Do some of the camera settings intimidate you? Do you want to learn how to develop your photography skills and learn how to use your camera effectively without always going back to the “auto” function? These challenges are for you!
These are designed for those experienced photographers to share their knowledge with others who are anxious to learn and improve their skills. We are going to do something a little different for this next challenge. We will be discussing the various different types of lenses. This challenge will last two weeks, like the other challenges. Starting July 20, 2015 and ending on August 2, 2015.
We’ll start with some basic descriptions:
Prime Lens
A “prime” lens has a fixed focal length. Because the construction of a “prime” lens is less complex, image quality tends to be clean and sharp. The lenses are usually lighter in weight and you have more choices in maximum aperture. “Prime” lenses come in a variety of focal lengths from 14mm wide angle to 800mm telephoto. Commonly referenced “prime” lenses are the 50mm f/1.4 and the 105mm f/2.8 macro.
Zoom Lens
A “zoom” lens works across a range of focal lengths. “Zoom” lenses are more portable (carry one lens instead of two or three). They also can be more flexible (you don’t have to keep changing lenses). Aperture on a “zoom” lens can be fixed or non-fixed. A 24-70mm f/2.8 has a fixed maximum aperture of f/2.8. A 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6 will have a maximum aperture of f/3.5 at 16mm and a maximum aperture of f/5.6 at 85mm. So the 28-70mm would be considered to be a “faster” lens than the 16-85mm.
Article on Lenses
http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/camera-lenses.htm
Focal Length Ranges
Less than 21mm - Extreme Wide Angle - Architecture, Landscape
21-35mm - Wide Angel - Landscape
35-70mm - Normal - Street, Documentary
70-135mm - Medium Telephoto - Portraiture
135-300mm+ - Telephoto - Sports, Wildlife, Birding
Ultra Wide and Wide Angle Lenses
1. Barrel Distortion can be an issue. Can be corrected in post processing but you will have to crop.
2. Get close. Best used with prominent foreground objects.
3. Extra caution is necessary when using a wide angle for portraits.
4. Best shots when vanishing point is at horizon, not above or below. This minimizes distortion.
Here is a great article on using a wide angle lens.
http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/wide-angle-lenses.htm
Normal Lenses
1. Described as a “walk around” lens
2. Good for street photography.
3. Good for portraits (especially 50mm and 85mm prime lenses).
4. Zoom lenses like the 18-135mm or 24-105mm work well as “walk around” lenses because they are wide enough to use for landscape and are long enough for portraiture.
Telephoto Lenses
1. Makes distant objects look larger and closer
2. Candid portraits – a little extra distance helps for more natural candid shots.
3. Animal behavior can also change when you approach too close.
Another article on using a Telephoto Lens.
http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/telephoto-lenses.htm
Macro Lenses
1. A Macro lens is defined as being capable of achieving 1:1 magnification.
2. Macro lenses come in many different focal lengths, from 40mm up to 200mm.
3. The shorter focal lengths are great for flowers and other non-living objects. A longer focal length makes it easier to photograph insects and other living creatures.
4. Lighting can be an issue, especially with the shorter focal lengths. The minimum focus distance of a 40mm macro is about 4” in front of the lens. On camera flash generally does not work well at that distance.
5. Depth of Field can also be very shallow. Using a 105mm macro at the minimum focus distance (12”) and f/8 will have a dof of 1/10”. So higher apertures are sometimes needed.
Article on Macro Lenses
http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/macro-lenses.htm
Fisheye Lenses
1. There are two types of fisheye lenses. Full Frame (canon 15mm fisheye, nikon 16mm fisheye) and Circular fisheye (lensbaby circular fisheye). In a full frame the image fills the frame and a circular fisheye produces a round image with a black border.
2. Symmetrical images work great.
3. Get as close as you can.
4. Remember that the lens is ultra wide angle, check to make sure you did not end up in the image.
5. If possible shoot RAW. Extreme wide angle lenses can produce images with high degrees of contrast.
6. Fisheye lenses can be used for landscapes just remember to keep horizon near the middle of the frame and limit straight lines (trees or buildings will emphasize the circular distortion). You can also crop out the center of the image for panoramas (there is less distortion in the middle section of the image).
7. Fisheye lenses are about creativity, don’t be afraid to break the rules.
Article on Fisheye lenses
http://www.digitalcameraworld.com/2013/08/05/camera-lenses-explained-how-to-get-sharp-photos-using-fisheye-lenses/
Tilt-Shift or Perspective Control Lenses
1. Perspective control lenses were designed to expand the normal limits of perspective and depth of field. Shift movements allow the lens to shift, up and down or side to side, to increase the image circle. Tilt movements allow the photographer to tilt the plane of focus so it no longer lies perpendicular to the axis.
2. Correcting converging verticals. This is useful for architectural photographers
3. Both Canon and Nikon PC lenses will shift approximately 11mm in each direction. This allows you to take a panorama without changing the perspective.
4. You can shift the lens to avoid obstructions (like a fence) or avoid getting your reflection in the shot.
5. The most common tilt function is the “miniature” effect. This produces a very shallow dof.
6. A sideways tilt produces a sharp focus on one side of the image and a very soft focus on the other side of the image.
7. You can also tilt the focus plane so that it follows an object across the image.
8. The cost of PC lenses are a limiting factor. Nikon’s PC lenses cost around $2000 and Canon ranges from $1400 - $2000. The least expensive were Bower and Rokinon at $700
A couple of articles:
http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/tilt-shift-lenses1.htm
http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/tilt-shift-lenses2.htm
http://www.digitalcameraworld.com/2013/10/30/tilt-shift-photography-how-to-use-1-lens-for-6-different-effects/
Challenges
1. The first part of this challenge is to just take photos and post them. Tell us
what lens you used? What do you like about the lens? What do you not like
about the lens?
2. The second part of the challenge is to allow everyone to ask questions about
lenses they are interested in. Hopefully someone in our group will have the
lens and be able to answer questions.
How to post your photo to this discussion:
1) Go to your page that has the photo you wish to post.
2) Click on the three dots, and copy the code from the pop up box.
3) Return to this thread and paste the code under comments.
This challenge is set up to be more of a discussion/informational session for everyone. If you own a lens that someone is interested in please jump in and tell everyone about your lens. If you have a favorite lens tell us about it. If you have a lens you dislike tell us that also.
I hope everyone enjoys this challenge. Join the discussion and have fun shooting.
Laura
I have tried to format the links but have not been able to get them to work. You will have to copy and paste them.
At the moment I only have the 18-55mm zoom lens that came with my camera. I also have two lenses from film cameras, the one is the 50mm Rokkor of my old Minolta (f 1.7, if I remember correctly) and the other is a really old telephoto lens, 250mm. I don't remember the brand, I will have to check it at home, but I think it's Tokyo-Tokina?
I have been wanting to buy an adapter ring for my 50mm Rokkor. I am not sure if it's a good idea though. Any opinions on using film camera's lenses on a DSLR?
@nitrogene I would buy a prime lens for your Nikon - they are relatively cheap and excellent. I have the 50mm 1.8G and it is great to use. Will focus automatically on your camera as well. The 35mm is also supposed to be very good but I have no experience of it. Seriously the 50mm is a great lens.
I have photographed a number of births now and pretty much used this lens exclusively, at very wide (if not maximum) apertures, and have not had an issue with the sharpness. I'm not sure if it's that my standards/expectations have risen since the last one, but with the maternity shoots I've done recently I've been really disappointed with the softness of the focus. I suspect it has something to do with the distance from the subject - that within 3-4 metres or so, focus is sharp even at wide apertures, but at 10 or 15 metres (or more) away it's either front-focussing or just extremely soft, even at f/3.2 or thereabouts. Any ideas?
Here's an example of one I'm happy with:
(Exif not showing: 1/125s f/2.5 ISO 2500)
And one I'm not (love the shot, just disappointed with lack of sharpness):
@nitrogene As @spanner suggested, a "fast" 35 or 50 f/1.8 lens would serve you well in low light. Personally, I find "adapters" for Nikon cameras don't work terribly well, and you won't have Auto Focus. Both lenses are great value, I would find the 35 more useful than the 50mm on your "cropped sensor" camera, but the 50mm would be more suitable if you are seriously into portraits. The "kit" zoom lens of course gives you these lengths, but are not "fast."
@aliha You could try recalibrating the auto focus for this lens and your camera combination, or have it done for you. I don't know exactly where on the Canon menus you'll find this, but check your manual or browse through the menu system.
Here is one shot taken with Nikkor AF-S DX 12-24mm f/4 IF ED.
From the description you can tell this is a DX lens (optimized for DX format). In full frame 35mm format this translates to 18-36mm. Even if I use this on a full frame body it will still be an 18-36mm lens. So in the shot below the lens was set to 12mm but the camera body cropped the image to 18mm.
This first shot shows the image before I corrected for the barrel distortion. You can see quite a bit of distortion of the tree on the left but on the right you can see distortion of the building.
This is the same image but after I corrected the distortion in Camera RAW. You can see I also had to crop the image.
@aliha I shoot Nikon so I went to DPReview to get some information.
The quote below is from their review of the lens. So it does appear softness is an issue wide open.
"At F1.4, the lens is quite sharp in the centre but distinctly soft across much of the rest of the frame. However it improves rapidly on stopping down, with the centre excellent by F2, and the corners catching up at F4. Optimum results are obtained between F5.6 and F11, where it gives superb sharpness right across the frame; stopping down further gives a gradual reduction in sharpness due to diffraction."
Another quote from further in the review:
"Our studio tests show that this lens is not at its best at wide apertures on full-frame; central resolution is relatively low, and the corners extremely soft and subject to significant darkening through vignetting. However in this regard it's also important to appreciate that with the extremely small depth of field afforded by a 50mm F1.4 lens, and assuming a reasonably centrally-placed subject, the likelihood of any object in the corners of the frame being remotely in focus is in fact minimal, and corner resolution therefore near-irrelevant."
I get a little confused when talking about the focal lengths as I'm not sure how it compares with my camera.
I use a lumix GH4 camera which is a micro four thirds camera.
The lense which I tend to use most is the 12-35mm lense and my other is a 45-200mm.
Are the focal lengths mentioned above for a full frame camera and how do the compare with a micro four thirds?
I'm also thinking of purchasing a prime lense for landscape photography. Any suggestions for my camera?
I used my new Nikkon 70-300 f/4.5. It replaced my old 55-300 f/4.5 which broke after 8 years of hard use, I think too much dirt and dust got inside from too many softball games! Anyway, I did a lot of research, upgraded from what I had and I honestly could not believe the difference in the quality of my shots! Wow! I was so impressed I bought a new prime lens too!
@spanner@frankhymus@camerasavvy
Thank you very much for taking the time to comment. So I think I'd better start saving up to get a prime lens. The Sigma 18-250mm that Frank suggested looks amazing, but I am leaning towards getting a fixed length lens. I will have a look at the 35mm, since I am not really doing a lot of portraits.
Thank you again for the suggestions, that was very helpful!
@aliha - YES! And I just decided to ditch that lens after having it fixed twice by Canon and I'm going for the 1.8 instead. When that 1.4 worked, it was a fabulous favorite, but I have no other lens that fails to focus as often as that one does. Favorite and Frustrating.
@deborah63 Hi Debbie. I am not familiar with your camera so I did a little research. The focal length multiplier is 2x. That means, in 35mm terms, your 12-35mm acts like a 24-70mm and your 45-200mm acts like a 90-400mm.
My next question would be "why are you looking for a prime for landscape photography?'
I will look at some reviews today/tonight. I see that Panasonic and Olympus use the same mount for their 4/3 cameras. Looking at choices from Panasonic, if you want prime, 15mm would be the best. Dpreview does not have any review on this lens so I checked personal reviews at Amazon and it has all good reviews there.
Oh yay! I have a lens question I've been wanting to ask.
Does anybody have Sigma's 50mm full macro lens for canon? Are you happy with it? Do I even want a full macro with my asp-c sensor (rebel t3i)?
In the past I considered the canon compact macro (goes up to 0.5x magnification), but then I realized that was only a little more than my kit lens (0.34x when zoomed to 55mm) plus its close up filters.
The price is similar for the sigma 1.0x macro or the canon 0.5x macro.
I do love taking photos of little things, though I haven't been at it much lately.
@lstasel@deborah63 It's not quite a simple as a simple times-2 (the full frame linear dimensions twice the GH4 sensor size). The long side is, but the short side (height) is a little less, since the aspect ratio of the full frame sensor is 3:2 and that of the micro four thirds sensor is (not surprisingly) 4:3. So the area of the GH4 sensor is a little more than 1/4 of the full 35mm frame. Here's a picture that might help showing the relative sizes of various sensors.
The important ones are the full frame, the APS-C (Cannon) and APS-C (everyone else). The 1 inch sensor size is found in many fixed lens "bridge" cameras, and the tiny ones in cell phones.
So your GH4 crams its 16mp into a 225 square millimeters, the Nikon D7200 puts its 24mp into 370 square millimeters and the Canon 5DR puts its 50mp into 864 square millimeters. Actually a little less than 864 for real world digital full frame cameras, but close enough to the ideal. A lens of the same focal length will cast a circle with the same proportions over them all, but you can see how the smaller sensors have the image "cropped" just like if you would take the full frame and crop it down with an editor, and then make a print of each of the same size, you can see how the "cropped sensor" cameras have an image that looks "closer" - like you used a longer focal length over the whole frame. Which of course you didn't.
I hope I didn't confuse the issue, but if you just stare at the picture, you should get what all this "sensor size" stuff is about.
@bsheppard If you really like taking shots of "small" subjects, then go for a proper macro "close focus" (1:1 at the widest aperture). Your APS-C camera will "magnify" the frame even more - actually cropping away at the full frame, so using a "full frame" macro lens on a cropped sensor camera can give you (apparent) 1:1 results at narrower f/stops with a lot less effort. Go for the Sigma...
@frankhymus@camerasavvy@jyokota Thanks guys. Yes I've googled it before and it appears to be a pretty common issue with this lens. I wondered about recalibrating Frank but since it works so well at short distances I'm not sure if that is the right thing to do? It's only since doing these couple of outdoor portrait sessions (at longer distances) that I've noticed a problem - occasionally I get a hit but many more misses.
@camerasavvy Thanks for the information about Lens basics..it has helped alot.
I have a Canon 700d which came with two lens - EFS 18-55mm and EFS 55-250mm
This shot was taken using my 18-55mm lens
This shot taken using 55-250mm lens
As I am a learner, I am happy with my lens and the pictures it takes, especially travelling around Australia. But as read everyone's questions & comments especially about full frame & crop sensor I am getting totally confuse so I will stick to my learning.
As I take alot of landscape photography, I would love to have a wide angle lens. I am looking at Canon EF-S 10-18mm f4.5-5.6. IS STM.
What do you think?
Thanks for your time. Lee-Ann
@frankhymus Great information Frank. The pictures definitely help in visualizing.
About @aliha issue. I can't remember if this is correct? The center focus points are better than the outer focus points? Would focus and recompose work or am I not understanding how this works?
@deborah63
I did some research last night. I found 3 lenses that look promising.
Lumix G Leica DG Summilux 15mm f/1.7 $599.00
Lumix G 14mm f/2.5 ASPH II $299
Lumix G Vario 7-14mm f/4 ASPH $900
The first two are similar in focal length. The Leica is "faster" but slightly less wide angle. It is larger but has an aperture ring. More expensive. Both lenses get really good reviews, both from users and the professional review sites.
I included the zoom lens because of the ultra wide capability. It is definitely more expensive but also got really good reviews.
Some ideas for you to think about. Still hoping someone has these lenses and can comment for you.
@frankhymus@camerasavvy
Thanks Frank / Laura.. I think I'm closer to understanding now..
If I was looking for an equivalent to a 'nifty 50', I should be looking for a 25mm in a micro four thirds lens?
@leestevo Thanks for joining the discussion Lee-Ann. Wonderful shots with both of your lenses.
I looked at both the 10-18mm and the 10-22mm. The 10-22mm is more expensive, longer focal length and "faster". You don't need the 18mm to 22mm because you already have those focal lengths. The "faster" apertures can come in handy in low light. From the reviews most of the people were referencing astrophotography for needing the extra speed.
I think the 10-18mm would be a good choice for you. You will have good coverage from 10mm-250mm.
Hopefully some of the Canon users will see our discussion and help out with recommendations.
@Istasel
Thanks for info on Wide angle lenses.
The one I have at the moment is 12-35mm / f2.8.. Which I am really happy with fir landscape, but I was thinking that it would be good to have a wider angle lens to fit more in. On reflection maybe it's best to stick with what I have until I know more about what I'm doing.
@camerasavvy Yes Laura that is exactly what I do but I suspect it's also an issue of things in the centre of the frame being crisper than those more toward the edges. At any rate it's not an issue up close, only far away ...
This was taken with my Canon EFS 10-22mm Wide Angle. It has taken a bit to get used to using it. I now know that if I want something in the foreground then I virtually have to be standing beside it when I am using this lens. It was a bit weird to get used to because with my eye I can see things quite easily at say 1 - 2m away, but this lens makes them tiny little spots in the photo. I have learnt how to compensate now.
One suggestion I have is to hire a lens before you buy it. I hired 2 lens for 7 days for about $110. Then played with them for the week to make sure I liked them & could use them before I outlaid big bucks to buy them
These 4 shots were taken with a Micro-Nikkor 105mm AF-S VR f/2.8 G IF-ED. Nikon refers to their "macro" lenses as "micro" lenses, not sure why. The minimum focus distance on this lens is 12". I took 4 shots at different apertures so you all could see how aperture affects dof on a macro/micro lens
#1 f/3.0
#2 f/5.6
#3 f/8
#4 f/36
I love this lens. I have one minor issue with the lens. At 12" the auto focus does not work well. I say a minor issue because at that distance I rarely use the auto focus.
My sister has the Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro. I know she is happy with hers as well.
@lstasel The "crown jewel" of the 100 or 105 f/2.8 macro lenses is the Sigma f/2.8 105. I have shot a little with it, rental, and would direct your attention to publications like N-Photo (a Nikon publication) and Canon magazine from the same publisher, I forget its name, both of which recommend the Sigma 105 over the Nikon and Canon "equivalents." About the same price, a little less expensive but not much.
Here's another shot with by 10-22mm, I am getting better at putting something in the foreground. Here I was about 15cm from the track and level with it.
@leestevo Hi Lee-Ann, I have a Canon EF-S 10-18mm f4.5-5.6. IS STM. I got it earlier this year. I have posted a couple of photos above. Here are three more.
I really like this lens, it took a while to get used to it as I mentioned above. I was quite close to the Lifesavers Flag in the photo below, but it looks further away than what I was. I was about 50cm away from the Fire Hydrant in the last photo & I could actually have reached out and touched it.
Once you get used to putting something close in the foreground it adds a whole new dimension to the photo. I really like this lens.
@jennymallett As you say, a big strong object in the foreground can really make such wide angle shots come to life, the exaggerated perspective can add significant interest and some tension to a frame. I do like the factory/rail shot particularly...
The opposite, wide empty foreground, can also be effective to suggest calm, repose, stability, your first beach shot posted July 26.
@jennymallett Thanks Jenny for information about your wide angle lens and your photos are amazing especially your water/ rocks photo. These are the sort of photos I would love to take and of course landscape photos.
Thanks
@lstasel@frankhymus@leestevo Thanks everyone. Glad I could be of some help Lee-Ann. Laura, I didn't do any corrections for distortion - I actually don't even know how to do that!
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I have been wanting to buy an adapter ring for my 50mm Rokkor. I am not sure if it's a good idea though. Any opinions on using film camera's lenses on a DSLR?
Here's an example of one I'm happy with:
(Exif not showing: 1/125s f/2.5 ISO 2500)
And one I'm not (love the shot, just disappointed with lack of sharpness):
For more money, you might consider a general purpose "super zoom" for an "all in one" lens. The Sigma 18-250 is excellent value
http://www.amazon.com/Sigma-18-250mm-3-5-6-3-Nikon-Digital/dp/B001PGXEGA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1437390012&sr=8-2&keywords=sigma+18-250+nikon
For a little more money you can get the "MACRO" version of this lens which will give you a minimum focus distance of 25cm or so. Not as sharp as a "real" macro prime, but I have found quite adequate.
http://www.amazon.com/Sigma-18-250mm-f3-5-6-3-Digital-Cameras/dp/B008B4893M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1437390012&sr=8-1&keywords=sigma+18-250+nikon&pebp=1437390186397&perid=0BRKAM247560ZY4Y8PVP
Neither, of course, is particularly "fast" as the 35 and 50 prime are.
All the best...
From the description you can tell this is a DX lens (optimized for DX format). In full frame 35mm format this translates to 18-36mm. Even if I use this on a full frame body it will still be an 18-36mm lens. So in the shot below the lens was set to 12mm but the camera body cropped the image to 18mm.
This first shot shows the image before I corrected for the barrel distortion. You can see quite a bit of distortion of the tree on the left but on the right you can see distortion of the building.
This is the same image but after I corrected the distortion in Camera RAW. You can see I also had to crop the image.
The quote below is from their review of the lens. So it does appear softness is an issue wide open.
"At F1.4, the lens is quite sharp in the centre but distinctly soft across much of the rest of the frame. However it improves rapidly on stopping down, with the centre excellent by F2, and the corners catching up at F4. Optimum results are obtained between F5.6 and F11, where it gives superb sharpness right across the frame; stopping down further gives a gradual reduction in sharpness due to diffraction."
Another quote from further in the review:
"Our studio tests show that this lens is not at its best at wide apertures on full-frame; central resolution is relatively low, and the corners extremely soft and subject to significant darkening through vignetting. However in this regard it's also important to appreciate that with the extremely small depth of field afforded by a 50mm F1.4 lens, and assuming a reasonably centrally-placed subject, the likelihood of any object in the corners of the frame being remotely in focus is in fact minimal, and corner resolution therefore near-irrelevant."
I am including a link to the full review if you are interested. http://www.dpreview.com/lensreviews/canon_50_1p4_c16
Laura ( @lstasel )
I use a lumix GH4 camera which is a micro four thirds camera.
The lense which I tend to use most is the 12-35mm lense and my other is a 45-200mm.
Are the focal lengths mentioned above for a full frame camera and how do the compare with a micro four thirds?
I'm also thinking of purchasing a prime lense for landscape photography. Any suggestions for my camera?
I used my new Nikkon 70-300 f/4.5. It replaced my old 55-300 f/4.5 which broke after 8 years of hard use, I think too much dirt and dust got inside from too many softball games! Anyway, I did a lot of research, upgraded from what I had and I honestly could not believe the difference in the quality of my shots! Wow! I was so impressed I bought a new prime lens too!
Thank you very much for taking the time to comment. So I think I'd better start saving up to get a prime lens. The Sigma 18-250mm that Frank suggested looks amazing, but I am leaning towards getting a fixed length lens. I will have a look at the 35mm, since I am not really doing a lot of portraits.
Thank you again for the suggestions, that was very helpful!
My next question would be "why are you looking for a prime for landscape photography?'
I will look at some reviews today/tonight. I see that Panasonic and Olympus use the same mount for their 4/3 cameras. Looking at choices from Panasonic, if you want prime, 15mm would be the best. Dpreview does not have any review on this lens so I checked personal reviews at Amazon and it has all good reviews there.
With the lenses you already have I would look at 7-14mm, for the widest angle. It does have some issue with lateral chromatic aberration.
http://www.dpreview.com/lensreviews/panasonic_7-14_4_o20
Hopefully someone in our group has your camera and will be able to help more.
Laura ( @lstasel )
Does anybody have Sigma's 50mm full macro lens for canon? Are you happy with it? Do I even want a full macro with my asp-c sensor (rebel t3i)?
In the past I considered the canon compact macro (goes up to 0.5x magnification), but then I realized that was only a little more than my kit lens (0.34x when zoomed to 55mm) plus its close up filters.
The price is similar for the sigma 1.0x macro or the canon 0.5x macro.
I do love taking photos of little things, though I haven't been at it much lately.
The important ones are the full frame, the APS-C (Cannon) and APS-C (everyone else). The 1 inch sensor size is found in many fixed lens "bridge" cameras, and the tiny ones in cell phones.
So your GH4 crams its 16mp into a 225 square millimeters, the Nikon D7200 puts its 24mp into 370 square millimeters and the Canon 5DR puts its 50mp into 864 square millimeters. Actually a little less than 864 for real world digital full frame cameras, but close enough to the ideal. A lens of the same focal length will cast a circle with the same proportions over them all, but you can see how the smaller sensors have the image "cropped" just like if you would take the full frame and crop it down with an editor, and then make a print of each of the same size, you can see how the "cropped sensor" cameras have an image that looks "closer" - like you used a longer focal length over the whole frame. Which of course you didn't.
I hope I didn't confuse the issue, but if you just stare at the picture, you should get what all this "sensor size" stuff is about.
I have a Canon 700d which came with two lens - EFS 18-55mm and EFS 55-250mm
This shot was taken using my 18-55mm lens
This shot taken using 55-250mm lens
As I am a learner, I am happy with my lens and the pictures it takes, especially travelling around Australia. But as read everyone's questions & comments especially about full frame & crop sensor I am getting totally confuse so I will stick to my learning.
As I take alot of landscape photography, I would love to have a wide angle lens. I am looking at Canon EF-S 10-18mm f4.5-5.6. IS STM.
What do you think?
Thanks for your time. Lee-Ann
About @aliha issue. I can't remember if this is correct? The center focus points are better than the outer focus points? Would focus and recompose work or am I not understanding how this works?
I did some research last night. I found 3 lenses that look promising.
Lumix G Leica DG Summilux 15mm f/1.7 $599.00
Lumix G 14mm f/2.5 ASPH II $299
Lumix G Vario 7-14mm f/4 ASPH $900
The first two are similar in focal length. The Leica is "faster" but slightly less wide angle. It is larger but has an aperture ring. More expensive. Both lenses get really good reviews, both from users and the professional review sites.
I included the zoom lens because of the ultra wide capability. It is definitely more expensive but also got really good reviews.
Some ideas for you to think about. Still hoping someone has these lenses and can comment for you.
Laura ( @lstasel )
Thanks Frank / Laura.. I think I'm closer to understanding now..
If I was looking for an equivalent to a 'nifty 50', I should be looking for a 25mm in a micro four thirds lens?
I looked at both the 10-18mm and the 10-22mm. The 10-22mm is more expensive, longer focal length and "faster". You don't need the 18mm to 22mm because you already have those focal lengths. The "faster" apertures can come in handy in low light. From the reviews most of the people were referencing astrophotography for needing the extra speed.
I think the 10-18mm would be a good choice for you. You will have good coverage from 10mm-250mm.
Hopefully some of the Canon users will see our discussion and help out with recommendations.
Laura ( @lstasel )
Thanks for info on Wide angle lenses.
The one I have at the moment is 12-35mm / f2.8.. Which I am really happy with fir landscape, but I was thinking that it would be good to have a wider angle lens to fit more in. On reflection maybe it's best to stick with what I have until I know more about what I'm doing.
Not a bad idea. I rarely use my 12-24mm.
Yes a 25mm would be closer to a "nifty 50".
This is as wide as I think you will get with a micro four thirds body.
http://shop.panasonic.com/cameras-and-camcorders/lumix-camera-lenses/H-F007014.html#start=1&cgid=lumix-camera-lenses
Unless you go down this short, I wouldn't go with another, your 12-35 at 12 will surely get you a nice landscape...
This was taken with my Canon EFS 10-22mm Wide Angle. It has taken a bit to get used to using it. I now know that if I want something in the foreground then I virtually have to be standing beside it when I am using this lens. It was a bit weird to get used to because with my eye I can see things quite easily at say 1 - 2m away, but this lens makes them tiny little spots in the photo. I have learnt how to compensate now.
One suggestion I have is to hire a lens before you buy it. I hired 2 lens for 7 days for about $110. Then played with them for the week to make sure I liked them & could use them before I outlaid big bucks to buy them
#1 f/3.0
#2 f/5.6
#3 f/8
#4 f/36
I love this lens. I have one minor issue with the lens. At 12" the auto focus does not work well. I say a minor issue because at that distance I rarely use the auto focus.
My sister has the Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro. I know she is happy with hers as well.
Here's another shot with by 10-22mm, I am getting better at putting something in the foreground. Here I was about 15cm from the track and level with it.
I really like this lens, it took a while to get used to it as I mentioned above. I was quite close to the Lifesavers Flag in the photo below, but it looks further away than what I was. I was about 50cm away from the Fire Hydrant in the last photo & I could actually have reached out and touched it.
Once you get used to putting something close in the foreground it adds a whole new dimension to the photo. I really like this lens.
The opposite, wide empty foreground, can also be effective to suggest calm, repose, stability, your first beach shot posted July 26.
Thanks