I thought i would write something up about the subject of lens selection
based on my experiences as an amateur photographer over the last
2 years. I hope this is in someway useful to anyone out there trying to
decide what lens to buy but make no mistake i am no pro just a keen
amateur and this is simply my experience and thoughts based on what
i've learned with my camera and the lens i have purchased over time.
Its a good time to be a photographer....there is such a huge selection
of equipment to offer at such a wide price range there is definetly
something out there that will cover most people's needs but like everything in life you need to compromise - price, quality, weight, size etc.
About 18 months/2 years ago i decided to buy a DSLR to really let me
explore photography more and boy has it been a fun trip. I opted to
pick up a 10D and if i thought picking the camera was hard well boy
picking lens is a huge headache. So i browsed this forum and many
others seeking advice and seeing what others had choosen and boy did i get a shock at the huge range of choice and the range in price to go with it. Coming to this from a point and shoot its not easy to choose ? What focal length, prime, zoom, how fast, IS or not, wide or telephoto....arrhhh
help all i want to do is take some pics....sharpness, contrast, bokeh...huh
whats that ?? EF whats that ? USM whats that....yes a bewildering range
of jargon and confusion.
Well after much reading and contemplation i decided on the 28-135 IS which gave me a nice all round lens that many seemed to praise. I spent
a good 6 months with this and really got to understand my camera and
this lens and shot many pictures and in general just enjoyed having the
full control offered by an SLR. I'll admit going in did i really did not understand the difference between an F2 lens vs F5.6 lens and how this
would impact pictures.. thats changed. I pretty much tried everything
with the 28-135 - landscapes, people, sports, indoor, outdoor,
macro etc etc.
After more reading and experimenting with the camera and way too much reading of this and other forums i decided i wanted something wider but
also something longer....enter the 17-40F4L & 70-200 F4L and yes i spent
way too time much thinking over this decision. Still at the time i can remember thinking what am i doing...thats quite a bit of money for two
lens considering i ain't no pro. Well these two lens opened my eyes
completely....the color, contrast and sharpness just gave my images that
pop i was really looking for and by this time i was starting to get the hang
of a decent workflow in terms of post processing.
I soon learned what a fast lens is from experiences of shooting indoors
with the two F4's.I quickly realized that when the light drops your
shutter speed drops and you need to up ISO quite a bit to prevent
camera shake etc. And so the quest began for a fast prime. Buy this
time i had come to love the build quality of the L's and i considered
something like the 50 1.4/1.8 but i just didn't like the build quality.
I also by this time had come to appreciate depth of field and how it
can make your images pop especially if your taking portraits/candids
and so my next lens was going to be a fast prime because i tried the
2.8 zooms and they were just too big for my liking. Enter the 35 1.4L.
Boy did my credit card ache after this and has since suffered more
damage but its a cracking lens. One trip to a museum and plenty of
indoor shooting immediately makes clear why F1.4 is a darn good thing.
I have since added an 85 1.8 and a 135F2 and i will say that a fast
lens does open a new area of photography. I guess part of my moving
to fast lens is my hate and frustration with a flash....i guess i have much
to learn in this regard. In addition i think i have come to fully understand
depth of field and controlling it in my pictures.
So i now find myself with 5 lens - 17-40F4, 70-200F4, 35 1.4L, 85 1.8
and 135 F2 and i love it. I look at them as tools. Sometimes the zooms
are the right tool for the job and other times the primes are the right
tool for the job but having the choice is a great thing.
So lessions learned and advice to others out there -
1. Start slowly. Buy one lens and really experiment.
2. Aperture, Shutter Speed, ISO, depth of field.....its the meat and
potatoes of photography and its real important to not only understand
this but have a feel for how they all impact your photographs.
3. Let your photographs guide you in your lens selection. Make sure
you understand if its you thats the limitation our your equipment and
understand what the limitation is.
4. Spend the most money on the lens you will use the most often.
5. Prime vs Zoom - its not a competition. Look at a lens as a tool.
Ask yourself is this the right tool for the job....sometimes a prime
is just the ticket and others a zoom. In reality i have found having
a both is the best approach.
6. Using a prime is not as restictive as i imagined. I used to think i
couldn't live without a zoom. In someways shooting with a prime
is a joy...one less parameter to deal with but there really is no substitute
for a fast lens for low light and experimenting with depth of field.
7. Get yourself to a camera shop and try a lens on your camera before
you buy it. Its one thing to see a lens on a web page and another
when its on your camera. See if it feels right for you.
8. If you won't use it don't buy it. A lens that sits at home because
of size, weight etc isn't worth having. Buy what you will use.
9. As far as selecting lens i think having a few zooms and then supplement
with primes at focal lengths you really need is the way to go.
10. Its all a compromise....no single lens does it all. You have to weight
up the pro's and con's and decide for the picture you take what makes
the most sense.
Anyway enough of my rambling. Hope someone finds this useful.
As a final comment i will say that two books i found extremely useful are
understanding Exposure and Learning to See Creatively by Bryan Peterson.
Believe me. One thing i have learned is my equipment far out does me.
I never stop learning.....thats what is great about digital photography is the
feedback you get from your own images.