Nikon d700 needs a lens for glamour photos

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cat80

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Hello everybody,
This is my first post,so please be gentle with me :love:
I would like to try to become a glamour photographer. I know it's a long process and takes practice and skills,but i will give it a go.
So after reading reviews and watching you tube videos i bought a NIKON D700 camera and a 50 mm 1.4 g lens. That s what people say it's good for glamour shots.
Now i have seen reviews on the 17-55 mm that says it's a great lens and perfect for glamour,full portrait..
Please can you help me choose anothe lens,so i can start my journey???
Thank you so much
 
Hi, and welcome.


The 17-55mm lens is designed for DX format, it will work on FX but only in crop mode and there isn't a lot of point in having a full frame camera and using as a crop?

Have you looked the 85mm lenses, not cheap but seem to get raved about.
 
The 17-55 is I think a Dx lens which means it's only suitable for use with crop sensor bodies and your D700 is a Full Frame (also known as Fx) body.

For the time being, you may be better off just using your 50mm f/1.4 until you know what you need. Mostly, you'll need practise and experience.

As you've probably discovered, photography isn't a cheap hobby, especially at a high level. If money is almost no object and you can afford the prices, the 3 zooms reckoned to be a professional's dream team are the 14-24, 24-70 and 70-200, all f/2.8. For your chosen speciallity, I reckon you can live without the 70-200 but even just the other 2 will not be cheap, the 14-24 costing £1,318.99 from the Devon Camera Centre (other places may well be cheaper, so shop around for the best deal) and the 24-70 costing £1,248 from the same dealer. The 70-200 would add £1,599.99 to that sum should you decide you need that as well. 2nd hand prices will obviously be cheaper.

Other brands are available, Sigma and Tamron being just 2 of the options. Their offerings are far cheaper but may also be maginally less good and may suffer from quality control problems, so it's best to buy them from a real shop where you can try the actual copy of the lens you'll be buying. Sigma for one don't make a very fast very wide zoom, with their (IMO, excellent despite the slightly slower than the Nikon f/4.5-f/5.6 maximum aperture) 12-24, almost insanely wide on your FF D700! They do do 24-70 f/2.8 and 70-200 f/2.8 zooms though which are worth considering if your wallet can't stretch to the Nikon threesome!
 
Forget zooms and spend your money more wisely on an 85 1.4 and a 135dc.
 
cat80 said:
Hello everybody,
This is my first post,so please be gentle with me :love:
I would like to try to become a glamour photographer. I know it's a long process and takes practice and skills,but i will give it a go.
So after reading reviews and watching you tube videos i bought a NIKON D700 camera and a 50 mm 1.4 g lens. That s what people say it's good for glamour shots.
Now i have seen reviews on the 17-55 mm that says it's a great lens and perfect for glamour,full portrait..
Please can you help me choose anothe lens,so i can start my journey???
Thank you so much
Click to expand...

Do you mean professionally? Well, good luck with that!

And don't spend a bean on more equipment until you have paid work to cover it. Then the next thing to look at is flash and lighting techniques, indoors and out.

Try a few glamour workshops. Most studios run them.
 
THANK YOU ALL FOR THE ADVICE
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thank you so much for your time with a novice.I really appreciate all your advice.
So for now i will stick to my 50 mm lens.Next i will buy the octobox,i have read it;s nice for glamour shoots (if not let me know again).
I want the playboy look ,that golden light...That;s my aim..Lot of work,but i knwo one day i will get it.
I have a small studio apartment,so here i will do my first test shoots.:P
Would you please help me again with some lights advice? It;s the octogonal box enough? I m thinking to use the natural light as well as the artificial one...
After i m done with the lights and i will have a bit of prcatice,i will buy the 70-200 lens.
I read about this playboy photographer that was using D700 and one of the lenses was a 70-200,he was very pleased with it.
In terms of money i don't want to keep buying lenses,selling them till i will be ready for the best one. I just want to start with the best,because at the end of the day it;s a great investment,either if you are a professional or not.
Thanks again for all your advice and i will keep you informed with my situation and also more then sure i will be back for more advice.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND. KISS U ALL. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
 
It's not about equipment, but how you use it. For glamour, say full length and 3/4 length, 50/1.4 on a D700 should be good. Certainly don't spend any more until you have reached the limitaions of that kit, and understand what other equipment will do for you.

One minute you're after a 17-55 that won't work properly on your camera, and the next it's a 70-200 that you've read about. They're totally different. You need to be clear, with knowledge based on your own experience.

Yes, a softbox would be good, and a nice big reflector, but again it's just light and until you understand what it does and how it works, you won't get far.

I would put glamour to one side for now, concentrate on learning the basic of photography, practise a lot, read and practise some more, go on a workshop, shoot lots of pictures of people, friends and family, the principles are the same.
 
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