Beginner Advice on what lens to use please

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jason
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I'm visiting RAF Cosford for an Aircraft night shoot through Timeline events . Some of the aircraft are inside a hangar and backlit/fog etc. I have a few lenses I could choose from to fit my Nikon D3200.
I will also be using a tripod and remote release.
Options are;
Nikon 35mm F1.8 prime
Sigma 17-70mm F2.8-4
Tokina 11-16mm F2.8

I have others but thought these would suit best. Can anyone advise which would suit the conditions best and perform better. I would like to keep the ISO at 100 throughout if possible.
Also, with the contrast between darks and lights, should I be locking exposure on a middle grey tone? I'm still learning so any help appreciated. Whats the widest F-stop I can go to, to ensure front to back sharpness?

There will be an outdoor sunset shoot also if weather play ball. I'm really looking forward to this and travelling a few hundred miles, and taking a day off work to do this so really don't want to cock it up. I'm sure there will be guys n girls there to offer advice also.

Example photo....https://www.flickr.com/photos/jonathan_ed/34194694595/in/album-72157682910081755/
 
I don't think you can list one lens, aperture or exposure to cover all the shots.

However, I think you'll be using your 17-70 most.

If tripod mounted and shooting static scenes, I would bracket each shot with 3 exposures to ensure you cover the full dynamic range in the scene.

Aperture-wise, again in depends on the scenario as to what you want to get in focus. You might want to separate the aircraft from its background etc, which will require a different f-stop to other shots you take.
 
I can't bracket as I don't have bracketing facility on my camera and I don't have PS.
 
You can bracket manually. If you are in shutter priority or aperture mode, click your wheel round a click in each direction.

ie: if you were shooting at 1/250 then take another at 1/125 and one at 1/500.
 
If I were working in aperture priority, rather than bracket at set intervals I'd probably put the camera meter into either centre-weighted or spot mode and point that at areas of different brightness to vary exposure. Otherwise go manual and then using the camer meter as a guide, adjust exposure over & under, using either aperture, shutter speed or ISO as seems most appropriate.
 
All well and good guys, but still doesn't get round the fact I do not have photoshop. Only Lightroom which does not have this facility.
 
You can bracket manually. If you are in shutter priority or aperture mode, click your wheel round a click in each direction.

ie: if you were shooting at 1/250 then take another at 1/125 and one at 1/500.

That wont work in aperture or shutter priority, as the other setting will compensate to give the same exposure.

One way to do it in shutter/aperture priority is to use exposure compensation, +1, 0, -1 will give you 3 different exposures a stop apart for example.
 
Absolutely sure about that?

It depends on which version it is, as he doesn't have PS I assume he's not on CC so probably his version of LR doesn't have photo merge.

To answer the original question, take all your lenses and see which you end up using, it's part of the learning curve of photography. Next time you will know better :)
 
That wont work in aperture or shutter priority, as the other setting will compensate to give the same exposure.

One way to do it in shutter/aperture priority is to use exposure compensation, +1, 0, -1 will give you 3 different exposures a stop apart for example.

Of course Steve, that was quite wrong of me. Problem of having three youngsters constantly snapping at my heels and trying to type! Good suggestion with exposure compensation!
 
It depends on which version it is, as he doesn't have PS I assume he's not on CC so probably his version of LR doesn't have photo merge.

To answer the original question, take all your lenses and see which you end up using, it's part of the learning curve of photography. Next time you will know better :)
Yes that's correct. Seems like lightroom 6 at least is needed.
 
Ive only got LR 5 so doesn't have merge. I have Gimp and watched the tutorials but it looks such a long procedure. All I want is to get photos that I'm happy with straight out of camera, and then some tweaking in LR. I understand I wont get the same results as bracketing but I just want to take great pics without having to worry about getting everything wrong, or faffing about for too long and missing the shot.
 
Ive only got LR 5 so doesn't have merge. I have Gimp and watched the tutorials but it looks such a long procedure. All I want is to get photos that I'm happy with straight out of camera, and then some tweaking in LR. I understand I wont get the same results as bracketing but I just want to take great pics without having to worry about getting everything wrong, or faffing about for too long and missing the shot.

With LR v5, you could use LR/Enfuse to merge bracketed shots together. I've used it in the past. Worked ok.
 
Re metering for a middle grey tone. Doing so youll risk loosing both highlights and shadows. If your highlights are important expose so they dont blow out and let the shadows fall as they do.
 
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You didn't mention merging or hdr - expose to get the detail needed in highlights, then lift shadows in LR.
 
With LR v5, you could use LR/Enfuse to merge bracketed shots together. I've used it in the past. Worked ok.

Wow, that's great thanks. Ive donated and installed the plug-in. So, just to clarify....I need to take a photo and then take one with plus 1 exp comp and minus 1 exp comp. Then using all 3 selected in LR, enfuse them through the plug in. Is it best to save the blended file as a TIFF or JPEG? Can anyone give me an example shot I can take either in the house or back garden that would demonstrate how to see how this works so I can see the difference. Many thanks. I'm learning loads.
 
Sure I downloaded a free version of Photomatix to try a bit of HDR, might be worth investigating.
 
sell or trade in your 3 lens's and get the nikon 18-300mm you won't go wrong
that that lens
 
Wow, that's great thanks. Ive donated and installed the plug-in. So, just to clarify....I need to take a photo and then take one with plus 1 exp comp and minus 1 exp comp. Then using all 3 selected in LR, enfuse them through the plug in. Is it best to save the blended file as a TIFF or JPEG? Can anyone give me an example shot I can take either in the house or back garden that would demonstrate how to see how this works so I can see the difference. Many thanks. I'm learning loads.

No problem

Correct, use +1, 0, -1
Save blended file as a TIFF.
 
sell or trade in your 3 lens's and get the nikon 18-300mm you won't go wrong
that that lens
:eek:

I wouldn't do that. Trade in image quality, wideangle and the wider f-stops for focallenght!!!!!
 
sell or trade in your 3 lens's and get the nikon 18-300mm you won't go wrong
that that lens

Not a chance. Ive already got the Nikon 50-200mm and a Nikon 300mm F4 prime which covers those bases.
 
So, just practiced in my living room. All lights on. One photo at the correct exposure, one taken -1 and one at +1. Watched a YouTube video and it works a treat. Ive watched a few tutorials now. Some say knock the aperture down and up, another says knock the exp comp down and up. Ive trialled both ways and they both look comparative. Any more advice that people can offer would be great, I feel liked ive opened up a whole new level to my photography today. Need to put this into practice for real now. Thanks to all who have commented so far.
 
So, just practiced in my living room. All lights on. One photo at the correct exposure, one taken -1 and one at +1. Watched a YouTube video and it works a treat. Ive watched a few tutorials now. Some say knock the aperture down and up, another says knock the exp comp down and up. Ive trialled both ways and they both look comparative. Any more advice that people can offer would be great, I feel liked ive opened up a whole new level to my photography today. Need to put this into practice for real now. Thanks to all who have commented so far.
With the static subjects you are doing, you will want to move the SS not the aperture while using a tripod, changing the aperture won't just affect the exposure. With the backlit mist, you may struggle to get multiple exposures with the mist not changing the scene.
 
I was wondering how the fog would affect the shot if I took 3 shots at different SS. Would it all go a bit weird in the background??
 
I would suggest varying shutter speed rather than aperture, because you may alter the depth of field in significant parts of the image and get a less perfect composite.
 
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