What's your favourite lens?
- Thread starter ckiang
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the lens i use most often is not my favourite lens... 
My favourite lens is any 105mm Macro. A 105mm macro can do macro, can do portraits, can do street photography, can photograph jewel in concert, easy to handhold (less bulky than a 28-70 f2.8) at 1/30 with not much problem
My favourite lens is any 105mm Macro. A 105mm macro can do macro, can do portraits, can do street photography, can photograph jewel in concert, easy to handhold (less bulky than a 28-70 f2.8) at 1/30 with not much problem
My favorite lens is also a 105mm, but its not a macro lens. Its the Nikkor 105f/2 DC and i use it a lot for portraits of my kids.
It can also function as a macro lens with the addition of a couple of extension tubes - quite versatile.
It can also function as a macro lens with the addition of a couple of extension tubes - quite versatile.
Originally posted by erwinx
the lens i use most often is not my favourite lens...
My favourite lens is any 105mm Macro. A 105mm macro can do macro, can do portraits, can do street photography, can photograph jewel in concert, easy to handhold (less bulky than a 28-70 f2.8) at 1/30 with not much problem
Do you find the 105 macro slow? I tried a Sigma on a D30 and it's pretty slow, possibly due to the long focus throw required on Macro lenses.
Regards
CK
honestly, i don't think its slow. its pretty ok to me, but i don't do sports/action photography. Perhaps because of its huge focussing range, for low contrast subjects a macro lens in general has a longer way to hunt than other lenses
p.s. not that you would do it, but the 105 Sigma has an AF/MF selector on the lens barrel. If left in MF while the camera is on AF mode, it slows down the focussing because the motors have to move the MF ring whereas while in AF the ring spins freely.
p.s. not that you would do it, but the 105 Sigma has an AF/MF selector on the lens barrel. If left in MF while the camera is on AF mode, it slows down the focussing because the motors have to move the MF ring whereas while in AF the ring spins freely.
Yeah, tried that, noticeable improvement. Think the Nikkor AF 105mm f2.8 Micro will be faster and better. (And smaller too).
One more question, do you find the 105 macro lenses "too sharp" for portraiture? Regards
CK
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My favourite lens is my Sigma 90mm Macro f2.8..
Can do almost everything with it... but the best being portraits
Can do almost everything with it... but the best being portraits
Favourite lens actually got two; 17-35mm f/2.8D AFS and 105mm F/2.8D Micro. Normally I have at least two bodies available so both lens are on all the time! ;p
Originally posted by ckiang
Yeah, tried that, noticeable improvement. Think the Nikkor AF 105mm f2.8 Micro will be faster and better. (And smaller too).
Regards
CK
It is. I normally slap a filter in front of it, either a diffuser or soft focus filter.
This macro lens being too sharp for portraits thing is a complete myth. If your macro lens is that much better than your "normal" lens, then your normal lenses are not very good at all. For the kind of magnification that you are looking at for your typical head and shoulder portrait, there is not a lot of difference to the details that you are trying to obscure unless you are otherwise shooting out the bottom of a coke bottle.
If you stick a diffuser or soft focus lens on, then you get a completely different effect. It can be used to create this different effect but it's not a solution for a lens that is too sharp. Yes, I'm including the softar filters in this.
If you stick a diffuser or soft focus lens on, then you get a completely different effect. It can be used to create this different effect but it's not a solution for a lens that is too sharp. Yes, I'm including the softar filters in this.
Originally posted by erwinx
the lens i use most often is not my favourite lens...
My favourite lens is any 105mm Macro. A 105mm macro can do macro, can do portraits, can do street photography, can photograph jewel in concert, easy to handhold (less bulky than a 28-70 f2.8) at 1/30 with not much problem
Mine too!
I can easily switch from various forms, i.e. macro, abstract, portraiture and such with relative ease...no need for a extension tube! No, but I've read it in a magazine somewhere I think. Or actually, no, I heard a friend mention that...
Seriously though, yes I have... what are you after?
Favourite lens is my Sigma 20mm f1.8 (approx 32mm on D30).
Can walk around and take pictures, and be sure that everything I want is within my field of view. Can always crop out what you don't need later. If need to, just get closer to the action. Can't beat the perspective you get when you're very close to the subject - you can't get that with anything other than a wide lens.
It's also fast, so you can take low light pictures, esp at ISO 1600. The best thing is that you can also take at slow speeds, down to 1/10 second, without worrying too much about handshake, because of the short focal length.
Can walk around and take pictures, and be sure that everything I want is within my field of view. Can always crop out what you don't need later. If need to, just get closer to the action. Can't beat the perspective you get when you're very close to the subject - you can't get that with anything other than a wide lens.
It's also fast, so you can take low light pictures, esp at ISO 1600. The best thing is that you can also take at slow speeds, down to 1/10 second, without worrying too much about handshake, because of the short focal length.
I have a couple of favourites. One is my EOS EF 35mm f/2 and the other is the 100/2.8 USM macro. For my Oly, it's the 50mm and the 28mm.
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