Lenses and Flashes

aim&shoot · February 2, 2009

I am going to be shooting my nieces Quinceanera (15th), and am wanting to know what lenses I should get.. I have a D90 w/ 18-105mm and a sigma 28-300mm (which is giving me problems) but am looking for maybe some wide angle lenses and fisheye lenses.

Also, what do you suggest for a flash...

mdruiz · February 2, 2009

aim&shoot wrote:

I am going to be shooting my nieces Quinceanera (15th), and am wanting to know what lenses I should get.. I have a D90 w/ 18-105mm and a sigma 28-300mm (which is giving me problems) but am looking for maybe some wide angle lenses and fisheye lenses.

Also, what do you suggest for a flash...

The 18-105 lens is great lens, I believe you should be fine. Flash, you have the money get a sb800, if not get a sb600. Maybe a Omni bounce diffuser. You should be good.

sherijohnson · February 2, 2009

Yeah, I think you should be good on lenses, just get a good speedlite and bounce flash if you can for the best results.

If during the ceremony you are shooting, you may want a tripod to use when you cannot use your flash at all.

Scott_Quier · February 2, 2009

If your 18-105 is the "18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR AF-S DX Nikkor Autofocus Lens", then I submit you may run into problems. If the light gets a little dim, you may have problems getting focus lock, especially at the longer end of the lens - it can be a challenge get focus at f/5.6.

You may be well served by either buying or renting something in the range of a 17-50 f/2.8 lens - this should get you most of the shots at an indoor event.

Outdoors, I think your 18-105 will serve you quite well, assuming the sun is still up:D

aim&shoot · February 2, 2009

Yea I have a tripod so I am good there...

And yes my lens is the 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR AF-S DX Nikkor Autofocus Lens, and I do have issues in low lighting with the auto focus, I sometimes end up going manual focus to get the shot...

I will look into the other 17-50 f/2.8 lens to see how much they run!

What do you all think about wide angle and fisheye lenses??? I know I will be taking big group shots so thats why I was thinking of a lens like that.... Just didn't really know what kind since there's so many out there...

Thanks for all the help

jeffreaux2 · February 2, 2009

aim&shoot wrote:

Yea I have a tripod so I am good there...

And yes my lens is the 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR AF-S DX Nikkor Autofocus Lens, and I do have issues in low lighting with the auto focus, I sometimes end up going manual focus to get the shot...

I will look into the other 17-50 f/2.8 lens to see how much they run!

What do you all think about wide angle and fisheye lenses??? I know I will be taking big group shots so thats why I was thinking of a lens like that.... Just didn't really know what kind since there's so many out there...

Thanks for all the help

Ultra-wides and fish eye lenses typically are not used for "people" photography due to the distortion they cause. Folks near the edge of the photo will appear short and squat and those in the center will be stretched. I have seen them used now and then for that effect where it REALLY makes a womans legs appear long, but for general use at an event to capture candid or posed groupings.....you should stay with more of a "normal" zoom and try to use it in the 30-50mm part of it's range.

Scott_Quier · February 2, 2009

aim&shoot wrote:

Yea I have a tripod so I am good there...

And yes my lens is the 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR AF-S DX Nikkor Autofocus Lens, and I do have issues in low lighting with the auto focus, I sometimes end up going manual focus to get the shot...

I will look into the other 17-50 f/2.8 lens to see how much they run!

What do you all think about wide angle and fisheye lenses??? I know I will be taking big group shots so thats why I was thinking of a lens like that.... Just didn't really know what kind since there's so many out there...

Thanks for all the help

Here's a couple of choices for rentals that might be worth looking at:

I'll let you look up the rental prices. If you mention the Club Smug Deal in your rental request you can get 5% off your entire order with no minimum. I've dealt with them a couple of times and have been well and happy. BTW - I have no other affiliation with them than that of a happy customer.

Anyway, renting can solve a short term problem (lack of equipment) without the expense of having to buy it.

aim&shoot · February 2, 2009

WOW! thanks so much for all the help.... I will look into them and play around to see which one fits me better...

I guess my choice of wide angel lense or fisheye lens were pics I had seen that had used the lenses and just thought they were some nice pics...

I am still on my learning curve and don't really use photoshop right now, so I am stuck on using what I got w/out being able to photoshop anything...

Thanks for all the help everyone...

bmoreshooter · February 3, 2009

lense
Scott mentioned a Tamron lens and I would like to add a little to that. I have used Tamron lenses for many years. They are great. Unless you are doing optical testing at RIT I am certain you would be happy with them. They might even be happy at RIT, I never bothered to ask. Tamrons 90 mm macro is without a doubt one of the finest lenses i've ever seen. With that small plug for Tamron (i don't work for them)y advise is simple. Do some research an spend as much as you can on your primary lens. If your going to cut corners do it on the lenses that your probably not going to use too often once you get over the newness of your purchase. If you want to shoot something special, like a fisheye view, rent the lens for a day. I normally carry two cameras on a shoot. One w/nikkor 24-120 ( my back up system) and one w/Tamron 28-120. In my camera bag I carry a nikkor 17-55 2.8 for wide shots. There is a significant price difference but you can not tell the difference in the photos. Most times if you need a slightly wider shot you can just back up a little

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aim&shoot · February 4, 2009

bmoreshooter wrote:

Scott mentioned a Tamron lens and I would like to add a little to that. I have used Tamron lenses for many years. They are great. Unless you are doing optical testing at RIT I am certain you would be happy with them. They might even be happy at RIT, I never bothered to ask. Tamrons 90 mm macro is without a doubt one of the finest lenses i've ever seen. With that small plug for Tamron (i don't work for them)y advise is simple. Do some research an spend as much as you can on your primary lens. If your going to cut corners do it on the lenses that your probably not going to use too often once you get over the newness of your purchase. If you want to shoot something special, like a fisheye view, rent the lens for a day. I normally carry two cameras on a shoot. One w/nikkor 24-120 ( my back up system) and one w/Tamron 28-120. In my camera bag I carry a nikkor 17-55 2.8 for wide shots. There is a significant price difference but you can not tell the difference in the photos. Most times if you need a slightly wider shot you can just back up a little .

Thanks.. I will look at the Tamron's... I was thinking of renting a few lenses to see which ones's I like than might purchase one...
Yea I've tried the backing up with big groups and the concept works at times, but when you have a HUGE family like mine, you want a wider lens. I know I will have to back up some, but thought if I got a wider lens I wouldn't need to back up as much...

Thanks again for all the input...

jbakerphoto · February 4, 2009

Well not sure how good advice this is and how feeseable it is. But you might want to try stitching several pictures together and making a pano. I use the software that came with my Canon.....How cool would a long 5 x 15 inch ((Or 12 x 36) picture of your family be.

Here is a second attempt of stiching a pic together.

aim&shoot · February 4, 2009

unclejon wrote:

Well not sure how good advice this is and how feeseable it is. But you might want to try stitching several pictures together and making a pano. I use the software that came with my Canon.....How cool would a long 5 x 15 inch ((Or 12 x 36) picture of your family be.

Here is a second attempt of stiching a pic together.

Aw, sounds like a good idea! That's a pretty cool pic... Yea I think that would be ok on occasions, but I am still on the learning curve on using my camera plus software's especially software like photoshop. I am using a Trial version and the moment and have been messing with GIMP, but I have to say gosh I give everyone props for using these programs cuz I got a headache.... and maybe it's just me user error, but I am sure I will learn it with practice eventually.... lol

thanks

Lenses and Flashes

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