Newbie need HELP!

[dennisc]

I find the L version which is the 24-105 great for shooting portraits with illustrative landscape such as CBD area, when zoom in, pretty nifty for runway fashion, and street is really good especially in a crowded place. Depends on your cam+style really.

 

[Terence Ho]

If you aren't sure, why buy in the first place? Did you buy for the range? then maybe you should have considered getting 18-270 instead. Let me do the math for you, since you are so dependent on others.

28 -105 X 1.6 = 44.6 - 168.

Basically, you won't be able to do wide angle or ultra wide angle shoots in the street. You can do bokeh shoots, depend on whether you know where to aim, not too sure amount of spoon-feeding would do for you to get it either.

To achive a good bokeh, must it forcus under manual forcus?

 

[spree86]

To achive a good bokeh, must it forcus under manual forcus?

How did you get that conclusion? MF or AF has nothing to do with bokeh

 

[Octarine]

To achive a good bokeh, must it forcus under manual forcus?

Bokeh has nothing to do with focus.

 

[Aikiway]

To achive a good bokeh, must it forcus under manual forcus?

That's precisely why everyone's asking you to go out to take more photos. Come on, I suppose you see people on the street using cameras right? You see them using manual?

P.S. My camera phone also can do bokeh. I can imagine all the settings I would need to do if this is a manual option only..

 

[thoongeng]

Hi there, I just brought a Canon 28-105mm F3.5-F4.5 USM lens & I'm using a crop body. But I'm not really sure this lens suitable for, if I using it for streets shooting? What do you guys think & please guide me along. Thanks!

as other seniors have pointed out, you have to go out shooting and find out about your style. Some people like to go up close and shoot with an ultra-wideangle, some people like to shoot from far with a telephoto. Some prefer primes as they can compose mentally and get into position before even looking through the viewfinder, some prefer zoom as it may be faster to zoom than walk

To achive a good bokeh, must it forcus under manual forcus?

I think you are asking about quality of the out-of-focus areas. It depends on many factors, and again very subjective. Some people like harsh blurring, some like creamy blurring.

Easier to answer is how to get the background (usually) out of focus in the first place, which you'll need to understand about depth of field. The first link google found:
Understanding the Factors that Affect Depth of Field

As you can see, auto or manual focus does not come into the equation

 

[catchlights]

"buy first talk later" is only work when you know what are you doing.

I suggest you build some foundation first by borrowing some basic photography books from the library and start systematic reading.

 

[Rashkae]

To achive a good bokeh, must it forcus under manual forcus?

Please go and read up on the basics first, and go out and shoot. I do not see how you got any link between autofocus and background blur and bokeh (since bokeh does not mean "background blur").

 

[snowc]

Here's a link which had helped newbies like me to understand the basics:

http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/newbies-corner/309544-photography-notes-newbies.html

I suggest that you read it too.

 

[rhino123]

To get more area in your frame blurred out, you need to open your aperture wider... nothing to do with manual or auto focus, although in the event whereby you are shooting in a high contrasty area, it might proof a bit tricky for your camera's autofocus lock on the subject you wanted... that is the time when manual focus help... but that is only to achieve focus and not to create blurred areas in your picture.

My advise to TS... do read up on Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO, there are lots of information online. A quick summary of the trio is as follow,

1) Shutter Speed : the amount of time needed for your shutter to be open - thus exposing the sensor in your camera to the light coming through the lens.
2) Aperture : the opening within the lens in which light flow through. The opening is normally formed by the opening/closing of the aperture blades construction within the lens. This was normally measured by the f-stop - the bigger the f-stop (f-value) the smaller the opening. And the bigger the aperture (smaller f-value) more area within the frame will be in focus.
3) ISO: the bigger the ISO-value, the more sensitive your sensor is to light and so needed shorter shutter speed (lesser exposure time to light), however the bigger the ISO value the more noise it will introduce to your picture.

While at it... do read up DOF (this is directly related to your Aperture Value).

 

[Shizuma]

i am using this same lens.

give a quick tip how to make nice Depth of Field ("bokeh" effect): open aperture wide wide (set camera dial to AV). make sure your camera is on, lens cap off, and autofocus is on (easiest way). Turn main dial all the way to the clockwise direction until F-stop reading says 3.5 or 4.5 (the largest aperture on this F3.5-4.5 lens).

(The F-stop value depends on the focal length you chose. hence 28-105 F3.5-4.5 means at 28mm you get F3.5. 105mm you get max 4.5)

put the middle dot of your camera focus point (it should have an X on it or a + ) on the subject you are shooting.

If you select the 28mm end, don't need to stand too close because F3.5 is alright. If selected 105mm, stand closer to subject, background sure very nice and blur. First pressure on shutter button for focus. Observe red dot which lights up. is it on the correct place on the subject? If yes, apply full pressure and take the shot. well done. first bokeh picture! Take many many more. have fun exploring the advanced functions of your lens too. you might want to add a circular polarizing filter to this lens for even more fun (this lens front element doesn't rotate. very good lens for that price!)

 

[Shizuma]

Please go and read up on the basics first, and go out and shoot. I do not see how you got any link between autofocus and background blur and bokeh (since bokeh does not mean "background blur").

When i was a noob and clueless, before I started DSLR photography (now i am not so clueless, still learning though)
I did think that DOF effect meant that an area was out of focus...meaning the focus is only on the subject (and had no idea that aperture had anything to do with it...or even what aperture was! omg right. )

 

[Octarine]

If you select the 28mm end, don't need to stand too close because F3.5 is alright. If selected 105mm, stand closer to subject, background sure very nice and blur. First pressure on shutter button for focus. Observe red dot which lights up. is it on the correct place on the subject? If yes, apply full pressure and take the shot. well done. first bokeh picture! Take many many more. have fun exploring the advanced functions of your lens too. you might want to add a circular polarizing filter to this lens for even more fun (this lens front element doesn't rotate. very good lens for that price!)

You are halfway there.. but only halfway. First, drop the term 'bokeh picture' - highly misleading and in a certain way also nonsense. To quote another senior here: "Are we shooting bokeh..?"
The usage of wide aperture and thin Depth of Field is to support an element of composition which is called 'Subject Isolation', a technique / composition approach to put the focus, attention, emphasize on your main subject while other objects in the frame are pushed into the background.
First of all it should be verified whether this approach works. I see many pictures where people try to blur for the sake of blurring (or for the fun of shooting blur backgrounds) while certain situations and objects do not require this.
Secondly, the distance between camera, foreground and background plays a major role to the Depth of Field effects as well. Use any of the online DOF tools or the mobile phone apps and you will see the results. No f/1.2 lens will blur the wall 0.5m behind a person when the camera is 5m away. But every kit lens can blur the background nicely when the long end is used, the child is close to the cam and the background far away. And so will do this lens here when used on the long end for closer objects. Not sure whether the results will be that sharp, usually lenses should be stopped down by 1 stop from maximum aperture for better results.