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2 questions here 😀
1. What is your “go to” lens for shooting an event with action? If you had to shoot something like a homeschool conference, VBS (indoor and outdoor), kids or animals in action, what lens would you grab first? 🙂
2. What is your favorite lens for portraits?
I’m looking at lenses for a full frame Nikon, but I’d be happy to hear your Canon or Sony (or other) equivalents! Thanks in advance!
I shoot on a crop-frame Nikon (D5300) and I normally go to my Tamron 70-200 2.8 VC for conferences and events and outdoor portraits. I have also used the sigma 70-200 2.8 OS, although it has a minor compatability issue with my camera. The optics on the Tamron are reportedly equivalent to the Nikon counterpart, and the Sigma is not far off, and they are both about 800USD less. If you need it for shooting sports you probably do want to spend the extra and buy the Nikon version for the occasional times when the focus is more reliable and maybe slightly faster.
For indoor portraits I use the Nikon 50mm 1.8. For events, I would definitely say that vibration reduction (or optical stabilization / vibration control / image stabilisation…) is imperative for anything longer than 50mm, though I suppose it would be anything past 75mm on a full-frame camera.
I don’t have a whole lot of lenses to choose from…
- 17-70mm f/2.8-4 (wide-angle zoom)
- 70-200mm f/2.8 (telephoto)
- 50mm f/1.7 (prime)
- 90mm f/2.8 (macro prime)
My go-to lens for events is the Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4. (That link goes to an updated version, mine is older). The 17-70 is basically an upgraded 18-55 kit lens that is both wider and longer, and it’s also faster at the wide and long end. The main reason I like it is because of its versatility. A 50mm (75mm FF equivalent) is much too limited of a focal length for an all-around event lens.
For portraits however, the 50mm is definitely my first choice. I love using wide apertures to blur out the background! I really should try out my 70-200 for headshots, I think it would be awesome; I’ve just never actually tried it yet. 🙂
If you are willing to pay for it, you can get excellent quality glass for any brand of camera in any focal length. Sony glass tends to be a little more expensive than Canon. I really like my 50mm prime for indoor events and portraits; although, many would prefer an 85mm or 90mm prime for a tighter crop on the face. Primes are great because of the faster aperture which gives less depth of field for portraits, and faster shutter speeds for low light events. They also tend to be sharper than zoom lenses (especially noticeable when operating on a budget).
Thank you for the nice variety of lens suggestions! 😀
I have the Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 DI VC and enjoy it very much! When comparing it to the Nikon version before purchase, the differences were not enough for me to pay the extra $$. In fact, a rep at our local camera store said she preferred the Tamron version over the Nikon because she felt it had better image stabalization. I’ve used it to take head shots of kittens with nice results. I’m assuming it should do just as good for humans 🙂 The only downside I’ve run into is when I’m indoors and subjects are close to me.I’m borrowing a friend’s Nikon 50mm f/1.8. Sometimes it seems that the 70-200 focuses faster and sharper than the 50mm. Not sure why…
Have any of you tried these lenses?
Tamron 24-70mm 2.8 or Nikon equivalent
Nikon 24-120mm f/4
Tamron 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 or Nikon equivalentEzra, what’s your main use for your 90mm f/2.8?
I was excited for a wide range zoom lens when Tamron came out with the 18-400 this year. But disappointment came when I realized it was a crop sensor lens 🙁 Oh well, maybe someone will find a way to make an 18-400 with 2.8 aperture AND in a practical size for full frame!! 😀 And then “I couldn’t capture the moment because I had the wrong lens” will be a thing of the past haha!
1. 24-105 f/4. If I had a f/2.8 in this range, then I’d go for that instead. Versatility in focal range is what keeps me going back to this one. For now, in low light situations, I just crank up the ISO.
2. 70-200 f/2.8. If it’s one or two people. If it’s a group, I usually revert back to the 24-105.
I just haven’t got the feel for the 50mm f/1.8 yet. I can’t ever seem to nail the focus at such a narrow DOF, I can’t get a decent landscape photo at 50mm for the life of me, and I can’t stand moving backward and forward to get the right framing.
I very rarely use my 90mm f/2.8 lens… 🙁 It is a 1:1 macro lens so it’s very nice for flowers and bugs, and stuff like that. Since I started college, photography has sort of taken a back seat. About the only thing I use my camera for any more is for puppy pictures for our website: https://www.acornacrespuppies.com/ I use the 50mm for 99% of all the puppy pictures.
I was excited for a wide range zoom lens when Tamron came out with the 18-400 this year. But disappointment came when I realized it was a crop sensor lens 🙁 Oh well, maybe someone will find a way to make an 18-400 with 2.8 aperture AND in a practical size for full frame!! 😀 And then “I couldn’t capture the moment because I had the wrong lens” will be a thing of the past haha!
I would be very wary of any lens that claims to be an “all-in-one” like that. I’ve never used it, so take my opinion with a grain of salt, but I can’t imagine that a professional would be happy with it. It has a slow aperture, and it likely has some major distortions from trying to be a wide-angle and super-telephoto all in one.
James, how’s the bokeh on your 24-105, especially at the wider end of the zoom?
I’ve experienced the same problem with the 50mm! I recently took Christmas photos of a toddler using the 50mm. I don’t know how many times I bumped into the mom and other kids while using my feet as zoom. I like how much of a blurred background I get, but it’s been hard to be sure I get the right amount of focus (like the person’s whole face, not just their eyeball 😉 )
Any tips on how to be more successful with primes? 🙂
Ezra, those are some adorable puppy pics on your family’s website 🙂 I’ve taken alot of kitten photos this year. We foster and help adopt out kittens from our local animal shelter. I take photos for advertising them, and when someone adopts, they get a special collection of photos of their kitten. It’s always fun to see other people’s animal photo ideas 🙂
James, how’s the bokeh on your 24-105, especially at the wider end of the zoom?
I wouldn’t say it’s that great. See the attached images. The metadata is in the filename. All are f/4, shot on a 5Dii; some focused up close, others not; most not edited much.
Any tips on how to be more successful with primes? 🙂
Any prime shooters around here?
Attachments:
Directed to John and Jinny
When dealing with a wide aperture lens, as much as at all possible, use your center focus point on AI focus mode, and focus and shoot directly. Don’t focus-and-recompose. It won’t work as your plane of focus will fall behind your subject if you recompose even from a tripod. Your depth of field is really that thin. Instead, shoot a little wide and crop in post. If have a camera with Autofocus MicroAdjustment (I don’t) by all means run it through its paces either manually or using a software such as Focal.
Also, find out where your AF points actually are- the black boxes you see in the viewfinder are just a guide. The can be larger or smaller, or even not centered on the box. Test this by placing a target on a blank background, (blank enough for your camera to be unable to focus) put your camera in AI servo, and move the AF point around your target “feeling” at point point on all sides the camera snaps into focus.That’s what I wish someone had told me when I started with a fast prime 🙂
Thank you @nasa! Except the autofocus on my camera doesn’t really work…. It’s traveled a lot of miles!!
+1 for what James said… For all purpose shooting where I don’t know exactly what I’m going to encounter, for a full frame I mostly leave my f/4 24-120mm on the camera (with a DX body the same went for my 16-85mm, which was the same effective focal range). For event shooting where I typically can’t get too close to the subjects, or I want to isolate a particular subject (an expression on someones face for instance), I like the f/4 70-200. For portraits, where I have time to frame my subjects, it’s hard to beat the f/1.8 85mm.
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