Beginner Some questions from new member

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DigitA

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Hi,

I'm a digital artist and I'm after a camera to shoot reference. I've decided to go for the Sony a7iii and a Sigma 50mm f1.4 Art.
I need to be able to shoot portraits, landscapes and occasionally macro (sometimes in low light) Do you think the above combination would serve my purpose?

Last, but not least, could you recommend me a vendor?

Thank you in advance.
 
DigitA said:
Hi,

I'm a digital artist and I'm after a camera to shoot reference. I've decided to go for the Sony a7iii and a Sigma 50mm f1.4 Art.
I need to be able to shoot portraits, landscapes and occasionally macro (sometimes in low light) Do you think the above combination would serve my purpose?

Last, but not least, could you recommend me a vendor?

Thank you in advance.
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I personally would not use a 50mm for portraits- on a full frame camera I use the 85mm f1.8 on my Sony a7Riii - as for macro you may find you need a dedicated Macro lens Like the Sony 90mm - landscapes I use a Sony 16-35mm

welcome to the expensive world of photography and our friendly forum

Les :)
 
I do use a 50mm for portraits and the combination you've mentioned is about as good as it gets - EDIT - but yes, 85-135mm is generally regarded as 'normal' for portraits

I also like a 50mm for landscapes and especially urban ones - EDIT - though it depends if you want to get everything in with a wideangle or be more selective

Macro though - could really do with a dedicated lens as Les says, though you could try extension tubes (as I do) if you only rarely intend shoot macro

And WELCOME to TP :)

Dave
 
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DG Phototraining said:
I do use a 50mm for portraits and the combination you've mentioned is about as good as it gets

I also like a 50mm for landscapes and especially urban ones

Macro though - could really do with a dedicated lens as Les says, though you could try extension tubes (as I do) if you only rarely intend shoot macro

And WELCOME to TP :)

Dave
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Hi Dave- May I ask why you don't use an 85mm for portraits?? - I maybe use a 50mm for urban although my 35mm does a pretty good job too

Just curious, As I was always been told the 85mm was the Dogs Do Dahs :)- I only ask having just laid out a small fortune for the Sony 85mm F1.4 GM lens

Les :)
 
Given that you are after reference shots from which to create digital art a 50mm lens is probably a good choice because it gives roughly the same field of view as your eye on FF and I assume you not out to create the most flattering portraits, rather to get representative material to build on.

Your will probably want a macro lens and I find that something like a Sigma 100mm macro is quite good and fairly close to 85mm if you do want flattering portraits. Again if razor sharp macro is not so important then buy second hand and overall it may work out cheaper to buy a Sony-Canon adaptor and buy a cheaper second-hand Canon lens rather than a dedicated Sony lens. The Canon versions are cheaper simply because there are a lot more of them on the second hand market.

Wex is a good UK vendor but you can save quite a bit of money by buying from a "grey" importer. For second-hand MPB.com is usually a good place to start.
 
Lez325 said:
Hi Dave- May I ask why you don't use an 85mm for portraits?? - I maybe use a 50mm for urban although my 35mm does a pretty good job too

Just curious, As I was always been told the 85mm was the Dogs Do Dahs :)- I only ask having just laid out a small fortune for the Sony 85mm F1.4 GM lens

Les :)
Click to expand...

I did just EDIT my post a bit to agree with you more lol

For my bridal portraits, my main ones, I'm often shooting in bedrooms without much space and certainly not the space for much more than a head & shoulders (H&S) shot, whereas I like something a little wider to often include down to the waist. I moved over to a 50mm after considerable thinking and a fair bit of testing, and party as one of the best togs I follow built his reputation using mostly that focal length for entire Weddings

The 'issue' with a 50 is really about more distortion when used for a H&S shot, yet they are brilliant shooting even closer for arty shots. So here's the trick to avoid that distortion - crop lol

If I need just a H&S then I'll shoot to include the whole chest and just crop so there's no distortion apparent, or shoot in such a way that while there is distortion its more arty & acceptable (to me anyway!)

Here's a recent one with the 50, I couldn't have done this with the 85 without standing on a chair!

For TP.jpgDave
 
Thank you all for your advice.
I know one lens is not enough, but I've read that a 50mm is a good start for beginners. A lens closest to the human eye, is what I'm looking for.

As for vendors, I'd rather buy it from a UK business. We're all going through hard times during this pandemic and I guess it makes sense to support each other.
 
To add to the comments, I'd probably suggest a couple of different lenses, not that the ART isn't good. I would suggest the Sony 85 f1.8 for portraits and the Tamron 35 f2.8 for landscape and semi-macro work, because this goes very close for a 1:2 ratio (the object being photographed will be half life size on the sensor).

Buy from London Camera Exchange, Wex, Park Cameras, or search camera price buster for the best deal.
 
Just to add, 35mm is also close to the human field of vision, and makes for a great general purpose lens that's more flexible than a 50.
 
DigitA said:
Hi,

I'm a digital artist and I'm after a camera to shoot reference. I've decided to go for the Sony a7iii and a Sigma 50mm f1.4 Art.
I need to be able to shoot portraits, landscapes and occasionally macro (sometimes in low light) Do you think the above combination would serve my purpose?

Last, but not least, could you recommend me a vendor?

Thank you in advance.
Click to expand...

Why do people keep saying a 50mm lens is close the human field of vision? There are several ways in which that can be measured, ranging from 2 degrees of critical acuity to 180 degrees of awareness and a few in-between, but none of them matches the 46 degrees of a 50mm (standard) lens on a full-frame camera. The best you can say is that, very broadly speaking, a standard focal length lens 'tends' to be used at the same kind of distance we usually look at things, so the perspective may be similar. Others will argue in favour of a 35mm lens.

The Sony is an excellent camera if you need the very highest level of image quality to work from, though may be costly overkill? I'm not sure exactly how you would manipulate the images for digital art. And a 50mm lens would not be most people's first choice either for portraits, or landscape or macro. The main virtue of a 50mm f/1.4 lens is the 1.4 bit, for low light shooting and/or creative use of very shallow depth-of-field. Otherwise you'd surely be better off with a more versatile 'standard range' zoom, like 24-70mm or 24-105mm, perhaps with an attachment for macro (extension tubes or supplementary close-up lens).

Welcome to TP :)
 
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After some research and observing how different lenses perform when shooting the same subject I decided that the perspective of the 50mm is closer to what I'm looking for (no pun intended). Probably I'm going to get a couple more lenses for different situations in the future, but I thought a 50mm is a good starting point for a beginner.

On another note, I found a local shop in Cambridge that offered a £100 discount for the a7iii. Adding the £75 cashback from Sigma made it a good deal. So, I placed my order and I'm expecting it sometime next week.
 
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