I had the afternoon to myself so I went out with my new 50mm lens to try to get to grips with it... I took a drive down to Rainham bird reserve down by the Thames in Essex and took bundles of shots.
Most were not sharp and I was beginning to wander whether it wasn't me but was the lens... Thought I might have got a bum deal....
Got back to Sangeeta's and after looking on the net for ages, I finally found some useful instructions. Found out I need to look for a tiny green dot to appear (and stop flashing) when I look through the view finder that tells me I have reached the focus point... Why isn't this made clear in the instructions?!?!?!
Probably simple enough if you know what you are doing but new to me!!!
Anyhow... It all suddenly became clear - or rather - crisp and I could use the lens!!! Hurray!!!
So here's a pic of my better half... Thanks for my present :-)
lovely portrait! when I started using my manual 50mm lens the thing that took me the longest to learn was using the grid in my viewfinder to choose where the camera was focusing. Have fun with your new toy
Great portrait. I love my 50mm lens and use it all the time. I am still working with the focus point. I haven't mastered it yet...but I am getting better! Really enjoy this shot and wish you many more great shots.
this is lovely. as for lens, the cheap 50mm like the one i have requires careful focusing. when you're not used to such a narrow depth of focus it's very easy to have a bulk of out-of-focus shots. Try manually focussing or taking multiple shots, i'm sure you'll get better results.
Thanks so much everyone, your great comments are always very much appreciated :-).... @vikdaddy Lots of practice me thinks.. It's manual only on the D40 and D5000 so I'm prepared for many, many snaps straight to the recycle bin... @jonna Thanks.. As is typical she goes "Agghhhhhh I look so old!!" Women!!!!
@ellida ha ha... thought was about time I showed some respect :-) @canberrabec cheers :-)... nothing special, just upped the shutter speed in a dimly lit room and darkened slightly once converted to b&w.. more luck than judgement
Great shot...and only fitting that she be one of the first subjects of our 50mm photos. RE: the focus in your lens. I wonder if there is such a trick in all of these lenses. I have a Nikon D40 and I had purchased a Nikon 35mm 1.8 lens for it when I read that if it was an auto-focus, it was equivalent to a 50mm. I took my first couple of shots this Christmas http://365project.org/Swazzette/365/2011-01-01, but have had a hard time with the focusing. Very hard to tell if I'm getting it right or not. If I may ask, where did you find your tips about your lens?
@Swazzette hey Sue... thanks for all you wonderful comments :-)... I can't find the website I spotted the info about seeing the tiny green light stop flashing when focus is reached, but if you have your D40 manual, it's on page 28, section on "electonic range finder".. Hope that helps... Now off to practice again :-)
Love your better halfs name.....
@vikdaddy Lots of practice me thinks.. It's manual only on the D40 and D5000 so I'm prepared for many, many snaps straight to the recycle bin...
@jonna Thanks.. As is typical she goes "Agghhhhhh I look so old!!" Women!!!!
@canberrabec cheers :-)... nothing special, just upped the shutter speed in a dimly lit room and darkened slightly once converted to b&w.. more luck than judgement