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Author Topic: Which Lenses do you use?  (Read 1303 times)

Which Lenses do you use?
on: April 10, 2009, 00:50:59 AM
Ive just bought an 18-200mm lens as a general purpose lens on occasions where I just want to carry around the camera with no additional lenses and have a few specific use lenses.

Looking in to getting some more specific lenses rather than general purpose lenses.

What are your guys favourite pieces of glass and why?... still reasonably amateur and would be good to know what you guys could not live without!
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  • Offline Serious

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Re:Which Lenses do you use?
Reply #1 on: April 10, 2009, 04:35:58 AM
Favourite for inside work is still the 50mm f1.8 standard lens, it lets a lot of light in and is ideal for inside photography where you dont want to use flash. It can also be reversed onto another lens for macro.

Outside or reasonably light conditions then my Canon 28-135mm is very nice for most situations.
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Re:Which Lenses do you use?
Reply #2 on: April 10, 2009, 05:11:14 AM
Ye got the 50mm very good lens and good photos especially when you crank it all the way up to /1.8
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Re:Which Lenses do you use?
Reply #3 on: April 14, 2009, 15:51:15 PM
for general purpose stuff I have a DA16-45 and FA80-320 zoom pair, with a DA50-200 to replace the 80-320 if I want to travel light.

I have 3 special purpose lenses I would not willingly live without, in order of preference at this precise moment:

1. Tamron SP 90mm F2.5 Macro + matched 2x converter. A very capable close up lens, particularly for the price I paid for it (£50 including the converter)

2. Tamron SP 300mm F2.8. Fantastic for astro photography and long telephoto work as long as I can carry the weight. At £350 (second hand, new a lens of this calibre would be thousands) this is my most expensive lens.

3. Pentax FA 50mm F1.4. I call this my "available darkness" lens. Nuff said.


Obviously the Pentax FA isnt directly available in Canon mount, but Canon make 50mm fast primes too and I wouldnt be without one. The other two are very much products of my favoured photography, that is either of things which are very small, or very far away. I find I end up focussing manually even with AF glass in these situations, so the fact that lenses 1 and 2 are MF only doesnt hurt much and brings them down into my price range.
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  • Offline zpyder

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Re:Which Lenses do you use?
Reply #4 on: April 14, 2009, 17:30:44 PM
Cant afford any new lenses. Just have kit canon lens and a sigma 70-210mm jobby. Both of which I gather arent anything special, to the point that I find myself preferring to use my compact than the SLR.

Would like a 50, or at least a dedicated macro lens, as that is what 90% of my photography is. This number will drop with my trip to the lake district in 2 weeks though!
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  • Offline Kunal

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Re:Which Lenses do you use?
Reply #5 on: April 14, 2009, 22:52:41 PM

Canon EF-S 10-22mm F/3.5-4.5

Canon EF-S 17-55mm F/2.8 IS

Canon EF 70-200mm F/4L

Dont really need anything beyond 200mm.


I reckon thisll keep be going for at least 5 years.

Until I upgrade to a 5D Mk3/4 and full frame lenses ;-)
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Re:Which Lenses do you use?
Reply #6 on: April 15, 2009, 10:34:04 AM
Zpyder, you could maybe consider getting an M42 to EOS adaptor and then look at things like this

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SMC-TAKUMAR-55mm-F1-8-M42mm-SCREW-MOUNT-LENS_W0QQitemZ360140371195QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_CamerasPhoto_CameraAccessories_CameraLensesFilters_JN?hash=item360140371195&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1690%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318

if you get the right adaptor then your focus confirm will still work, though of course youll be limited to stop down metering as the camera wont be able to control the iris. Worth a thought if youre tight for cash. The Pentax SMC Takumar and a lot of the Zeiss Jena prime lenses made in M42 were actually very good and compare well to modern lenses, Id just avoid zooms that old as they were very much in their infancy at that time.
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  • Offline zpyder

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Re:Which Lenses do you use?
Reply #7 on: April 15, 2009, 12:34:03 PM
Problem is Im a bit of a noob, havent a clue what stop down metering is!
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Re:Which Lenses do you use?
Reply #8 on: April 15, 2009, 13:27:17 PM
Quote from: zpyder
Problem is Im a bit of a noob, havent a clue what stop down metering is!


Quote
What is stop-down metering?

    Normally your EOS camera will meter the light using the widest aperture possible for the lens. (ie: the aperture diaphragm will be fully open - f/1.8 or f/3.5 or whatever the lens supports) This lets you look through the viewfinder with the maximum amount of light coming in. When you take a photo the camera quickly stops the lens down to your selected aperture just before opening the shutter. Canon EF lenses rely on electronically-controlled aperture diaphragms, not mechanical ones operated by the camera body via a cam or lever. As soon as the shutter has closed again and the picture has been taken, the lens diaphragm pops back to the widest setting once more.

    There are two exceptions to this mode of operation. First, if your camera has depth of field preview and you have it enabled, the camera will stop down the lens aperture to whatever you’ve set it to be. And second, if you have a lens installed that doesn’t have an electronically-controlled aperture diaphragm the camera will operate in stop-down metering mode - it’ll meter whatever the lens is currently stopped down to. Hence “stop-down metering.”

    All Canon EF lenses contain a computer chip and various electrical connectors that allow the lens computer to communicate with the camera’s computer. Most third-party lenses for EOS also have EF-mount compatible electronics. However, if you buy a lens designed for another camera system and attach it to your EOS camera using a lens mount adapter you’re obviously not going to get the full electronic control you’d get with a true EF lens. In particular, if there are no compatible electronics then neither autofocus nor electronically-controlled apertures will work.


http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-manual-lenses/

I yahooed, easier than writing it all out myself :P

Basics The lens is always closed to the aperture you select so the viewfinder will be dim in low light. IF you want to manually focus you should open the aperture, focus and then close it down again before taking the photo.
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