Beginner Lens help.

Oldbones

Oldbones

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I have taken to photography, joined a club and even put up a few of my efforts on here..
Now its about lenses, I have a couple already, Nikon DX ASF 18-55mm which is the kit lens for my camera, but I bought it separately.
Next is the Tamron 18-200 which I really do like.
The club is great fun and very much a help with lots of different aspects of photography.
On to prime lenses, I want one of them, but which one, the 35 or 50 mm, I have bought a Nikon Nikkor AF-S 50mm F/1.8 G Prime Lens, and now suddenly wonder if I should have got a 35mm.
The 35mm is far more expensive than the 55mm, almost double in fact.
What would be best, did I make a mistake, or should I just stick with the 55mm, part of me thinks I should have got the 35mm but I am saving to buy a D700 at some point so the 55mm would be ideal (I think) for it. So it will stay with me.
My camera at the moment is D3100 with about 20000 shutter count, and as soon as its not bitterly cold I will go out and try some more things.
Any advise would be helpful, I guess what I am really asking is will using a 55 mm on a D3100 be worthwhile ?
 
Gav. said:
If your after a prime as a 'walk about', try setting the 18-55 to 35mm and leave it there while doing your thing, (may be tape it so you can't move it), then go out another day and do the same for the 50mm prime and see which you prefer the look of?
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I wouldn't swear to this, but isn't the 3100 a crop sensor? So whatever focal length you prefer you might want to times it to find out the actual length.
 
On FF I used to like 50mm but for some time now I've been happier with 35mm, but this is on FF and you have APS-C.

On APS-C (with x1.5 crop) 35mm is about 52mm equivalent on FF and if that's what you fancy then go for it but I'd be happier with a 35mm equivalent so that'd be 23mm or there abouts on your APS-C. Do Nikon do a nice 23mm (or there abouts) f1.8 for their APS-C DSLR's?

55mm on APS-C would be a bit too long for me.
 
Is the 18-55 the one with the silver ring?

If so you will be hard pushed to beat that on a crop sensor.

I had a D7000 with that lens and the combination was awesome, I still look at some lenses and think "not as good as the 18-55"
 
I do think its a crop sensor, we live and learn
 
50mm on a crop sensor is pretty tight for a single lens and general shooting being around 85mm on full frame.

For me (and maybe most others) a full frame equivalent of 35-50mm is more suitable.
 
Barney said:
Is the 18-55 the one with the silver ring?

If so you will be hard pushed to beat that on a crop sensor.

I had a D7000 with that lens and the combination was awesome, I still look at some lenses and think "not as good as the 18-55"
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Yes it is the lens with the silver ring around it
 
You might find the best way is to rview images you've already taken to see what your favourite focal length is.
I've used this in the past:

ExposurePlot jpg exif lens length analyzer for photographers

ExposurePlot (former Focal plot) is a free analyzer for the focal lenght of the lenzes you have used.
www.vandel.nl
But there are plenty of others that can do it.
 
sk66 said:
For what specific use/purpose?
Prime lenses have some potential benefits if you need/want them, but they also have certain negatives to them as well.
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Well, I have not decided on any particular genre so far.
I do want to try street, and old building's and grave yards etc.
Sometimes watch a couple of you tube channels and think I would like to try woodland photography.
With the amount of subjects that there is todo, it can make your head spin.
I do know that I will do some riverside stuff, plants and birds and what else I see, bridges , stepping stones and the like.
 
The 50mm on your body is a short telephoto really, I'd probably go with the 35mm which is more the "standard" focal length on the crop body. But as someone said it depends what your shooting.
Use the 18-55mm and see which end of the zoom you use most, if your on the wide end.... well, you might want to look at the 50mm and how much use your going to get.
Oh, and welcome to the expensive hobbie of photography, you'll know when you've really got it bad. Your bank statements arrive in a mink envelope hand delivered by the manager.... :exit:
 
Your camera is a crop sensor one and the 35mm DX 1.8 prime is really good. It goes for about £90 for a good one. On a Nikon full frame DSLR you can use it on 1.2X crop without any problems.
The proper full frame FX version of the lens is about 3 times the price and won't give you any performance benefits on your camera. You don't need this.

But, I'd stick with the zoom lens for now.
 
FWIW I quite like 50mm on crop, but the advice given here is all good so far.
 
Oldbones said:
Well, I have not decided on any particular genre so far.
I do want to try street, and old building's and grave yards etc.
Sometimes watch a couple of you tube channels and think I would like to try woodland photography.
With the amount of subjects that there is todo, it can make your head spin.
I do know that I will do some riverside stuff, plants and birds and what else I see, bridges , stepping stones and the like.
Click to expand...
Well done for keeping an open mind, and wanting to try stuff.
Will you return to this thread in a couple of years so we can see what you end up shooting.

Regarding a single fl to carry, I’d look for something in the low 20mm’s which would be 35mm on FF. when I had the little Fuji the 22mm 1.4 was my favourite lens for wandering about
 
Erty said:
Your camera is a crop sensor one and the 35mm DX 1.8 prime is really good. It goes for about £90 for a good one. On a Nikon full frame DSLR you can use it on 1.2X crop without any problems.
The proper full frame FX version of the lens is about 3 times the price and won't give you any performance benefits on your camera. You don't need this.

But, I'd stick with the zoom lens for now.
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Don't get bogged down by "need" for expensive gear. That need isn't real, it's created by the people who sell the gear. They're good at creating that need and nearly all of us get suckered into it to some extent, but we shouldn't.

What you really need is a camera and a lens, which you have. That equips you both to take and think about those photos - and the more gear choices you have, the less time you will spend actually thinking about the photos. Once you've built up experience and skills you will naturally gravitate towards the photographic genres that you like, and will gradually learn about any extras that will improve things.
 
Garry Edwards said:
Don't get bogged down by "need" for expensive gear. That need isn't real, it's created by the people who sell the gear. They're good at creating that need and nearly all of us get suckered into it to some extent, but we shouldn't.

What you really need is a camera and a lens, which you have. That equips you both to take and think about those photos - and the more gear choices you have, the less time you will spend actually thinking about the photos. Once you've built up experience and skills you will naturally gravitate towards the photographic genres that you like, and will gradually learn about any extras that will improve things.
Click to expand...

This is excellent advice. I got a bit sucked into the "must use primes" thinking... I've sold all but two of them now, and I feel much happier with the gear I have left.
 
Personally I like 35mm on cropped sensor cameras, of even wider, say 23mm. Especially given the genres you are potentially interested in. With the 18-55 you can set it to around 35mm and 50mm and see how you get on using those focal lengths.

But my main suggestion is not to buy kit for the sake of buying it (unless you are in to photography for the camera collection aspect of it), use your kit until you are able to tell exactly what is holding you back with it, and what you need to overcome that.
 
Garry Edwards said:
Don't get bogged down by "need" for expensive gear. That need isn't real, it's created by the people who sell the gear. They're good at creating that need and nearly all of us get suckered into it to some extent, but we shouldn't.

What you really need is a camera and a lens, which you have. That equips you both to take and think about those photos - and the more gear choices you have, the less time you will spend actually thinking about the photos. Once you've built up experience and skills you will naturally gravitate towards the photographic genres that you like, and will gradually learn about any extras that will improve things.
Click to expand...
When I said need, I was meant not needing expensive FX lenses on a DX camera rather than needing the 35mm DX lens. For the bits of photography where it would be useful, the kit lens + flash or the 50mm 1.8 would do fine most of the time.


Unfortunately, Nikon doesn't do wider angle DX primes than 35mm which autofocus on a D3100. The full frames ones work but the (AF-S) ones with autofocus on a D3100 are expensive. The AF-D ones are manual on a D3100 so there are better alternatives if you want a faster lens.
 
I have a crop sensor camera (canon) and I have 4 lenses , 17-55, 70-200, a macro lens and a 50mm. They cover pretty much everything I take photos of. My most used lens is the standard zoom 17-55mm. It covers nearly all of my needs. The macro lens, well it's what I would call a specialist lens. If you're not into macro, then it's not necessarily. The 50mm I only keep because it's cheap and for the f/1.8 aperture.
My point being, unless you have a really specific need, then you don't need to spend money on lots of lens.
 
skullfunkerry said:
This is excellent advice. I got a bit sucked into the "must use primes" thinking... I've sold all but two of them now, and I feel much happier with the gear I have left.
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I did the same and had quite a few primes with my Sony A580 and A77ii. Now I have a A6600 I just use good quality zooms, and find I don't miss the primes at all. The zooms do a good enough job for me.

The only fixed length lens I have is an old Minolta 100mm Macro.
 
Hello again.
Lets get into it.
Bought a Nikkor lens, A F Nikkor 50mm F / 1.8 D.
It fits my camera, D3100
It takes photographs, the auto focus, I cant figure out.
When I adjust the lens aperture ring ring, I get a message on my screen telling me, lock lens aperture ring at min aperture (largest f/ number)
I am indoors and we don't have bright lights in the house.
All of this I have to find out about.
So some of the photographs I have taken.

I though that this was amazing, the ceiling is white and the the cabinets are a light grey, you would never know.
DSC_0351.jpg


Bit dull subject, but I do get the back ground blurred, quite happy
DSC_0390.jpg

Now we have had this lady for a long time, so I took het portrait, quite surprised with this and quite happy, Zoom in ad her lip's look like totally real.
So the lens works, all these pics were done inside, in poor light and poor skills from me.
DSC_0386.jpg
 
Is this with a pop up lens? I suspect you're just seeing the limitations of them. Not a fault on your part.
 
To get the aperture to work the aperture ring at the base of the lens has to be turned all the way to the right so that the number 22 is lined up with the white dot. When you have done this, above the 2.8 on the aperture ring is a clip. Pull this down to lock the ring (which now won't turn). If you don't lock the ring it might turn out of position and the camera will provide an error.

This lens will only manual focus on a D3100, which involves turning the knurled ring on the front of the lens. This will allow things to come into focus and a little green dot will appear on the bottom left hand corner when you look through the viewfinder.
 
Oldbones said:
Bought a Nikkor lens, A F Nikkor 50mm F / 1.8 D.
It fits my camera, D3100
It takes photographs, the auto focus, I cant figure out.
When I adjust the lens aperture ring ring, I get a message on my screen telling me, lock lens aperture ring at min aperture (largest f/ number)
I am indoors and we don't have bright lights in the house.
All of this I have to find out about.
Click to expand...

The camera body can only control the lens aperture when it is set to the smallest setting (f22 in this case). Any other setting, the lens takes over.

Oldbones said:
I though that this was amazing, the ceiling is white and the the cabinets are a light grey, you would never know.
Click to expand...

This is an example of exposure control. The camera was pointing at the bright lampshade and has exposed the image to make the general scene 18% grey, hence why everything that was not very bright now appears very dark. To fix this, read exposure off something else that's mid-bright, lock the exosure (button?) or adjust it manually and then take you picture. This kind of thing happens with snow too.

Oldbones said:
Bit dull subject, but I do get the back ground blurred, quite happy
Click to expand...

A big aperture (small f number) gives a shallow depth of field of focus. A large f number (small aperture) will offer a greater depth of field.
 
Thank you folks what a great help this thread is, I am far happier now, I was starting to think that lens was not working, but it is.
Thank you
 
Now I have a 35mm lens, took it out this mor ning and managed this, so happy. Actually feel like I am getting there, think I will try and get prints of these for the house.
Winter berrys.jpg

Winter berries 2.jpg
 
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