Difference between the 35mm and 50mm af-s nikon lens?

Mark-Anthony

Mark-Anthony

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Hi All

I'm pretty new to photography. well, I've been doing it two years but not like every day. I have the kit 18-55 lens aswel as the 18-135 and a Tamron macro AF 70-300 but i never use it so that's up for sale.

In my spare time I work for a nightclub taking pics and am now after a lens with a better apperature. thing is, I'm not sure which is better...the 50mm f1/4, the 50mm f1/8 or the 35mm f1/8?

any help?
 
The 35 is probably better for indoor group shots. The 50's could be a bit too long.

The 50 1.4 is good, but shooting groups at 1.4 isnt ideal, so would be wasted for that purpose.

The 35 is a good comprimise between price and low light ability.

You may be better off investing in a decent flashgun for nightclub work rather than more lenses though TBH.
 
What do you want a lens with 'better aperture' for? Is it better DOF or because your photos are turning out too dark?

Because I agree with Tom. In a nightclub situation I think a decent flashgun and the flexibility of the zoom will be much better than a prime lens. Shooting at f1.4/f1.8 is going to be an utter nightmare to get groups of drunk people all in focus as they will be all stood at different distances to your camera. Plus if it's a busy club you may not have the luxury of moving back/forth to frame your shot properly.
 
Evern with f/1.8 you will be struggling for light.


Why not improve your kit lens and get a decent flash?

I'm not sure if you are canon or nikon, but I upgrade my nikon 18-55mm kit lens to a sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, which gave me slightly better low light performance.

A zoom will be less restrictive as depending on where you are, you may need to zoom out all the way.
 
Dale_d3100 said:
I'm not sure if you are canon or nikon, .
Click to expand...

:LOL:


If you're thinking of just headshots, then the 50mm f1.8 will be cheapest option. 35mm will be more versatile, but neither of these lenses is any good at it's max aperture.

I've not used the f1.4 version of the 50mm, but I'd expect a lot more from it.

If money were no object It'd be 24mm f1.4 I'd be recommending, but I gather it is so... Maybe a Sigma 28mm f1.8? Not going to be mind blowingly sharp I don't think though.
 
For generic nightclub pictures, a solid flashgun will be much more suitable.
 
sorry for late reply. I've opted for the nikon 50mm af-s f1/8

I already have the 18-55 and a 18-135. I have the sb-600 speedlight aswell for my club photography

I have been using settings for nightclubs as f3.8 iso 200 and the shutter at 1/8. pics are coming out ok but it is a really dark club, with only wall lights on.

I want to be able to get good shots when I drag the shutter as the dj shots look amazing in my opinion with that.
 
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A flash gun with a tilt head will serve you much better than the fixed sb-400. However if you've already bought a new lens then its too late. Hope you manage to get the shots you want.
 
The SB-400 allows you to rotate the flash up, but only in landscape.

1/8 shutter speed is incredibly slow.

Just looking at a calculator - iso 200 1/8 second shutter speed at f/4 will give you 1/30 seconds at f/2.

It is quite an improvement, but I would jump the ISO up to 800, this would give you 1/125 shutter speed (f/2) or 1/30 with your current lens

Have you tried using the flash, but reducing its power (flash exposure compensation basically) to give a darker shot instead of daylight bright, but still allow a faster shutter speed and get the features?
 
My mistake, it's a sb600 I have.

As said I'm still new to it all. I only got the flash for xmas so not played around with it. I just set it to TTL and went from there.
 
Dale_tem said:
The SB-400 allows you to rotate the flash up, but only in landscape.

1/8 shutter speed is incredibly slow.

Just looking at a calculator - iso 200 1/8 second shutter speed at f/4 will give you 1/30 seconds at f/2.

It is quite an improvement, but I would jump the ISO up to 800, this would give you 1/125 shutter speed (f/2) or 1/30 with your current lens

Have you tried using the flash, but reducing its power (flash exposure compensation basically) to give a darker shot instead of daylight bright, but still allow a faster shutter speed and get the features?
Click to expand...

good point. As said, i'm still new to this so learning as i go. here's a pic i took

538641_4235227009299_317907873_n.jpg


that was with the settings f/3.8 and shutter speed 1/8 with iso 200. the club is very dark with only wall lights and a few disco lights on. I took a pic without a flash to see and it's basically pitch black.
 
That is a good flash to use, increase the shutter speed to about 1/50 and see how it goes with movement.

If you are firing a flash, the shutter speed only really affects how bright the background is as the flash will light up the foreground for you. The longer the shutter speed, the brighter the background, but you need to watch for motion blur, faster shutter speed can mean a very clear foreground, but a very dark background.

I often see photographers who use flash in different situations use these type of things...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cloud-Lam...otography_Flash_Diffusers&hash=item20c4afa561

Stick it on the flash and aim it straight up, gives a much software light than aiming straight forward.
 
Brilliant mate, may have to buy that. I've got my birthday coming a week tomorrow So i'm hoping to buy some more stuff aswell as I have my 50mm f1/8 lens coming tomorrow with ups :D

Ideally, with the club i shoot in being dark, I'd like to involve the disco lighting of the club more but still keep the people in a nice light if that makes sense. I have tried dragging the shutter but was doing this with shutter speed of 1/1.3. once I took it, I'd make some outragous swoop with my shot to get the light streak effect like so...

148941_189722814506570_394195536_n.jpg


abit mad I know, too much swirling going on but for some reason i like it :)
 
Looks good, the DJ and the booth are a bit bright, reduce the ISO, reduce the time or used smaller aperture to make the DJ and the booth darker, it will then make the light swirls stand out more.
 
Dale_tem said:
Looks good, the DJ and the booth are a bit bright, reduce the ISO, reduce the time or used smaller aperture to make the DJ and the booth darker, it will then make the light swirls stand out more.
Click to expand...

cheers mate, will give that a try. that is the only pic with so much light swirl, all the rest are quite minimal
 
Hi,

If you can set up on your camera, have a look at rear sync.

Should allow you to do a longer exposure with a flash at the end (in theory). That should get the club lights in the background. See if you can get one of the staff to pose for a few as test shots, and note the best settings.

I'd say around f4 to f8 should get the better pic, but you'd need to try some (hence the willing subjects).

I'm not sure that the camera will store all the settings under different banks, but if you get some settings that work, you may be able to save them that way, then swap banks of settings depending on the situation.

Good luck with your shots!
 
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