New here and need some help esp. with close-up portraits ...

inetsupergrrl

Hi Everyone! I'm happy to have found you guys ... I've really enjoyed the candid and helpful advice I've found here and now hope I can be the direct beneficient of such good advice!

I have a Fuji Fine Pix S2 Pro, a Nikon SB-80 flash and a Nikkor 28-200mm lens.

I am a psuedo portrait photographer ... by that I mean, I do it for friends and family and have amazingly gotten some good shots, but it all relies on instinct and my camera on auto. I'm like a musician playing music by ear, but I can't read a note. Not a REAL musician. (I read your advice to the noob to manual post and will try it myself!)

What I'm being called upon to do now though, is not working for me at all using my typical lazy-man techniques. I need to be able to take beautiful up-close baby pics. You know, tiny feet, little faces ... that sort of thing. I can set up the shot, light is great, positioning works, everything is lovely ... and then I grow more and more frustrated because I cannot get close enough to the subject.

1) IF my current lens is sufficient, it probably needs to be on manual, but I can't figure out how to get it to let me use the focus ring. The instructions on this lens is woefully lacking - assuming a lot more knowledge then I have!

2) DO I need another lens, a macro one? If so, I wouldn't want to spend more then $300 or so ... can anyone recommend a good one? I think my cam takes all Nikon lenses, or G-rings (does that make sense? I don't talk photography very well).

I'd really appreciate it if you would talked down to me and set me straight on this!

Thanks so much!
inetsupergrrl

Jangie

I'm just a beginner in photography, and have even less knowledge about your particular photography equipment.

I believe what you're asking here is how to get the (small) subject in focus when you need to get close. What that says to me is that your current lens' current minimum focus distance is further than what you want it to be in order to have your subject fill the frame.

Which lens is it specifically that you have? I'm finding two different versions, one that's a G, and one that's a D. As I'm a canon shooter myself, I'm not sure what it all means, but a website tells me that the D has a very high focus minimum at 7ft, while the G has a 1.3ft minimum focus distance.

It doesn't help that my camera is in the shop right now... but here's some stuff that may or may not be accurate. I made a 'frame' about the width of a 35mm negative and guesstimated the length of a baby's foot (my index finger). I placed the frame over my eye and moved my index finger until it filled the 'frame'. My index finger is about a half foot away from my eye at this point. What this tells me is that at a 'normal' lens length (for your camera, I believe that would be at approximately 33mm), the minimum focus distance would need to be less than either the D or the G.

However: Your lens is a zoom lens, and can go to 200mm. This means you can be further away from your subject and still fill the frame. If it is indeed the D version, you might not be able to get far enough away to focus sharply, and still fill the frame. Hopefully, it's the G version; if so, i suspect that if you have the focal length set to 200mm, you'll be ok.

Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong...

pathfinder

What focal length are you shooting your 28-200 zoom at?

What is the minimum focusing distance with that lens at that focal length?

You may need to add a screw in macro adapter to the front of your lens, like the Canon 500D or 250D. Nikon makes screw in close up lenses also, the 3T, 4T, 5T, but the brand really does not matter as long as they can screw into the filter threads on the front of your lens.

Or you could use extension tubes from Kenko, which allow the lens to extend further from the camera body and focus much closer.

If you are going to be shooting babies hands and feet professionally, you will probably be happier with a macro lens that lets your focus on these subjects without screwing on an adapter or an extension tube. The Canon 100, the Sigma 150 macro, the Canon or Tamron 180 macro will all do yoeman's work for this kind of task.

A few links here about macro lenses I found by searching here on dgrin

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=614&highlight=macro+lens


http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=17138&highlight=macro+pathfinder

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=2544&page=1&pp=10&highlight=macro+lens


http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=16632&highlight=macro+Greaper


http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=25165&highlight=macro+pathfinder


http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=8899

inetsupergrrl

Thanks so much you guys ...
You gave me stuff to think about and also great suggestions - thanks!

Honestly, I don't speak camera, and even when you explained it so well jangie, I still felt dumb. I need to spend some time trying things out so I get a practical understanding of what you're saying.

I think I can find a good lens from the ones you recommended Pathfinder - thanks!

I'll let you guys know how I make out.

I appreciate ya!

LiquidAir

There two common reasons why your camera will refuse to focus:

1. It can't find anything to focus on. This happens either in low light or when you are pointing it at something with very low contrast (like a flat wall or the sky)

2. Your subject is closer to the camera than the lens' closest focusing distance.

This sounds like a case of your subject being too close for your lens. Each lens is different. For some, typically telephoto lenses, the closest focusing distance can be as far as 6-8 feet or even further. On other lenses the closest focusing distance can be as small as an inch or two.

Here are some generalities about focus distance:

Wide angle lenses can usually focus closer than telephoto lenses.
Zooms often focus closer than comparable primes.
The closest focusing lenses are macro lenses which have been specifically designed for close focus.
Using an extension tube will let a lens focus closer than normal.

The fact that your lense zooms all the way to 200mm (which is well into the focal lengths considered telephoto) suggest that its closest focus may not be all that close. The close distance on my 70-300 zoom is about 5 feet. Given the extreme range of the 28-200 it may not focus that close.

If you are prepared to buy a new lens to take portriats, in the Canon world a 100mm macro is a popular portrait lens. I am sure Nikon sells something similar; a macro between 50mm and 100mm would be ideal. Otherwise you can try an extension tube on your 28-200, but I expect you will pay something of a price in quality--extension tubes don't always work very well on complicated lenses and a 7x zoom is about as complicated as they get.

Jangie

How often are you expecting to take pictures like the ones you're mentioning? It might be worthwhile just to rent the lens you need, rather than to buy an expensive piece of glass just for one set of pictures.

Just one more thing to consider, especially considering that you seem to be on a budget.

Art Scott

I really lke the Sigma 24 - 70 f2.8...it would work really well in your situation.