Yay its my birthday :)

[DamianBPhoto]

For my birthday the Girlfriend is going to give me a fair amount of money towards a lens. So I have been thinking what lens do I want and need. I want it to shoot cars with so I want something nice and sharp with a nice apeture, quick and versatile. I was thinking of a Sigma 10-20mm but Do I want wide angle for car photos?

I will have about £350 to spend (could put more towards it) so what are some recomendations?

I have a Nikon D90 with kit lense and 50mm prime atm.

[Hairy Cornflake]

These are a few I recently took with my Sigma 10 - 20mm



600M from the top to the Fjord, this was at 16mm so still plenty to use!

This one at 20mm



Hope this helps you choose

[GetCarter]

10-20 not generally a car lens mind.

[4hero]

I like my Canon 10-22 for car shots. It is a bit limited (i.e. you have to be pretty close to the car to get anything decent), but a great, fun lens!













^ not the best shots in the world, it was just to show what it can do

p.s. happy belated birthday!

[B16JUS]

ive only got the baby d3000 but looking for the same sort of lense.

[//dean]

10-20 is way too wide for car stuff.

[B16JUS]

im still learning but the above shots look ok to me so why no good ?

the kit lense is a 18-55 so surly a lower lense with lower f numeber is better ?

also at a show etc chasces are you want to be close to the car so people can see your trying to get a shot and hopefully hold back

[DamianBPhoto]

//dean said:

10-20 is way too wide for car stuff.

Thats what i was thinking, theres quite a popular nikon zoom ive heard of, 55-200 is it? Quite like the quality of photos you get from that.

Have any recomendations Dean?

[DamianBPhoto]

4hero said:

I like my Canon 10-22 for car shots. It is a bit limited (i.e. you have to be pretty close to the car to get anything decent), but a great, fun lens!




p.s. happy belated birthday!

Thanks, but its not till next wednesday haha. See, I love the quality of those photos but its not very flexiable as you have said.

[4hero]

It's certainly not my walkabout lens Damian (I wanted to call my son Damian, my wife was having none of it ), but if you could get one to stick in the bag, I would highly recommend one!

[//dean]

DamianBPhoto said:

//dean said:

10-20 is way too wide for car stuff.

Thats what i was thinking, theres quite a popular nikon zoom ive heard of, 55-200 is it? Quite like the quality of photos you get from that.

Have any recomendations Dean?

I do, but you'll need an extra £1k min! I honestly do not know what lenses there are out there for that money, it's a been a while. If you're not fussed about zoom, go 50mm f/1.8 or the longer prime (think it's a 75?)

[AndWhyNot]

If you're at the next south coast meet Damian have a tinker with my 10-20. I agree it's generally too wide for car stuff although there are exceptions - mainly you'd need to learn how to minimise and correct the impact of distortion.

The next prime beyond the 50mm is 85mm f/1.8D at £300+ new and not much cheaper used. If you go the other way the 35mm f/2D is a belter for detail shots - love mine, despite slightly slow AF. Noisy too against a lens with SWM.

55-200 is still very much a consumer lens and whilst the reach may appeal I expect you'd be disappointed if you started trying to use it for motorsports or in low light. If you push your budget you might heave yourself into an early (and therefore used) Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 but make sure you try before you buy as age and use won't have done it any favours.

[DamianBPhoto]

50mm Prime? I've always been told its a bad lens for car photography because it is difficult to work with. I have to say I do like the quality of the Nikon 85mm though. Whats the average sort of distance I would need from the car to fit it all in frame?