DOF 35mm vs 50mm

J

Johnnybugs

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John
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GNARRRGH

I am struggling with indoor child photography

you line up the child, you get in position, the flash is ready, you call the child, she looks up, you hit the button ... and the damn flash decides not to go off leaving you with a under exposed shot.

SO .. more and more I forgo the flash and use f1.4 - f1.8 on the 50mm prime to guarantee a shot with minimal noise

BUT .. I am getting a little bored with shots where one of her eyes is in focus and the other isnt.


Would a 35mm lens at f1.8 give a greater DOF than a 50mm at f1.8 ??

or does it make no difference ?
 
IMHO it would make very little - no difference!

The main problem is your flash failing, how I your firing this? is it off camera? Flash adds so much more to your shots than correct exposure, it also adds along with other things catchlights to the eyes for a much better pop.
 
If you frame the subject the same, ie move a bit closer with the 35 to match the 50, DoF remains the same. Perspective and field of view change, but not DoF.
 
Thats good to know ... I shall persevere with the flash

Its Jessops own off camera flash .... normally aimed at the ceiling or wall .. and set for TTL

with this though I would say 25% of the time it doesnt fire when it clearly needs to .. or fires and over exposes

I have more luck setting it to manual and altering the flash manually 1:1 :1:1/2 etc etc .... but that normally take 3 shots to discover the best setting ... and by this time the kid is doing something else.


I think I need to go read all the flash posts on here !

Cheers for the clarification on the lenses though (y) I think part of me was secretly hoping the answer would be ... Yes buy this lens and you can shoot perfect shots in all light conditions with no noise ..... I kind of knew this wouldnt be the case though :D
 
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Johnnybugs said:
Thats good to know ... I shall persevere with the flash

Its Jessops own off camera flash .... normally aimed at the ceiling or wall .. and set for TTL

with this though I would say 25% of the time it doesnt fire when it clearly needs to .. or fires and over exposes

I have more luck setting it to manual and altering the flash manually 1:1 :1:1/2 etc etc .... but that normally take 3 shots to discover the best setting ... and by this time the kid is doing something else.


I think I need to go read all the flash posts on here !

Cheers for the clarification on the lenses though (y) I think part of me was secretly hoping the answer would be ... Yes buy this lens and you can shoot perfect shots in all light conditions with no noise ..... I kind of knew this wouldnt be the case though :D
Click to expand...

I started off with a jessops own flash when I started, it was not bad to be honest with you. If you are having trouble with the TTL manual like you say is the best way to go, start with low power & work up from there rather than the other way around.(y)
 
Johnnybugs said:
...

Its Jessops own off camera flash .... normally aimed at the ceiling or wall .. and set for TTL

with this though I would say 25% of the time it doesnt fire when it clearly needs to .. or fires and over exposes

...
Click to expand...

Could it be that the contacts between camera and flash are dirty or not making correctly? If you haven't tried it yet, perhaps give both sets of contacts a light rub with an eraser. Another thing might be the batteries in the flash. If they're low, the unit could easily misbehave.
 
I would prefer the 35mm over the 50mm for portraits, been juggling the two myself. Good luck.
 
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