Feedback on lens advice

[mpsalisbury]

Back in November I asked you all for some lens advice. I was upgrading to an XT from a Canon P&S and was trying to decide on a couple of lenses. The usage was/is: 80% indoors (prefer natural light only), 95% kids (now 4 months old and 2 years old). And although I was the one obsessing over what to get, this was largely for my wife who takes most of the shots (but is very technical, so I wasn't worried about complexity.)

After seriously considering the Tamron 28-75 and Canon 70-200/4, I ended up getting the Sigma 30/1.4, Canon 50/1.4, Canon 85/1.8. Figured we could both learn a bit more about composition if we started with fixed length lenses, and knew that the speed would help in low light indoor situations.

Now, after almost 4 months and 6000 shots, here's how we've been using them. The 50 lives on the camera and is responsible for 80%+ of the shots. It's a great length for indoor shots of the kids. Mostly the shots are fairly close-up, so you don't get a lot of surrounding context, but you get enough to be interesting. The 30 is mostly what we use outside when we know we're going to want to capture bigger scenes or multiple people. And to be honest, though the 85 takes beautiful pictures, we don't use it much yet. It's really too close for most indoor work for us, and we don't yet tend to bring it with us outdoors either. I'm sure we'll use it more in the future, but it just hasn't seen much action yet.

We're also trying to take as much as possible without the flash. We do get some shots that could use some fill, and occasionally we get blurry shots from a slow shutter or too-shallow of a depth-of-field because we opened up the aperture a bit much. But overall we've been very happy with the look, especially compared to our P&S shots that almost always used the flash.

As with all of you, we're thinking about what to get next. We're getting better all the time with what we've got (or at least my wife is :) ), but it's always interesting to try to figure out what might help you get better shots. Currently we're considering a grey-card, a reflector, and maybe an external flash. Longer term, maybe an L zoom.

I've attached a few of our favorite shots. None of these has any post-processing except for whatever the XT does by default (some sharpening I think). Thanks for the advice back then. I'll continue lurking here to keep track of you guys. :)

-mike

http://www.salisburyclan.com/PhotoAlbum/images/med//The%20Boys/2006.01/Week%204/Bomber%20Jacket/IMG_2945.jpg

http://www.salisburyclan.com/PhotoAlbum/images/med//The%20Boys/2006.01/Week%204/IMG_2331.jpg

http://www.salisburyclan.com/PhotoAlbum/images/med//The%20Boys/2006.04/Week%202/IMG_6357.jpg

http://www.salisburyclan.com/PhotoAlbum/images/med//The%20Boys/2006.04/Week%202/IMG_6242.jpg

[24Peter]

Lovely shots Mike. Your self-imposed training has served you guys well. Keep up the good work! :)

[cwphoto]

Gorgeous shots of the kids Mike - ain't it fun!:)

[aparmley]

Very nice indeed. the eyes in three just pop! I think the list of accessories you're looking at will help out. . .

[cdifoto]

Wow very nice stuff!

[ausalpal]

Mike,

I've been lurking around reading up a fair bit as I'm planning on splashing out at some point for a Rebel XT / 350D. Can I just say how great it is to see a post like this, that instead of being full of opinion on lenses you might not have even used, you simply lay out what you got and what you've ended up using. Plus the piccies prove it's working for you! :) I would like to ask you (and anyone else reading) a question. At this stage I'm probably planning on buying (I'm down in Australia) the Digital Rebel XT with the lens kit (EF-S 18-55/3.6 - 5.6 and EF 75-300/f4 - 5.6), and then adding a EF 50/1.8 Canon lens to it. I would love to be able to go for the 50/1.4 but I just don't think I can justify it (down here the RRP price goes from AU 179 to AU 749 for the extra step!). If my purposes are going to be similar to yours (i.e. I really want to avoid using a flash wherever possible), and will be taking some outdoorsie shot (normall wide angle in normal light stuff), but mainly people both indoors and out... do you think I will be happy with this combination?

As this will be my first step into the DSLR world, I'm not really all that interested in 3rd party lenses.. or shopping around for second hand lenses... and once I get the XT with the lens kit, there will not be much left over :) Any thoughts from you or others would be appreciated.. Thanks for sharing the photos! happy snapping!

Al

PS if you can remember, do you know which lenses you used for which of the posted photos? :) Thanks again....

[mpsalisbury]

Al,

Please understand that I'm almost as new at this as you. I don't have any experience with any of the lenses you mention. However, from my reading (I did a lot of that before deciding on what to do), I would say this about your lens choices. The 50/1.8 is a great lens period, and an incredible lens for the money. I'd say this one is a no-brainer. I've heard mixed reviews about the kit lens (the 18-55 specifically). There are those who criticize it for not being up to par with other lenses in that focal length range, but I don't recall hearing a better alternative in that price range. As for the 75-300, you didn't mention anything about wanting to do telephoto shots. You may not end up using this as much as the others in that case. Of the goals you have, I'd say the 50 will cover low-light and portrait/small group shots, and the 18-55 will cover landscapes and larger groups. If you stick only with those and find you always want to get in tighter, that's a good sign you need a longer lens.

My best advice would be to take as many pictures as you can. All situations, all times of day, lots of subjects. Certainly for us as beginners we found that we didn't know up front what shots would come out great. We just took shots all the time and had an occasional one that looked tremendous to us. We'd study those to see what had gone right and remember to think about those things in future shots. We also grabbed a photography book (Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson) that helped us with the basics of operating our camera (specifically helped us with how to deal with aperture.)

As for the settings for the shots above, they were all taken with the 50/1.4. The EXIF settings are still in them, but here's a summary:

50mm, f2.6, 1/200s, ISO400
50mm, f1.8, 1/60s, ISO400
50mm, f3.5, 1/60s, ISO400
50mm, f4.5, 1/60s, ISO400

Best of luck with your decision and new toy.

-mike

[ReF]

Mike,

I've been lurking around reading up a fair bit as I'm planning on splashing out at some point for a Rebel XT / 350D. Can I just say how great it is to see a post like this, that instead of being full of opinion on lenses you might not have even used, you simply lay out what you got and what you've ended up using. Plus the piccies prove it's working for you! :) I would like to ask you (and anyone else reading) a question. At this stage I'm probably planning on buying (I'm down in Australia) the Digital Rebel XT with the lens kit (EF-S 18-55/3.6 - 5.6 and EF 75-300/f4 - 5.6), and then adding a EF 50/1.8 Canon lens to it. I would love to be able to go for the 50/1.4 but I just don't think I can justify it (down here the RRP price goes from AU 179 to AU 749 for the extra step!). If my purposes are going to be similar to yours (i.e. I really want to avoid using a flash wherever possible), and will be taking some outdoorsie shot (normall wide angle in normal light stuff), but mainly people both indoors and out... do you think I will be happy with this combination?

As this will be my first step into the DSLR world, I'm not really all that interested in 3rd party lenses.. or shopping around for second hand lenses... and once I get the XT with the lens kit, there will not be much left over :) Any thoughts from you or others would be appreciated.. Thanks for sharing the photos! happy snapping!

Al

PS if you can remember, do you know which lenses you used for which of the posted photos? :) Thanks again....

well, i ain't mike, but...

i have both the 50mm f1.8 and 50mm f1.4. the 50mm f1.8 will not render background blur (bokeh) as nicely as the f1.4. in fact, some (myself included) will say the bokeh is rather ugly at times (particularly above f2.0). qualtiy control is also more of a problem with the f1.8, meaning you are much more likely to get one that will not focus accurately so if you can try one out at a store or get it from a place that has a good return/exchange policy. focusing is also slow and comes with a "buzzy" noise. a properly focusing copy of the f1.8 is capable of some very pleasing results though.

the 18-55 kit lens should do well enough for a limited budget and is faster/quiter/more accurate to focus than the 50mm f1.8 and any third party (non HSM) lens i've used.

IMO equally important is an external flash with an adjustable angle head, like the canon 430. while taking pictures without flash is nice, it's not always the best solution for every situation. for example during the day, if your house is well lit by light coming in through the windows shooting without flash will probably give you better results (like the ones posted above). at night, without an external flash, you'll have to deal with white balance, adequate lighting/shutter speeds, light position (backlit will usually come out poorly), noise from using high ISO's, harsh background shadows, etc. the AF assist beam emitted by the external flash can also make a night a day difference in autofocus (like the difference between getting the shot and not) when shooting indoors/under poor lighting. BTW, if you haven't already seen it, here's what you can do with an external flash: http://www.planetneil.com/faq/flash-techniques.html

no comments on the 75-300

good luck to ya ;)

mpsalisbury, nice shots!

[ausalpal]

... and it wasn't a Canon but it does include a 50mm/1.8! :) Just popped back to this thread from a while back (the dates are scary about how long ago I first started dreaming of a DSLR) And while I didn't end up with a Canon for a few reasons, I have the camera, a kit lens, and I will be getting a 50mm 1.8 lens (note how I'm not trying to start a holy war on manufacturers :P) based on this thread and some other things I've read. Just popping back here to say thanks to people like mike and ref for providing such helpful advice. The 50mm is on order.. then it's just a matter of what next :D like ref said, a good flash would be very nice, but I think the next will have to be an el cheapo zoom, simply because I need one!! Maybe after that and a tripod I can think about a good flash :D The 50mm 1.4 is a long way away though :D

Hope you are still snapping away happily! I'm only a few days in but it feels like I've learnt so much already! Including embarassing things like the fact the exposure meter turns on when you hit manual (man it was painful trying to guess the settings from scratch :D)

Al