 Jerry A. Meadows |
Choosing a lense I'm using a Nikon D-300, What lense would best be used to capture images of a large group? 50-150 people....Please help. Jerry
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W. |
That depends on your distance to subject, your FoV, the local situation, and the effect you're after, Jerry. Have fun!
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Jerry A. Meadows |
A little more info. I only do this for the fun in it, and I love it! My mother's class reunion is in a month, and I would love to get a group shot of app. 150 people for her. Close enough to make out the people's faces - if possible.
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W. |
Do it outside, Jerry. Reconnoitre the venue a.s.a.p. – at the same time of day that the shoot will be – so you know a.s.a.p. what's possible and what isn't. Preparation is the name of the game! Pick a really high vantage point, like on a roof, or a 5th, 6th or even 7th floor balcony. You need sufficient distance-to-subject to prevent having to use wide angle which distorts faces and bodies very UNflatteringly! Ask the crowd to bunch up together (all standing!) and to look up at the camera, and shoot down onto them. Put the crowd with their backs to the sun to minimize squinting. Frame the scene using a zoom lens. Make the crowd say 'SEX' at the same time. If possible/available have 3 or 4 extra, powerful flash guns just outside your FoV providing fill-flash. Have fun!
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Pete H |
Jerry, Perhaps the lenses you have now will get the job done?
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Alan N. Marcus |
Hi Jerry, The Nikon D-300 (D3) sports an imaging digital sensor chip with 12.3 million light sensitive sites or pixels (12.3MP). A little research reveals the chip size used on this camera 15.8mm by 23.6mm. Using math we can calculate the diagonal measure of this rectangle. It is 28.3mm. Additionally the aspect ratio is 23.6 ÷ 15.8 = 1.5. This is important information because camera designers (you should too) use this data when making lens selection. First a “normal” lens is one with a focal length that about matches the diagonal. So, we round to 25mm. This tells me, if a 25mm focal length lens is mounted on this camera, the filed-of-view will about match the human experience. In this case math tells me that with a 25mm mounted the angle of view: 35.1° height 50.5° length 59.2° diagonal. The human experience (diagonal) is said to be 53° (controversial) which is what happens if we mount a lens that exactly matches the diagonal. It would be wise if you had to choose one zoom lens, to have its range center up on 25mm. Second a wide-angle is about 50% ~ 70% of normal. Thus math reveals the range as 17.5mm ~ 12.5mm. The shorter the wider the angle of view: For the 12.5mm the angle-of-view is 97.3° for the 17.5mm the angle of view is 78.1°. Likely anything shorter than 12.5mm will yield unusable distortion. Third a telephoto starts at 200% of normal and goes on to as long as you can afford. So the telephoto will likely cover 50mm ~ 300mm. incidentally if we divide a telephoto by 25 we get the magnification. Say you are shooting distant wildlife 500 yards away. Mount a 200mm ÷ 25 = 8x. That’s like using 8 power binoculars, now the subject appears to be only 60 yards away. Now for the group shot. Any lens will do. All you need do is back off (get further away) until the entire group is inscoped in the viewfinder. However, a wide angle will allow you to work in closer. This has its advantages as if your camera-to-subject distance is reasonable, you can give orders without shouting. I suggest setting you zoom somewhere around 20mm. Additionally a wide-angle yields increased depth-of-field, important if you arrange the people in rows. Tip: focus not on the middle row but on the next row closer to the camera. Depth-of-field carries further to the rear than it does forward of the focus point (distance). Be aware that most teachers and books and advisers are more familiar with lenses and their effects when mounted on a 35mm full frame camera (most all 35mm film and some high end digitals). This frame is 24mm by 36mm with a diagonal of 43.27. Your camera is 43.27 ÷ 28.3 = 1.5 meaning the 35mm is 1.5 times larger or stated another way you camera is 65% of this value. Thus if one of us old curmudgeons tells you a wide-angle is a 28mm you need to know if their frame of reference is the venerable 35mm, if so you divide what they say by 1.5 thus normal is 28mm ÷ 1.5 = 18mm (OK to round). Nobody said it’s easy! Good luck,
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Jerry A. Meadows |
Good idea/s W.S. The location has several levels of rooms with the walkways overlooking a nice clean field with little clutter. As for the details (thanks alan), Ive pasted them in my notes. Good stuff I would like to read more about. I respect the art of photography and hope to learn all I can, starting right here with your comments and suggestions. Thanks to all for the help! Jerry M.
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