Ray H
Hi All,
Canon 400D digital Rebel is my newest d-SLR. If I may ask the community, which type of lenses should go on 400D get to capture the best portrait images for indoor family photos and outdoor landscape shots?
Lens cost is targeted around $1000 USD. I have gone through technical specs and site reviews, but mixed answers are given from site reviews to user comments.
What would you recommend with the following environments to select 2 types of lens?
1. Excellent indoor portraits in,
> Low lighting environment,
> Family party gathering,
> Food presentations.
2. Good outdoor landscape pictures in,
> Summer time conditions in California,
> Minor distortions with face in landscape pictures,
> None moving subject.
I am choosing the two lenses for the following reasons:
#1
Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM â yields good shots for indoor with low lighting, $290.
#2
Canon EF 70-200mm f/4.0L USM â superb quality and results in all ranges, $550
Would you choose these two lenses? Why?
Answer
First of all be advised that the XTi has a 1.6x crop factor that make the 50mm looks like a 80mm lens in your camera and this goes to every lenses.
The 50mm f1.4 is an excellent lens that can handle low light condition very well, but it would be difficult for you to work on landscape and group portraits with this lens because of the fixed focal length. Sometimes you can work things out by walking towards/further from the object you want to shoot, but it may not always be possible.
The 70-200 f4 is excellent for portrait and wildlife photography, but again, for group photo it will be a little bit difficult to work with because it's a tele lens. If you have to shoot a large number of people in a relatively small space, you won't be able to shoot everyone in one frame because it's not wide enough.
Both lenses should be good for food photography though - and I'm sure you can use it in any condition.
So... what are the alternatives?
Wide angle lenses are perfect for group and landscape photography. And in this case, the kit lens (the 18-55mm f3.5-5.6) are in the perfect range. But of course you've heard about the quality of the lens, and if you wanted something better there are the EF-S 17-85 f4-5.6 IS which goes for about ~$500 (depending on merchant), which has perfect range and image stabilization to help you in low light condition. It's a good lens but if you wanted something better there's the EF-S 17-55 f2.8 IS - which I also use personally. It's razor sharp, it's fast and I can safely vouch for this piece of thing for its quality. The f2.8 ensure you to capture good picture in low light condition (although I would still recommend using flash, preferrably external flash) and the IS will help you even more. The only catch for this lens is the price - it goes for around ~$900. But since you're in the budget, I think this could be the perfect lens for you.
Also there's the EF 17-40 f4L lens - which is somewhat in a similar range and somewhat cheaper than the EF-S 17-55 f2.8 IS, but I would only recommend this lens if you have plan to upgrade your camera to a full frame sensor.
Last but not least... I'm only confident to shoot in low light condition with flash, unless if I'm using a fast prime (fixed focal length/non-zoom) lens, and the built in flash is less than what most people expect so I would strongly recommend get an external flash (the 430EX should suffice, although I would prefer a 580EX II myself). If you decided to get the 17-55 f2.8, you probably will have to wait and save up until you have a budget to buy external flash. But the combination of the 17-55 and an external flash would give you an edge in low light photography.
Anyway, I hope this helps.
First of all be advised that the XTi has a 1.6x crop factor that make the 50mm looks like a 80mm lens in your camera and this goes to every lenses.
The 50mm f1.4 is an excellent lens that can handle low light condition very well, but it would be difficult for you to work on landscape and group portraits with this lens because of the fixed focal length. Sometimes you can work things out by walking towards/further from the object you want to shoot, but it may not always be possible.
The 70-200 f4 is excellent for portrait and wildlife photography, but again, for group photo it will be a little bit difficult to work with because it's a tele lens. If you have to shoot a large number of people in a relatively small space, you won't be able to shoot everyone in one frame because it's not wide enough.
Both lenses should be good for food photography though - and I'm sure you can use it in any condition.
So... what are the alternatives?
Wide angle lenses are perfect for group and landscape photography. And in this case, the kit lens (the 18-55mm f3.5-5.6) are in the perfect range. But of course you've heard about the quality of the lens, and if you wanted something better there are the EF-S 17-85 f4-5.6 IS which goes for about ~$500 (depending on merchant), which has perfect range and image stabilization to help you in low light condition. It's a good lens but if you wanted something better there's the EF-S 17-55 f2.8 IS - which I also use personally. It's razor sharp, it's fast and I can safely vouch for this piece of thing for its quality. The f2.8 ensure you to capture good picture in low light condition (although I would still recommend using flash, preferrably external flash) and the IS will help you even more. The only catch for this lens is the price - it goes for around ~$900. But since you're in the budget, I think this could be the perfect lens for you.
Also there's the EF 17-40 f4L lens - which is somewhat in a similar range and somewhat cheaper than the EF-S 17-55 f2.8 IS, but I would only recommend this lens if you have plan to upgrade your camera to a full frame sensor.
Last but not least... I'm only confident to shoot in low light condition with flash, unless if I'm using a fast prime (fixed focal length/non-zoom) lens, and the built in flash is less than what most people expect so I would strongly recommend get an external flash (the 430EX should suffice, although I would prefer a 580EX II myself). If you decided to get the 17-55 f2.8, you probably will have to wait and save up until you have a budget to buy external flash. But the combination of the 17-55 and an external flash would give you an edge in low light photography.
Anyway, I hope this helps.
explain mm camera lens?
tenny
i do not understand the mm specs
Answer
The "mm" spec tells you the focal length of the lens.
By itself, this doesn't mean much. But by comparing the mm spec, you get an idea what a camera with a particular lens would be good at.
Cameras with lenses below 40 mm are for "wide angle" pictures. The lower the mm number the wider the view through that lens. So a camera with a wide angle lens would be better for group portraits, or wide views of large objects (Grand Canyon), or whenever you need a wide view. The objects in these pics will look smaller, farther away than usual.
Cameras with lenses above 100 mm are for "telephoto" pictures. The higher the mm number the stronger the magnification or telescope effect. Cameras with these lenses are better for taking pictures of things farther away from you (a mountain) or for getting closeup of something you cannot get close to (a wild bird). The objects in these pics will look closer, bigger than normal.
Most digicams have "zoom" lenses where you see two numbers given for focal length, for example "35-105mm". This says the lens can change from 35mm (wide angle) all the way up to 105mm (telephoto). Since 35x3=105, this is called a "3x" zoom lens.
Using a camera with a 3x zoom lens allows you to choose between wide angle, and telephoto, and anything in between, for your pictures.
Have Fun!
The "mm" spec tells you the focal length of the lens.
By itself, this doesn't mean much. But by comparing the mm spec, you get an idea what a camera with a particular lens would be good at.
Cameras with lenses below 40 mm are for "wide angle" pictures. The lower the mm number the wider the view through that lens. So a camera with a wide angle lens would be better for group portraits, or wide views of large objects (Grand Canyon), or whenever you need a wide view. The objects in these pics will look smaller, farther away than usual.
Cameras with lenses above 100 mm are for "telephoto" pictures. The higher the mm number the stronger the magnification or telescope effect. Cameras with these lenses are better for taking pictures of things farther away from you (a mountain) or for getting closeup of something you cannot get close to (a wild bird). The objects in these pics will look closer, bigger than normal.
Most digicams have "zoom" lenses where you see two numbers given for focal length, for example "35-105mm". This says the lens can change from 35mm (wide angle) all the way up to 105mm (telephoto). Since 35x3=105, this is called a "3x" zoom lens.
Using a camera with a 3x zoom lens allows you to choose between wide angle, and telephoto, and anything in between, for your pictures.
Have Fun!
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