder on this sony I'd love to have something that pulls in that much light either way.

[Big Mark]

The minolta-carryover to Sony-50mmf/1.4 isn't terribly expensive, but the previous minolta f/1.7 is $80-120.

think I'm going to notice that much different in half a stop? Gotta say with the narrow viewfinder on this sony I'd love to have something that pulls in that much light either way.

Like I said before, I ended up buying the 1.8. I've playd around with teh 1.4 since buying the 1.8, and have thought about upgrading, but not for the half stop difference. Honestly, I doubt you'll miss that.

[magnus]

yeah, that's kinda what I figured. The f/1.7 comes highly recommended anyway. i think I'll learn a lot more on what I'm doing being restrained without telephoto in some situations.

What did you figure out on the basketball issue? I definitely want to take some summer baseball shots (should be easy since I don't care about baseball that much) at the HS level to gain some sports experience.

[Big Mark]

never really ended up taking any basketball shots, but found out through reading that the lenses I have wont do the trick. The Canon 85mm 1.8 is what pretty much everyone shoots basketball with. You need low light capability and fast focusing (which the 50mm 1.8 I have doesnt have).

As far as baseball, I shot a couple HS softball games last year and had great success with my 70-300. baseball & softball are probably the easiest sports to shoot because they're outdoors and played during the day, so lighting is never a problem.

[magnus]

it seems like primes are becoming so much more popular now that you have high-power sensors that lens quality will start to top out more. So suddenly being able to shoot at a 3x+ range isn't necessarily better quality than one focal length at much greater options for aperture.

I guess that's part of why I bought onto the Sony platform...old Minolta lenses are still reasonable (50mm prime f/1.7 = $75-100; I had a chance at a ), and anything I buy is image stabilized because it's in the body.

I'll still likely just grab one prime for the time being. Maybe a 100mm prime would be better suited to travel photography, but I'd still be more likely to keep a zoom for travel/upgrade the zoom before I'd buy a 100mm prime.

I have no idea how to shoot primes so I'm sure that'll be a challenge, but from what I've read it's also going to improve how I compose.