Help choosing a lens

[325Ti]

Thanks for all the replies

I've decided to get a flash first, play with it and the settings in the camera more then look to get a lens in a month or two when funds allow - still not decided on 35 or 50 yet

Ordered my YN560 last night - bit nervous that I'll not be able to work it due to the manual controls but all the reviews were so positive I decided to give it a go

[conkerman]

I have a D90 and a SB600.

Most of the time I use my Nikon 18-200. Once they start moving the extra reach really helps. I only rarely use the 50mm F1.8.

As said above, 90% of it is lighting, although I sometimes use the speedlight and camera flash for more staged shots of the kids.

[Simpo Two]

325Ti said:

Ordered my YN560 last night - bit nervous that I'll not be able to work it due to the manual controls but all the reviews were so positive I decided to give it a go

I see the zoom head is also manual - remember to use that to match the lens focal length you use because it will affect the flash spread and therefore the light intensity across the camera's field of view.

Your camera probably won't know it has a flash on top so will carry on regardless - you may therefore have to use that on manual (exposure) as well.

[NormalWisdom]

eltawater said:

I'm actually selling my 35mm in the near future as my Tamron 17-50 2.8 has made it redundant...

This indeed - I have a Sigma 17-50 f2.8 and I rarely use anything else for portrait/landscape stuff - Only £310 new from WEX and even cheaper on eBay.

[ExPat2B]

Good choice on the flash.

One hint - you don't need to use it in full manual mode. One easy way to use it mounted on the body in a semi auto fashion is to put the camera in aperture priority mode, set largest aperture available.

Then set the exposure compensation down approx one full stop.

Then manually push the ISO up from 100 until the shutter speed is at about 1/160.

Then set the flash on about half/quarter power, with the head rotated backwards so it bounces off the ceiling.

In this way the flash will provide about a stop of light and the camera is automatically exposing about 1 stop too low, which should result in an exposure that is correct enough. Good enough for point and shoot work indoors. You may have to manually adjust the flash power after the first shot in order to nail it. Shoot in RAW in order to give yourself a little latitude with exposure.

You have to watch that the light doesn't get brighter and push the shutter speed to above 1/200 as the camera won't sync any faster than that. The number 200 will flash in the view finder or on the back info display if this occurs. If this happens, drop the iso, or increase aperture.

[Simpo Two]

Or to summarise:

[james_tigerwoods]

You've gone for the flash, which is a good call. However, I'd have considered the 18-70 which is a better lens (and inexpensive from eBay) - Then a flash (An SB600 for example) and then the 35mm 1.8

Which is what I did except I got the flash first as directing the flash up or around is handy, then the 18-70 then the 35mm.

I tried the 50mm as I wanted it for the kids, but I found I had to be so much further away and as I would be in a room with them, it just didn't stack up.

[ecsrobin]

Id go with the 35mm on a crop sensor the 50mm is just too far away for most instances around the house.

[325Ti]

Well I got my flash and as expected it's taking a while to get my head around it.

I've sorted out manual mode and the different strengths of flash

My biggest problem is my 1 year doesn't stand still - the camera seems slower with the flash and a lot of my photos are coming out blurry.

I've found using multi flash and sport mode on the camera helps things.

Also when trying to bounce the flash off the ceiling should I use the reflector card or the diffuser cap?

[Simpo Two]

I use the card because that kees all the light forward. IMHO diffuser caps waste power by spraying it all round.

On blurriness, the flash is likely only to synch with the shutter at speeds of 1/200th or below. So I'd start with that, and don't use 'modes' - your camera has no idea there's a flash on it and the flash has no idea what the camera is thinking, so as I've said before you're in manual land now. Manual flash power, manual exposure.

[Moonhawk]

Simpo Two said:

I suggested 50mm over 35mm as if you're doing portraits it gives you a bit more distance to subject and a nicer perspective. But it's up to you; 35mm would be a better general purpose lens for your camera.

Yep - it's amazing how different a person can look simply because of the focal length of the lens.



I wouldn't shoot a portrait with anything less than 50mm - unless I was going for a distinctive look.

[Mr Will]

Moonhawk said:

Simpo Two said:

I suggested 50mm over 35mm as if you're doing portraits it gives you a bit more distance to subject and a nicer perspective. But it's up to you; 35mm would be a better general purpose lens for your camera.

Yep - it's amazing how different a person can look simply because of the focal length of the lens.



I wouldn't shoot a portrait with anything less than 50mm - unless I was going for a distinctive look.

Bear in mind that a 35mm lens on the OP's camera will give the same perspective as a 52mm lens on full frame. it's just long enough but not great.

[ExPat2B]

If you want to freeze motion with a flash, the best trick is to make sure the only light on the sensor is from the flash. So you need to be in manual mode, f5.6 to f8, shutter speed 1/200. ISO 100 - If you take a picture without the flash it should be almost completely black.

How the trick works is that the light from the flash actually last less than 1/200 of a second. So it gives you an effective shutter of more like 1/1000.

Variations on this trick have been used to capture hummingbirds in flight so a moving child is no problem.

[rottie102]

Doesn't the flash have High Speed Sync mode?

[Moonhawk]

Mr Will said:

Bear in mind that a 35mm lens on the OP's camera will give the same perspective as a 52mm lens on full frame. it's just long enough but not great.

Depends - at the same distance from the camera, the perspective is a function of the true focal length of the lens. A crop sensor merely crops the image to give the impression of 52mm - it doesn't compress the perspective like a true 52mm lens would.

Of course on a crop sensor you would have to be further away from the subject to fill the frame - and increasing the distance would cause the perspective to become compressed.

Taking a picture on a camera with a crop sensor is no different to taking the same image (i.e. same distance to subject, same focal length) with a full frame - then cropping manually afterwards in photoshop. I have actually done this experiment with my 30D and 5Dmk2.

Edited by Moonhawk on Monday 13th October 10:50

[Mr Will]

rottie102 said:

Doesn't the flash have High Speed Sync mode?

HSS is pointless unless you are trying to use the flash somewhere brightly lit - fill flash on a sunny day for example.

There are two easy options for freezing motion when using a flash.

First, stick the camera in shutter priority (S/Tv), the flash to i-TTL/ETTL and select the fastest shutter speed your camera can sync (usually about 1/200). The camera will use the flash to light the subject then adjust the aperture to allow some ambient light. The extremely fast flash exposure will freeze almost anything, although you may get slight trails from the ambient exposure with very fast moving objects.

If that's not enough then expat2b's advice works well. Stick the camera to manual and underexpose to kill the ambient light. Once you've done that, turn the flash back on in i-TTL/ETTL and shoot as normal. If you are scared by the idea of manual mode then remember that it's only the camera that is in manual here, the flash is still in automatic and will turn itself up or down accordingly to maintain the correct exposure without you having to interfere.

[Simpo Two]

Mr Will said:

HSS... i-TTL/ETTL

Are you quite sure the OP's flash has these? I understood it to be fully manual.

I think my advice would be to sell it and buy a s/h Nikon SB600 - which will talk to the camera and make his life a whole lot easier.

[Mr Will]

Moonhawk said:

Depends - at the same distance from the camera, the perspective is a function of the true focal length of the lens. A crop sensor merely crops the image to give the impression of 52mm - it doesn't compress the perspective like a true 52mm lens would.

Of course on a crop sensor you would have to be further away from the subject to fill the frame - and increasing the distance would cause the perspective to become compressed.

Taking a picture on a camera with a crop sensor is no different to taking the same image (i.e. same distance to subject, same focal length) with a full frame - then cropping manually afterwards in photoshop. I have actually done this experiment with my 30D and 5Dmk2.

Perspective is a function of distance alone, the focal length (true or equivalent) has no effect. If it did the photos taken at 10mm on my Canon S110 would have some very odd looking faces in them...

As you say, a crop sensor will force you to stand further away to achieve the same framing so it will give you the same perspective as a longer lens on a full frame camera. A headshot taken with a 52mm lens on full frame will have exactly the same perspective and compression as a headshot taken with a 35mm lens on a crop camera. This is one of the occasions where equivalent focal lengths DO matter.

[325Ti]

well im stil trying to learn the flash

thanks for the advice about playing with shutter speeds - not something id done before - as stated im new to all this

i had always tried it in appature mode before - probably where my problems were coming from

shutter speed around 100 seems best and cuts out all the blur etc

below is a random shot from earlier when i was messing about - all advice is welcome about improvments

taken on a Nikon D3100 with 18-55 lens and a 560 flash

[Simpo Two]

The light is even, but at a guess I'd say you're about 2.5 stops underexposed. Either open the aperture, turn the flash power up or, if those two are maxed out, increase ISO.

Use the histogram to judge exposure as you go, then you can make the required correction immediately and get the shot.