 Jessica K. Cunningham |
Lenses- telephoto, dark I am pretty ignorant to many things about photography, and completely 'self teaching', so please help me :). I have a Canon 5D and a 20D for back-up. Last year I went into a camera store and asked for a lense that I could shoot long distances and not be too dark, and was sold a 70-200mm EF lens. I like the lense, however, it does not shoot near as far as I need it. I do a lot of pictures of ranch rodeos, team roping, and our cattle workings (though I am usually too busy working then to be able to get a shot, and have you ever tried to ride a horse and watch cattle with a big heavy camera around your neck? I almost had to see the chiropractor!) I like to get really close shots of details. I was wondering what you guys would recommend me getting. I don't understand how lenses are numbered, and don't know what other things to look for about them. I found this on the internet- Sigma EX - Telephoto zoom lens - 50 mm - 500 mm - Canon E. Sounds good to me, but I don't even know how to tell if it will go on my camera. The camera store is about 2 hours away, and I get very nervous going there because they don't give me options and I worry about what they are selling me. Thanks for any help I can get!!!! Jessica
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Mark Feldstein |
Henri Cartier Bresson, a prominent photojournalist once said words to the effect that: "If your work isn't good enough, you're not getting close enough." My suggestion isn't a longer lens beyond 200 mm, but a shorter one, like a 28 and get closer to your subjects. There are a lot of reasons for that. First, a longer lens, even in the 200 mm range, requires a faster shutter speed, often combined with a faster ISO to prevent images from being blurred from camera movement. Also, 200mm is a somewhat common focal length to use for things like shooting football games or some sports events from down on the sidelines on a monopod or even a tripod. You can't use either a tripod or monopod when saddled up on a horse. While you could go to a longer focal length, to get the strap at a working length to ride and conveniently shoot with, your lens barrel would probably be clunking on the side of the horse. I hear horses hate that. Besides, you don't seem to be an Annie Oakley type. There's a National Geographic Phototographer named William Albert Allard. He's done a number of extensive pieces on the West, cowboys, and modern life on everything from ranches to cattle drives. I know that he shot all his work on 35mm cameras using Kodachrome 64 and 200 ISO film, Leicas and some Nikons, using mainly very short, fast, wide-angle lenses from 21mm to 35mm or maybe up to 85mm on rare occasions. His work is absolutely pristine. He does this, as I said, by getting close not using larger lenses. As to the rest of your question, when you need to buy lenses, get clean used lenses, KEH.com, or if you really want new ones, once you're sure of what you want to get, go to bhphotovideo.com or call a sales rep at B&H in New York. If you want to know for sure which lenses will fit on your camera, check the manual or contact Canon and they'll be glad to tell you all about your lens mount. Look at Bill Allard's work. It's truly fantastic.
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- Carlton Ward Contact Carlton Ward Carlton Ward's Gallery |
Hi Jessica, I just wanted to add a couple of things about the camera's sensors, the 5D is a full frame camera so a 50mm lens is 50mm - where as the 20D has a 1.6 crop factor sensor so a 50mm lens is about 75mm. The cropped sensor adds length which is good if you need a litte more reach but not preferable for wide angle shots. The 5D is the better camera but if you need the reach, use the 20D. I also have a Canon 100-400mm f/4.5 L IS which is a heavy lens and it is a bit of a light hog (needing good light or higher ISO settings) but I have taken some fantastic images with this lens. Here is more info about cropped sensors - http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/crop-factor.htm Good Luck - Carlton
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Alan N. Marcus |
Hi Jessica, How lenses are numbered concerning magnification: The camera lens works by projecting a tiny image of the outside world onto a screen inside the camera. The screen is not allowed to see this image except for a brief moment. As the light plays on the screen, exposure occurs. Lenses are available in different lengths. Telephoto lenses are long; they extend far beyond the front of the camera. The length of the lens is traditionally measured in millimeters. We can convert to inches, 25.4mm = 1 inch so a 400mm lens sits about 16 inches forward of the screen as measured from about the middle of the lens barrel. We call this measurement the focal length. The screen is the surface of the digital chip inside the camera. The longer the lens, the stronger the magnification it yields. As a rule of thumb, 50mm is considered normal for the 5D. Normal means the magnifications is about the same as the human experience. If you mounted a 400mm the magnification increases. A 400mm lens on the 5D is about equivalent to the view through a pair of 8 power binoculars. Stated another way each 50mm increase in focal length is about a 2x change in power. Another way to say this is; if you are looking a cow 1000 feet away, the view with a 50mm lens is the normal view. Mount a 400mm focal length and the cow now appears magnified at about the same view you would see from the 125 foot position. Long lenses magnify, they allow imaging (magnification) from a distance. Since the 50mm lens provides a normal view, a shorter than 50mm lens gives a view that is much like looking through binoculars backwards. The images of objects are tiny however the view is wide. We call these short focal length lenses wide-angel. They are valuable for landscapes and inside when we can’t back up to envelope the entire vista with a normal lens. For the 5D: For the 20D: Now most modern lenses are not fixed focal lengths. They are zoom lenses meaning the magnification is changeable by the user. The 100 ~ 400 mm magnifies in the range 2x thru 8x on the 5D. The same lens mounted on the 20D magnifies 3.2x thru 12.8x. Keep in mind that once the picture is taken, you can use your imaging editing software on the computer and crop the picture. Using a computer with good imaging editing software is likely just as important as magnification on the camera. Nobody said it’s easy! Alan Marcus (marginal technical gobbledygook)
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Pete H |
Jessica, Apicture is still worth a thousand words. "not too dark" only means the camera is underexposing. It has little to do with the lens.That being said, action photography requires higher shutter speeds compared to non or slow moving objects. So, to get a high magnification AND fast shutter speeds, you need what many of us refer to as "Fast Glass" or a lens with a large aperture (opening) to allow a ton of light in. The better ones are often expensive to the amateur.
Pete
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karen hogan |
My Canon 40D with its 17-85 IS lens is okay for close, but my Canon 75-300 IS f4-5.6 lens isn't up to the job. I'm looking at the Canon EF f2.8 70-200 IS, but am in sticker shock over the $1,500++ price tag. Both Sigma and Tamron have similar lenses for about 1/2 the cost, but do you get what you pay for? Does anyone have any experience with either and have a recommendation?
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