what lens to start out with?

[Ethan Music]

Some of you might have read my thread in the past I went with the sony 580a and love it so far would like to purchase my first lens. I am an amature do not plan to own a lot of lenses 3 at most including the kit lens can't decide which to go with.

50mm1.4
50-200mm
70-300mm
35mm

any thoughts or suggestions welcomed. since my cameras not a full frame would a 35mm be better than a 50mm.

 

[Misled]

You don't say what you want to take pics of. I'm figuring your tank, but while those will work for full tank shots you need a macro to get the close-ups you see here.

 

[TheHoove]

I have an older canon 30d. I take thousands of pics a year of nature, my tank, church events, family envents. My 2 most used lenses are a 18-50 2.8 lense and a 70-200. That range covers pretty much everything i do. I highly recommend a f2.8 lense if you can. But that adds cost. My 18-50 lense is sigma. Even does decent macro. That said if i could add one more lense it would be something like a true 100mm macro. But I get decents macro shots of my tank with the 18-50.

 

[iadubber]

If you can't afford a dedicated macro lens for fish photography at least pay attention to the minimum focus distance. The less the better you can fill the frame up with the subject.

Since you have a crop sensor I'd suggest the Tamron 60mm F2 Macro or the Tamron 90mm 2.8 Macro. You want more working distance when doing macro photography. The shorter the lens the closer you have to be to the subject. The longer the lens, the more area you have to work with.

 

[Ethan Music]

Was looking at the sigma and tamron lens my budget for the first one is around 500 plan to use it for a while with my kit lens before i purchase another. I like taking pictures of everything. Was thinkIng either a 70-300 or 50-200 don't have a tank setup anymore but I would love to shoot some macro shots of my reptiles. I don't think I'd need a dedicated lens for that though. What brand would you guys choose over the others or are they close in quality Sony, sigma, tamron.

 

[RVANANO]

Love my 50mm 1.4! Just got it for Xmas and took these last night.

 

[RVANANO]

Also had to throw this shot in as this is one of my favorite automotive detail shots to date.

 

[bumski667]

+1 on a Macro lens. It is a must have if you plan on taking close up of your coral.

 

[Pufferd300s]

Save urself some money and buy a Minolta at lens instead of a new lens. Plus if u were to get a Minolta. Maxxum 50 f/1.8 it would be like a 70mm because of the cropping factor

 

[JBen]

Im going to go a little against the grain here.

Macro lenses take some practice due to the distances, light requirements and DoF. You might struggle initially and become somewhat disappointed. If you want to go through a lot of coin in photography fast, lens purchases and upgrades are a good way to do it. You also want to think about what kind of shooting you want to do outside of tank images.

One good lens everyone will want to have in their kit at some point is a fast lens. They come in so handy (family portraits, indoor sports, so many, many applications). Having a fast lens will also pay large dividends while shooting your tank. While a macro lens can be used for other things one thing all macro lenses have in common is brutally slow focus speed. Not a big deal if your trying to shoot a portrait of your child, but useless trying to shoot the same child say playing Volley ball in an indoor gym.

So a lens like a 50 f1.4 or f1.8 or an 85mm f1.8.

No you won't get the close ups initially but you can always add a set of keno Tubes which are pretty inexpensive.
When you add tubes theres no light loss and the tubes significantly reduce the lenses MFD.

a 25mm tube or stacked with another 10mm tube, mounted in front of a 50mm or 85mm will get you in nice and tight until such time as you look at adding a Macro lens to your kit.

Plus once you do acquire a macro you can always add the tubes to it and further reduce your MFD if desired and increase the magnification from 1:1 to closer to 2:1

85mm f1.2 with 10mm in tubes to provide some reference of scale

180mm f3.5 Macro and 66mm in tubes

same 180 and tubes

Again, to me anyways think first about building your kit. You will want to shoot things other than your tank and a fast prime will be more useful to you overall, than a 1:1 macro initially and by adding a set of tubes you can do some close up photography without needing a 1:1 macro.

J

 

[BlueCorn]

When you add tubes theres no light loss and the tubes significantly reduce the lenses MFD.

I use tubes (and like them) but this is incorrect. There is light loss with tubes even though they contain no optics.

 

[JBen]

sorry for Dbl post, trying adj a link, pls delete.

 

[JBen]

I use tubes (and like them) but this is incorrect. There is light loss with tubes even though they contain no optics.

Your right, I should have been more careful with my choice of words. My background is Outdoor/wildlife and I have years of habit. Most people when discussing light loss with regards tubes are referring to trade offs between Tubes and TCs and filters. So the common refrain is "no light loss" relative to TCs.

For the OP I fired off 4 quick sample images to illustrate. I've done nothing to the files other than a slight WB adj and some auto screen sharpening.

I used my 70-200mm at 200mm (MFD 1.5 meters or roughly 4 feet) in aperture priority with -2/3 comp, so the only thing that will change is my SS

ISO 800
Eval metering (probably should have used spot)
f8.0

Distances are to the front of the tank.

Bare lens at four feet.
1/160th

+10mm in tubes, distance to tank 20 inches
1/160th (no light loss)

+20mm for 30mm in tubes, distance 11inches
1/60th

+36mm for 66mm tubes, distance 8inch
1/25th

Now depending on what you want to do with the image and the file size cropping is always an option. I never crop but could if I wanted and still have more than enough for large useable files.

Last image cropped 50%

Will it beat a macro for close ups?
No

But it's a very viable alternative while your building your lens kit and would allow for a lot more flexibility while your acquiring various lenses for different purposes.

 

[iadubber]

I also use tubes and don't have a true macro lens.

This is with my Canon 85mm 1.8 with a 28mm extension tube. Lens was set manually to F/4.5.


IMG_1044 by iadubber, on Flickr

 

[alcoolaid]

Not familiar with the sony lenses but for my canon 5dmk2 i use a sigma 50mm 1/.4

 

[IPT]

nice use of extension tubes guys. Some very nice images posted. The 50mm is a nice lens. if I could only have two lenses I am not sure I would get one of the them fixed. I'd opt for a wide zoom and a tele zoom. Of course the 1.8 version the 50mm is under a $100 so you could throw that in the lix. I have both 50's, 24-105, 70-200, and 300mm lenses. My most common walk around lens is the 24-105. For wildlife the 300mm often with a tele converter. I also use the tubes and there are some nice illustrations here of how to mimic a macro lens with them (until you can afford the real deal). Choices, choices....

 

[JBen]

Photography can be thought of as much like starting a reef tank. You can jump in, buy a bunch of equipment and if you really get hooked, replace and upgrade a lot of it. Or you can start your planning early and buy with an eye to the future. It took me 8 years to finalize my kit but I had it mapped out from day one, which lenses, in which order.

I'm on a lot of outdoors related boards, and people there are often asking (what lens should I start with or add next). Of coarse, on those boards primary interest is wildlife, fishing, camping, canoeing etc, etc.

The advice I often give when the poster is unsure is, take your time. Map out your equipment additions (theres often more than lenses to think about), and in the process you will discover where you real interest lies. Does Landscape really grab you? Then go for a good WA early. Sports? A good mid range zoom. Family shots (vacations, kids playing at a park/beach, indoor activities) a good fast prime at 50mm or 85mm.

Macro lenses are fantastic, but they are a "specialty" lens with limited application, where as most other lenses can easily pull double and triple duty. Thats not to say someone can't or shouldn't buy a good Macro lens first or early if they really want to do a bunch of Macro work. But with no or few other lenses to use in other area's the lens lust bug ( Im at the park watching my boy play ball and don't have a lens, Im in a church, museum and can't use flash, don't have a fast lens) will bite hard and often.