recommended lenses for waterfals
yooperdooper
Registered Users Posts: 231 Major grins
i have been hitting you guys hard with questions lately.i am going to wisconsin to shoot waerfalls.please bear with me.i have a canon eos 30 d with 2 lenses.a sigma 18-50mm 1:3.5-5.6 and a digital concepts 2x af for canon eos.any recomendations for a lens for waterfalls in terms of quality and capabilities and brand names.thank you john
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I actually like the sigma lenses in general. For waterfalls I usually want to be close and still get a good portion if not all of the waterfall. I would look at either the Canon 10-22 or the Sigma 10-20.
-Philip
-Willy Wonka
Read up about exposing with your camera in different lights/compositions...read about using different filters for longer exposures in sunlight. That is the sort of stuff that will get you decent photos...dont worry about the lens so much.
I agree..Full camera control just beats a half decent lens. The 18-50 is good for the money it dosn´t cost
A good composition beats the small differences with the lens you have.
I did a bunch of shots of them down in Oaxaca, and all were within that range, it all depends what composition you want
I have over fifty years experience in photography but, everyone posting on this forum is not as experienced. It seems very curt to berate a poster because his or her question doesn't match a certain level of expertise.
Some digital photography websites have a newbie forum where neophytes can post questions without the threat of being reviled by "experts". This Web Site doesn't include such a forum so there are often very basic questions stated.
Gee whiz guys, have a little consideration.
Your Sigma 18-50 is probably adequate. The best way to improve the optical quality of your lens, is to fix it firmly to the ground....
Do you have a good tripod and a way to connect your camera to it? For the long exposures needed for waterfalls, a good tripod is a necessity.
A neutral density filter 6x or 8x or even 10x will be a great help for shooting waterfalls also.
Once you have a good tripod and a good ND, then you might consider a different lens. Waterfalls have been shot with everything from very wide to long telephotos, so it depends on the terrain to a certain extent.
I have about 40 shots of waterfalls here - you can see the lens used in the exif data - click on the exif icon beneath the images.
Here is an image of Tahquamenon falls from the UP, shot at 70mm with a full frame camera, or about 43mm with a crop sensored camera.
Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
Get a neutral density filter, which is what you will need to prolong the exposure. Get a tripod, use Mirror lock up and a remote switch. The longer the exposure, the more milky the water fall will look.
rpcrowe:
You're right some of the responses seem a bit less than polite.
yooperdooper:
I am one of those with very little experience with photography. Gus is correct that one should concentrate on learning basic operation (which I still find my self messing up the basics way to often). Looking at your homepage you say " I am new to photography" myabe what Gus is saying if you are new to photography make sure you understand that new hardware will not make better pictures. Of course when presented with the opportunity to get more equipment do it, like when my wife said I should spend some more money on equipment I was on the B&H website within 10mins.
So back to the actual question you asked I still stand by recommendation I like sigma lenses. I've bought 3 sigma lenses and have been happy with all three. But ight now my main lens (on the 5d) is the canon 17-40 f4. My old 20d went to my step-daughter with the sigma 17-70 f2.8-4.5. The sigma 17-70 is a very nice lens solid build and good range and still has great image quality.
-Philip
-Willy Wonka
Can you can point out where the poster was berated & rivaled by experts please & i will moderate it ?
I can only see one instance of someone making a point of explaining their vast experience in the thread.
It depends how you want to take the waterfall, how far you are from the fall and how big is the waterfall is. Wide angle for near shot of big waterfalls and standard lens zoom may be great for the smaller falls and from considerable distance.
In most of case, a tripod and remote shutter release are really important to get a long exposure. Neutral density may help for some special effect.
You may also consider to have raincoat for the camera and lens if you want to get close to the falls. The area surrounding the waterfall is rather wet and very misty.
flickr.com/photos/photoskipper/
Last but not least, a good tripod. Good luck.