fast lens

jamiedolittle

jamiedolittle

Messages
77
Name
james
Edit My Images
Yes
went to the eden project lastnight but really struggled with the low light. there was no option of tripod as it was really busy!

so my question is what walk about lens?
camera is a canon 450d, no budget limit.

many thanks.
 
I've been and successfully used 50mm 2.8 Macro on a monopod without any problems. :thumbs:
 
1st off ... what lenses do you have ?

second .. if you have no budget ... would you consider a different body that shoots better in low light ? sometimes the same price as a good fast lens !
 
i tried my 50 hand held but results were not very good.

lenses i have at the moment are canon 18-55 kit lens
canon 55-250 kit lens
canon nifty 50
canon 100-400

thats why i mentioned the budget...as i would have to weigh it up, as you say a new body might be a possibility.
idealy what i wanted to do was collect my glass before i changed the body.
 
How about something like the Tamron in my signature? OK, at f/2.8 at it's widest it's not quite as fast as your Nifty, but the VC makes up to three stops difference, which is a lot of difference, especially if you're shooting static subjects (as I imagine you were when at Eden). And you get a decent zoom range too.
 
swag72 said:
EF-S 17-55 F2.8 IS is a good walkabout on a crop body and at a constant F2.8 is about the best you'd get for low light in a zoom.
Click to expand...

Sara right, canon 17-55mm f2.8 or tamron 17-50mm f2.8 (cheaper alternative, 2 versions, new version has IS) are you best bets on a cropped body, otherwise faster glass mean's a prime
 
otherwise faster glass mean's a prime[/QUOTE said:
aaaaa right, learn summat every day! why is that ***? less glass in them or......?

sorry for all the questions, still learning at the moment!
Click to expand...
 
I was at a family function this afternoon and the light was dire.
I made the mistake of selling my Canon 430EX II a few months ago due to the lack of use.
I didn't actually think I took many keepers but my Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 VR saved the day.
 
jamiedolittle said:
aaaaa right, learn summat every day! why is that ***? less glass in them or......?

sorry for all the questions, still learning at the moment!
Click to expand...

Nope, more glass in them (in a way)! Prime lenses tend to have a wider maximum aperture because they don't have as many moving elements and the quality of glass from edge to edge is usually superior; due to the way zooms are designed you won't find them opening up as wide as prime lenses on average.
 
swag72 said:
EF-S 17-55 F2.8 IS is a good walkabout on a crop body and at a constant F2.8 is about the best you'd get for low light in a zoom.
Click to expand...

what sort of price are these sara?

what about the 24-70 2.8...? anyone had any experiance with these?
 
jamiedolittle said:
aaaaa right, learn summat every day! why is that ***? less glass in them or......?

sorry for all the questions, still learning at the moment!
Click to expand...

Basically your right

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/camera-lenses.htm

From CinC....The primary advantages of prime lenses are in cost, weight and speed. An inexpensive prime lens can generally provide as good (or better) image quality as a high-end zoom lens. Additionally, if only a small fraction of the focal length range is necessary for a zoom lens, then a prime lens with a similar focal length will be significantly smaller and lighter. Finally, the best prime lenses almost always offer better light-gathering ability (larger maximum aperture) than the fastest zoom lenses-- often critical for low-light sports/theater photography, and when a shallow depth of field is necessary.
Click to expand...
 
hashcake said:
I was at a family function this afternoon and the light was dire.
I made the mistake of selling my Canon 430EX II a few months ago due to the lack of use.
I didn't actually think I took many keepers but my Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 VR saved the day.
Click to expand...

i had my 580ex11, was fine for the portraite stuff with the 50, but really struggeled on my 18-55(at a distance of around 8 feet)......was wondering if i had the flash set up correctly? i set the camera function to external flash-ettl....was that correct?
 
jamiedolittle said:
just had a quick flick....looks very interesting, will have a good read a bit later.


this has all helped sooooo much guys thank you.

just had a look on camerapricebuster......why have they gone UP in price since 2007?....more demand or....? i thought things depriciated?..lol
Click to expand...

Current economic climate and the depreciation of the £pound; remember, a lot of this stuff originates in Japan.

EDIT: Doh! I'll get my coat :coat:
 
tarmac_chaser said:
That's correct. Many lenses I used to own were cheaper to buy new then than people are selling them for used now

Your 580ex should've had enough power for the job
Click to expand...

just hoping with all this new gear im buying the prices dont swop around....lol

im still learning with the flash so i think i will have to put lastnight down to learning experiance......got that 17-55 on the xmas list ***. if i dont get it bought for me then it will just have to "appear in the january sales" well thats what i will tell the mrs anyway....lol
 
No budget limit?

Well, in that case, sod the walking around bit..... buy one of these, get up on the roof and point towards Eden....
 
Lynton said:
No budget limit?

Well, in that case, sod the walking around bit..... buy one of these, get up on the roof and point towards Eden....
Click to expand...

ha ha ha ha.....kin ell look at that!!! wonder how much that is, and how much it weighs?

quick google search= $120,000 and 34.4lbs!!! people are recognizable up to a mile or more!!!!
 
Another vote for the 17-55 2.8. Great lens :thumbs:

Lens design is a compromise and the way it tends to work in practise is that long focal length range is traded against a low f/number. For example, super-zooms like 18-200 (18:1 range) are never very fast, eg around f/4-5.6. If you want f/2.8 throughout that goes down to 3:1.

Primes can use the fact that they don't change focal lengh in various ways. They can be smaller, lighter, cheaper, longer, wider, better image quality, or faster (lower f/number), or a combination of all those things, but the main way they tend to compliment zooms is to be faster like f/1.8 or f/1.4. Zooms can only dream of that.

You shouldn't have any problem with your 580EXII at that range. When the flash is connected to the camera, you don't use any of the remote Master/Slave functions - that is only to control other flash guns in a multi-flash set up.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top