shooting parade--what lens/lenses?
lizzard_nyc
Registered Users Posts: 4,056 Major grins
I will treat myself to a new Zuiko lens for my Olympus E620 this week and since I will be shooting a parade in October I need advise on what lens to get.
The really cool part is that I managed to get myself into the actual parade, so I will be shooting from inside the action! :ivar :ivar
It's a looooong parade, taking place at noon so who knows about lighting conditions --I will remember to use my lens hood though.
I am taking my 40-150mm and my 14-40 mm kit lenses.
These are the lenses I'm looking into:
1. Wide Angle pancake 17mm f2.8 lens for $299 (I like the sound of this because it's small)--Aside from a parade is this a useful lens that one can use often?
2. 35mm f3.5 1:1 macro ED Zuiko-This can obviously be used for Macro but also it says portraits, snapshots, landscape--according to the review anyway.
If you had to buy one of the above to shoot a parade but also as your next addition to two kit lenses, which one would you pick?
And if anyone has experience with these actual lenses can you offer any reviews.
I love the look of wide angle shots some post, but I don't know if the above is wide angle enough to achieve the look I see--it's not a super wide angle lens--as those start at around $500-out of my budget--so is it worth it?
Thank you to all who keep providing advise and encouragment--I am learning so much.
The really cool part is that I managed to get myself into the actual parade, so I will be shooting from inside the action! :ivar :ivar
It's a looooong parade, taking place at noon so who knows about lighting conditions --I will remember to use my lens hood though.
I am taking my 40-150mm and my 14-40 mm kit lenses.
These are the lenses I'm looking into:
1. Wide Angle pancake 17mm f2.8 lens for $299 (I like the sound of this because it's small)--Aside from a parade is this a useful lens that one can use often?
2. 35mm f3.5 1:1 macro ED Zuiko-This can obviously be used for Macro but also it says portraits, snapshots, landscape--according to the review anyway.
If you had to buy one of the above to shoot a parade but also as your next addition to two kit lenses, which one would you pick?
And if anyone has experience with these actual lenses can you offer any reviews.
I love the look of wide angle shots some post, but I don't know if the above is wide angle enough to achieve the look I see--it's not a super wide angle lens--as those start at around $500-out of my budget--so is it worth it?
Thank you to all who keep providing advise and encouragment--I am learning so much.
Liz A.
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Comments
Pancake lenses in general are very "stealthy" and can make your photography less intrusive. They do not generally represent the best lenses in a given system. In an outdoor situation a lens hood is still recommended which reduces the stealth advantage of the lens.
You already have the 17mm focal length covered in your 14-40mm kit lens so this would not necessarily give you too much advantage overall.
I do like pancake lenses for what they do so I'm not saying not to get this, but it would not be a first recommendation for a parade.
A very high quality optic, but somewhat limited use for a parade in that it will be somewhat long for a broadside shot of a float, for instance.
For a daytime parade I think the 2 kit lenses you have should work pretty well. You might want an even wider view for some of the action, so maybe a super-wide-angle zoom might be indicated:
Zuiko Digital ED 7-14mm, F4.0 (very expensive)
Zuiko Digital ED 11-22mm, F2.8-3.5
Sigma 10-20mm, f4-5.6 EX DC HSM
Moderator of the Cameras and Accessories forums
Thanks for your reply Ziggy
Ok the first two are out of my budget, but I can swing the third, now let me ask you this.
Knowing what lenses are in my arsenal (I say arsenal with a smile on my face) what do you recommend as a third lens, would an amateur get more out of a ultra wide or the macro/portrait lens.
Also as far as the pancake lens goes it's not for stealth reasons really as much as the convenience of carrying the small lens once I start lugging around more equipment.
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I can only speak to my own needs, because I don't know your needs, but I need the super-wide zoom way more often than I need a macro. If you want/need to do portraiture the Zuiko Digital 35mm, F3.5 Macro is a fairly good length for a Four-Thirds camera, but the aperture and nature of the format imply that you still don't have very good DOF control. (It would take a pretty fair distance from subject to background to get nice bokeh.) There are probably better options for portraits IOW.
Moderator of the Cameras and Accessories forums
Other than having to look up what IOW meant, I get what you are saying--looks like my next lens will be a super wide-:ivar
Gracias Ziggy.
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and look at me when I take their picture and the background gets nicely
blurred by the large aperature. I'm talking 70-200mm f2.8, not sure if Oly
has somehting like that .. they should, right?
― Edward Weston
Good to know, thank you.
You saved me some serious aggravation.
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I've decided to rent a lens for the parade since I don't know what I want my next big lens purchase to be.
I like the sound of blurred backgrounds and nice sharp subjects.
In the meantime, I made a rash purchase of a lensbaby muse with wideangle (free) lens.
Thanks Manfr3d.
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