BetterPhoto Member |
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Youth Photography
I would like to take individual and group shots of youth sports, such as baseball, football, basketball etc. I have a Canon Rebel G and a tripod. Would I need to use a medium format camera instead of the 35 mm to keep my enlargements from being too grainy or will a 35 mm be sufficient? What type of lens would I need to get a close up of the group shots that I would take? Do I need a wide angle lens for this? I would appreciate any advice on this.
September 10, 2000
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Chuck |
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Teach3ret, 35mm if handled properly will work just fine. If you do your own processing and printing you have the best control. If not, find a good lab and have them run some tests for you. Remember, there 3 things that will louse up a picture--bad focus--camera movement--bad exposure. Use fine grain film. You can graduate to a medium format with the money you make with your 35mm...21/4 or 6x7 is better than 35mm...4x5 is better than 21/4 or 6x7...8x10 is better than 4x5, and it all has to be handled properly. Best to you
Chuck
September 13, 2000
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Jorge Felix |
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35mm format is always ok if you use slide film.
If you need to use print film, ISO 200 is the top speed. You can make prints up to 30x40 cm without noticeable grain.
Try a lens in the range 35 - 50 mm.Regards,
Jorge Felix
September 14, 2000
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John A. Lind |
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30x40cm is about 11x16 inches and I've found that to be the practical limit for good 35mm format prints. You can also try 35mm for a 16x20 print, but a decent medium format will usually look better. Try 35mm first and see what happens. Medium format is expensive, larger, heavier, and film handling isn't as convenient. Considerations for large prints:
(1) The detail level has to get through the lens to the film.
(2) The detail level has to get captured by the film.
(3) The detail level has to get from the negative (or transparency) to the print. Lens considerations:
Primes (single focal length) in general have higher resolution and better contrast than zooms. There are a few zooms that approach the performance of primes, but they must be selected carefully and are typically expensive. Focus very carefully and watch depth of field closely. For large prints, the depth of field will narrow some. This is because it is based on what is perceived by the viewer of a print to be in and out of focus. The larger the print, the more something slightly out of focus will appear out of focus. Use a wide-angle only if you must because you cannot back away far enough from the group to fit them all in. If you have to use a 50mm or shorter, don't let anyone's head get near an edge. Corners are especially bad. The edges and corners can give an unnatural perspective to a person's head and make it look distorted. Most wide-angles also have some falloff on the edges and especially in the corners. The shorter the focal length, the worse these problems can be. I recommend using a 75mm-100mm lens if at all possible. This will reduce edge and corner problems, allowing more of the frame to be filled with people. This isn't a flaw with any lens, it's how a rectilinear lens maps a flat plane in space to a flat plane of film by preserving angles, not areas. How light travels through a wide-angle's glass and aperture diaphragm also creates the falloff issue. Film considerations:
Use one of the slower, extremely fine grained films, such as Royal Gold 100, Reala (ISO 100), or a professional film such as Portra 160. The slower, extremely fine grain slide films such as Kodachrome 64, Elitechrome 100 or Astia (100) will also work, but the printing cost will be much higher from them. I don't recommend any of the high saturation chromes (Elitechrome Extra Color or Fuji Velvia) which can make skin tones look unnatural. Technique:
Use a tripod and cable release for anything bigger than an 8x10. With the best lenses and films, the limiting factor in making the negative (transparency) becomes camera shake. This can also free you up for watching the composition of the group better. The rule of thumb is about one frame per person in the group until you get to about a half dozen. If it's a group of children, they can squirm around a lot! Printing:
Find a good printer who can extract the most detail out of a negative or transparency in a large print. If you know any other photographers in your area who routinely have large prints done, take an informal poll and ask them who does it best. Good luck, and most of all have fun doing it! -- John
September 17, 2000
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