Photo Newb Question

[Agentskull]

Hey guys. I purchased an entry level DSLR for my fiancee a few months back. She absolutely loves it.

She likes taking pictures of small things/up close. I know the lenses we have don't work well for this purpose. Can you recommend some good Marco? lenses. Hope I got the term right. I am currently trying to learn as much of the technical stuff so she can just shoot her heart out.

Currently our camera Cannon Rebel T3i is stock. With a good quality memory card.

Our two lenses are:

efs 55-250mm f/4 - 5.6 IS II
efs 18-55mm Macro 0.25/.08ft (only numbers i could read of this one)

Any suggestions would be great help.

I know on our list is a grip battery. and non stock flashes.

Thanks guys

Rob

 

[Heath]

I have a Nikon D40 that came with an 18-55 and a 55-200 and we came across the same issue so we went to the local B&M and they recommended we buy a 70-300 lens and that's what we did. Although I could not afford the Nikon brand lens at the time so I got Quantaray (aka Sigma) and it works great! For us nonprofessional's this lens is amazing.

 

[The EVP]

Pretty much anything Carl Zeiss but you're going to pay for it. Check to see if one of the preset settings on your camera is Background Defocus. That allows you to get some pretty up close shots with great depth-of-field. The Macro lens that you have listed seems like a good lens to me. That .08 ft means that's the closest distance you can get to your subject, which is pretty freaking close. Also, try changing your auto focus settings to center point only. This prevents the camera from using all other focus points it has and will help give you a deeper depth-of-field, which is what you want when shooting macro. Or, you could turn your AF off and manually focus the lens.

As far as the technical stuff, most of that will come in time. Learn the Rule of Thirds and apply it. The Marines have a saying that also applies to photography....Shoot everything and sort it out later. It's better to take 10 pictures and have to discard 9 to get the right shot than it is to take 1 shot and have it come out bad.

Add to your list: a good, sturdy tripod (preferable one that allows you to hang something from the center pole for a lower center of gravity), remote control for the shutter (preferably one that is programmable for later on when you want to get into long exposure or time lapse), UV and/or polarizing filters for each lens. With the flash, get one that allows multiple angles and off-camera triggering.

 

[The EVP]

To expand on Heath's post, invest your money in lenses. You're better off with a great lens and an okay camera than you are with a sub-par lens on a great camera.

 

[e-dawg]

Agreed on lenses. They make the magic happen. Don't be afraid of manual lenses for macro work, they all end up being MF because macro requires it. I own Nikon equipment and one of my best close up lenses is an old 28mm ais 2.8 lens. I can place the lens within an inch of the subject and the wide angle just makes the context that much more interesting. You need not spend a lot of money (i.e. Carl Zeiss) to get a good lens, but if you can afford it, by all means you won't be disappointed; bar none best you can get. Research on Google and check out both eBay and KEH.com for a quality used lens. Don't spend the coin on a new one as macro won't be your everyday lens. That said, build your lens collection. It is the key to great images. I personally shoot all prime lenses and let my feet do the zooming. The faster the better (f1.4 or f2.8 fixed focal length). Look up the term bokeh and begin introducing subject separation into your photography; especially with family or portrait photography. It will make your images pop!

Have fun and save some money for those cigars, each a slippery slope as we all know!!!


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