Age old question - Best studio lens

sorry not been back to respond.

i did another shoot at weekend and stuck to 70mm and rather than zooming i was a bit more mobile myself (I know that makes me sound like i sit on backside but i dont) so used the back focus as well. majority of shots were looking in better focus.

Problem was when i had a toddler crawling towards me, normally i would sit further back and use the zoom lens, sticking with 70mm, maybe stretching up to 100mm i wasnt able to do this, so a lot of shots were out of focus as the baby crawled towards me, I think i wasnt focusing quick enough to get the shots.

Is there anything else i can be looking at to improving focus?
 
donkeymusic said:
sorry not been back to respond.

i did another shoot at weekend and stuck to 70mm and rather than zooming i was a bit more mobile myself (I know that makes me sound like i sit on backside but i dont) so used the back focus as well. majority of shots were looking in better focus.

Problem was when i had a toddler crawling towards me, normally i would sit further back and use the zoom lens, sticking with 70mm, maybe stretching up to 100mm i wasnt able to do this, so a lot of shots were out of focus as the baby crawled towards me, I think i wasnt focusing quick enough to get the shots.

Is there anything else i can be looking at to improving focus?
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Why did you use 70mm? It won't give you any more DoF than 200mm, if you also move closer and frame the subject the same size. See post #38. With mobile subjects, you'll find it easier from a bit more distance. It's just a little easier to track the subject, re-framing by adjusting zoom, and if they're moving left/right, you'll not run out of background so often.

If you want the subject sharp, you must refocus every time there is a change of distance, when either the subject or camera moves. Keep your thumb over that back AF button. If you want more DoF to give greater margin for error, use higher f/number.
 
HoppyUK said:
Why did you use 70mm? It won't give you any more DoF than 200mm, if you also move closer and frame the subject the same size. See post #38. With mobile subjects, you'll find it easier from a bit more distance. It's just a little easier to track the subject, re-framing by adjusting zoom, and if they're moving left/right, you'll not run out of background so often.

If you want the subject sharp, you must refocus every time there is a change of distance, when either the subject or camera moves. Keep your thumb over that back AF button. If you want more DoF to give greater margin for error, use higher f/number.
Click to expand...


Been hectic few weeks so not had chance to come back on.

I was trying to stick to one focus lens length to reduce the amount of blur from zooming in too far so that i got a shallower depth of field and making my photos look totally blur. distance would have been better, which i need to use as otherwise the cost of the lens is pointless and a prime would be better, but really dont want to change the lens.

I am always refocussing as i go along, have started to take more shots in a session so that i can cover any out of focus and using the AF button as well.

I have been shooting at F11 this week to see how that goes. which brings me to another question that again is probably really obvious, if i turn my flash heads up, unless the subject is close to them i cant get F16 how can i do this to cover a full width of paper. with a subject further back? is it a case of bumping up the ISO? as i don't want to start doing this too much and introducing noise into photos.
 
Just bump your ISO up to compensate.
With flash heads you should have a good margin for upping the ISO without suffering from too much noise.
 
another question on this.

Whats the best techniques for photographing kids moving backwards and forwards with t regards to the light, they will obviously move close to the light at some point, then the lighting will be too bright.

Any suggestions?

Thanks
 
donkeymusic said:
another question on this.

Whats the best techniques for photographing kids moving backwards and forwards with t regards to the light, they will obviously move close to the light at some point, then the lighting will be too bright.

Any suggestions?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Some easy theoretical solutions, that may be much more difficult in practise, and might not look so great.

- Use an auto-TTL key light, ie hot-shoe gun on auto.
- Move the lights back as far as possible to minimise inverse-square-law fall-off.
- Flood the entire studio with light so exposure is the same all over.
 
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back to this thread, struggling to get focus right, did some more shots this weekend and although i am getting the shots i want some of the poses that i want are ruined as they are not in focus. here is another example for any advice
 
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