New Nikon equipment for baby pictures and general photography

J

jimbobc

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Hello,

I have just become a proud father to a beautiful little girl. I have what I would call 'decent' equipment but would be interested if there is any equipment that would help me take things further and get even better photos of her. This is what I currently have:

D90
Nikon 70-300 VR
Nikon 18-105 VR
Nikon AF-S 35MM
Nissin DI622 MK2

I love distant soft portraits such as what the 70-300 can acheived and had regularly considered a 70-200 VR1 second hand or the Sigma 70-200 2.8 OS.

Whilst the 35mm is great its not very flexible paricularly outdoors.

Thanks for the advice.
 
Firstly many congratulations!

The 70-200 is a great choice for photographing little people....especially when they're running around in the garden or out in the park...and that won't take long!

I'd also have a look at a 50mm F1.4 for indoor portraits...it's obviously close to the classic 85mm portrait lens on a DX. The wide aperture will obviously help for low light as well as really giving you much less DoF than anything in your current set up. The thin DoF does take some getting used to especially with a fast moving subject!

Ultimately I'd also look at upgrading your D90 in the future to something that has better low light capabilities.
 
Beardy said:
Firstly many congratulations!

The 70-200 is a great choice for photographing little people....especially when they're running around in the garden or out in the park...and that won't take long!

I'd also have a look at a 50mm F1.4 for indoor portraits...it's obviously close to the classic 85mm portrait lens on a DX. The wide aperture will obviously help for low light as well as really giving you much less DoF than anything in your current set up. The thin DoF does take some getting used to especially with a fast moving subject!

Ultimately I'd also look at upgrading your D90 in the future to something that has better low light capabilities.
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Thanks Beardy. I had looked at the 50mm before. My concerned is my ability to make the wide apertures work. My experiences at 1.8 on the 35mm have been mixed and I prefer shooting at 2.8 to 5.6 for consistentcy. I have tried the 70-200 and whilst I thought the 70-300 was good its in another league. I would be interested in a new body if they replaced the D300S. Not sure when that might happen.
 
I know what you mean...I have young kids and it's taken me a while to get consistent results with wide apertures. Making sure you put the focus point on eyes makes a big difference.

A second hand D700 might be an interesting alternative to the D300s replacement. If you don't need the reach the D700's low light prowess would be very useful for what you want. I have a D7000 and think that's my next step.
 
personally, I think the 35mm is a length on crop than 50mm and shooting at f/2-f/4 still gives enough background blur without having what looks like missed focus.

I'd take a serious look at the 85mm f/1.8 - great lens for creating background blur without much thinking about it. Sharp as well; mine was amazing from f/2 upwards.

A 70-200 will be a good buy. Indoors you need a mansion but outdoors it excels as a focal length for taking good portraits, mainly because the zoom allows you more flexibility. Plus, the IQ is so good these days that there's negligible difference between something like a Nikon 70-200mm and a prime. Have a look at the Nikon 80-200mm on the used market - great lens and IQ is top-notch.
 
Thanks for the comments guys. Will have a think about a D700 if they do fall in price with D800 launching. I must admit I had completely overlooked an 85mm but probably worth a look.
 
I mainly take pics of my two girls - I have a very similar camera bag to your good self. The lenses I mainly use are the 50mm 1.8 and the slightly trickier samyang 1.4 85mm manual focus. This seems to get good results. Like you though I also want a 200mm f2.8 telezoom. Although I'll probably get the older Nikon 80-200 for financial reasons.
 
We have half a dozen babies in the <18 months range in the family and when we go home for holidays all I do is take pictures of them. I use the 35 and 50 (both 1.8) on a D90 and really love the results. I think the 50 gives better DoF isolation at smaller apertures. What the 35 can do at 1.8 (background blur that is) I feel like the 50 can do a 2.4 or even 2.8. That also gives just a little bit of room for error when the baby moves a little out of the focal plane.

Thanks
Rick
 
If you do want to go the 85mm route Nikon's new 85mm 1.8 G is out next month. Not sure what the UK price is but I think I recall it was $500 or so. Regardless that will mean people upgrade so there will be some of the older lenses around.
 
I would say a good zoom - the Nikon 24-70 2.8, or the older 28-70. I find this length suits me better than the DX 17-55. I only got one 8 months ago but is very close to a prime. I do like my 50mm 1.4 and it is a great lens, useful for low light stuff, but with a 16mth and a 4yo, a zoom is much better. If thats out of reach, the tamron 28-75 is a good bet.
 
Congratulations on your new arrival. :D

My little girl is now 2, so can vouch for your situation.

My goto lens is now a Tamron 17-50 2.8 for inside the house as its far more flexible than the 35mm 1.8 i've got.

But the biggest jump in quality for me is the addition of a flash. I started off with a SB-400, but I've just got myself a SB-700. No matter how wide you open any lens, there's always times you need more light when inside. And I've found the addition of flash has worked wonders indoors for me.

You have the Nissin DI622 MK2, so hopefully your covered. :)

Hope this helps.
 
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Zarch said:
Congratulations on your new arrival. :D

My little girl is now 2, so can vouch for your situation.

My goto lens is now a Tamron 17-50 2.8 for inside the house as its far more flexible than the 35mm 1.8 i've got.

But the biggest jump in quality for me is the addition of a flash. I started off with a SB-400, but I've just got myself a SB-700. No matter how wide you open any lens, there's always times you need more light when inside. And I've found the addition of flash has worked wonders indoors for me.

You have the Nissin DI622 MK2, so hopefully your covered. :)

Hope this helps.
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That's a really good point. I too have been well impressed with the Nissin for illuminating dull indoor pictures particularly as we have little natural light downstairs. Bouncing it behind about 45 degrees really produces impressive pics.
 
Zarch said:
Congratulations on your new arrival. :D

My little girl is now 2, so can vouch for your situation.

My goto lens is now a Tamron 17-50 2.8 for inside the house as its far more flexible than the 35mm 1.8 i've got.

But the biggest jump in quality for me is the addition of a flash. I started off with a SB-400, but I've just got myself a SB-700. No matter how wide you open any lens, there's always times you need more light when inside. And I've found the addition of flash has worked wonders indoors for me.

You have the Nissin DI622 MK2, so hopefully your covered. :)

Hope this helps.
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This!
 
Zarch said:
Congratulations on your new arrival. :D

My little girl is now 2, so can vouch for your situation.

My goto lens is now a Tamron 17-50 2.8 for inside the house as its far more flexible than the 35mm 1.8 i've got.

But the biggest jump in quality for me is the addition of a flash. I started off with a SB-400, but I've just got myself a SB-700. No matter how wide you open any lens, there's always times you need more light when inside. And I've found the addition of flash has worked wonders indoors for me.

You have the Nissin DI622 MK2, so hopefully your covered. :)

Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

another one for the flash, plus I also always use mine when we go out as a family, the difference it makes, even in bright sunlight, just helps soften our get rid of hard shadows, ads a nice little catch light in the eye. I reckon a descent flash is one of the most useful kit additions that someone taking pictures of their kids can added, in actual fact I personally would say it is vital and not useful.
 
Update! So I've been offered a second hand Sigma 70-200 os. I am worried about the weight but it will have greater flexibility than buying an 85mm. Any thoughts?
 
All my favourite baby shots (mine's 16 months now) have been taken with a D90 and 50mm 1.4 - they just look special. Sadly the lens has recently died and I replaced it with a 50mm 1.8 - still good but not as effective in isolation terms and misses out on the dreamy look. I rarely use the 35mm 1.8 as I prefer the look of the 50mm. Same story with my Tamron 17-50 - I prefer the primes, although I find my 85mm 1.8 a bit long for inside. Focus -wise I always focus on the eyes and recompose.

Have very recently discovered indoor flash and the results with a SB-600 look infinitely better than with a SB-400 - staggering difference (yup, on this one I disagree with Uncle Ken:)),

cheers,

David
 
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I like primes just not sure the 50mm would offer much over 35mm? I like the 70-200 for flexibility and iq but at that price want to use it regularly. That's why I'm thinking maybe 85mm will be more portable with a baby.

Cheers,

James
 
Congratulation. Our little girl, Phoebe arrived in November. It's just fantastic watching her change almost daily. Makes everything else in life up to this point seem a tiny bit less important.

Anyway, kit wise I'd say you're looking pretty good! In my daughter's early days, I had a D300s with 35mm 1.8, 50mm 1.4 as well as a 70-300 VR as well as Nissin 622. Because we spent a lot of time indoors, people visiting, visiting others etc.. I tended to gravitate toward the primes. The 50mm in particular works well for babies on a crop body because babies are small enough for the length not to be constraining but at the same time you don't have to be right in their face which I did find a bit with the 35mm. The 35mm is great for those family group shots though.

I found in the early days that Phoebe hated the flash so the wide aperture primes were a god send. A couple of months ago, I swapped to a D700 and also bought a siggy 70-200 2.8 at the same time. Though this set is generally excellent, and in low light, the high iso capability is suberb, however the 50mm now sometimes seems a tad short. I'm on the look out for an 85mm 1.8 at a good price.

So, after all that rambling I think I'm saying that your current kit is fine but if you do feel like like splashing some cash, go for a 50mm if you're sticking with a crop. Also worth spending a few quid on a big cut of fabric to use as a background. i went for black but think white would have suited a baby better.
 
Our daughter Rachel arrived a year ago and most of my favourite shots have been taken with my 50mm 1.8 on my D90. I started with a 35mm and got the 50mm about 3 months ago and now wish I had had it from the start. I didn't use flash at all as I had an SB400 which was a bit 'direct', bought myself an SB700 last week and on results so far wish I had had that from the start too! Good luck and enjoy! I was sitting up at 1.30 this morning reading my daughter stories to try and get her back to sleep thinking 'ahh, the joys of fatherhood.' :-)
 
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Thanks guys for the messages. Totally agree having a little one changes perspective overnight Alisa is totally awesome.
 
Zarch said:
Congratulations on your new arrival. :D

My little girl is now 2, so can vouch for your situation.

My goto lens is now a Tamron 17-50 2.8 for inside the house as its far more flexible than the 35mm 1.8 i've got.

But the biggest jump in quality for me is the addition of a flash. I started off with a SB-400, but I've just got myself a SB-700. No matter how wide you open any lens, there's always times you need more light when inside. And I've found the addition of flash has worked wonders indoors for me.

You have the Nissin DI622 MK2, so hopefully your covered. :)

Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

Interesting...what makes such a large difference do you think? Power, or something else?
 
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