Lens advice for beginner...VC, IS or aperture...ah!

[murtzuk86]

Hi,

My first post !! I was hoping for some advice, I'm a beginner to dslr photography and have been working with my inherited 350d. I want to get a decent lens now that I'm starting to understand more about light, exposure, shutter speed, aperture.... The kind of shooting I do mainly is conference and events so indoor hence lighting is a problem. I've been looking at some f/2.8 lenses although obviously the price is a factor. I was also a looking at some of the vibration control or image stabiliser lenses which have a bit more range of zoom.

In terms of fairly low light photography (indoor, conferences, weddings, events..) will a image stabilising lens teamed with a decent flashgun (used correctly) help to improve the photos or is it better to try and save up for a lens which can fire at f/2.8.

If you have any lens recommendations for low light, indoor, events photography please let me know too , although I'm on a budget I appreciate you really do pay for the quality! Having said everything about the indoor photography I do like the idea of a better walk about lens too as I'm using the standard 18-55 kit lens at the moment. I think I'm trying to find a lens which can handle most types of photography at a basic standard level (but I know that this basically doesn't exist so any come-closes would be worth mentioning). I appreciate I may just have to bite the bullet and gradually invest in two lenses for the kind of stuff I want to shoot.

At the moment I use a telephoto lens to capture images of speeches at conferences etc.. but I'm finding that the images are either slightly out of focus or too dark and under exposed due to the fast shutter speed. Again any tips would be great. Thanks

[flake]

Conference & events normally don't want too much flash photography, and often you will be off the stage, I think that the Sigma 50 - 150 f/2.8 might suit your needs £525 for a new one, less if you don't mind second hand. Also the 24 - 70 f/2.8 which will cost you just under £400.

The 350D isn't known for it's good High Iso performance, so you might want to have a word with who ever is doing the lighting and ask them to give you enough light at the times you need it. Fast apertures mean shallow depth of field, so focus on the eyes for best use of it. Consider a really fast prime 50mm a f/1.4 or if money's tight a f/1.8 for when it's really dark.

[chris-p]

I was going to suggest a fast prime but Flake has beaten me to it. The Canon 50mm f/1.8 is pretty good value for money (they're usually under £100 I seem to remember) but it might not be long enough. The Sigma 50mm f/1.4 also has a cracking reputation.

There are also a few good longer macro lenses like the Tokina 100mm f/2.8, the Tamron 90mm f/2.8 and the Sigma 105mm f/2.8 which are pretty fast, nice and sharp and under £400.
The Canon 85mm f/1.8 might be suitable as well.

It would help if you suggested a budget and said what ISO you were shooting at.

[murtzuk86]

Hi, Thanks so much for both of your feedback. I think I will definitely invest in the 50mm lens at least in f/1.8 perhaps f/1.4 if I can get a good deal. The budget you listed around £400 is probably the max I would want to spend on another lens.

As mentioned before I was hoping for something with a bit of range I looked into the Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 and think it might be good to go for...am I right in saying that it will perform fairly well for conference and events shooting and that the possible draw back would be the zoom might not be long enough? At the end of the day although I want something that can be used for events its not as if I'm shooting events every week and I don't do it for a living, more of a helping hand when people need it! It would be great to find something that could be useful for a walk about lens at the same time for when I'm out and about and traveling. Do you think the sigma could work for both? or am I definitely expecting too much from lenses !

I find that I have to shoot in the highest setting on my 350d at ISO 1600 to stand any chance of getting a decent shot. Eventually I was hoping to upgrade the body in around 9 months and get something a bit more useful, especially with a higher ISO, again any advice would be appreciated... will the higher ISO potential of a new body help me out considerably ? in terms of the conference (low light) photography. What other features should I be looking out for in a new body (in 9 months!) I was thinking 50d / 40d ?

I looked at the Sigma 50 - 150 f/2.8 which looks amazing for the conference kind of stuff but I don't know how handy it would be if I was out and about as a walk about lens, as I might not be able to fit in everything I want into the zoom lens, I may be completely wrong though !!? (please correct my naivety!)

[flake]

Now you didn't mention walkabout in the question ! however you do still have the kit 18 - 55mm, the 50 - 150mm will give the equivalent of 70 200mm more a portrait lens than a landscape focal length, although it might prove good for sports and some wild life, squirrels foxes owls etc, but not long enough for small birds.
Only you can decide on what will work for you, but the 50 - 150mm will give you coverage of 18 - 150mm the 24 - 70mm will give just that.

Pop into a camera shop and give the two a try out to see what the focal lengths & picture quality will give you.

[Forseti]

Originally Posted by chris-p

The Sigma 50mm f/1.4 also has a cracking reputation.

Thanks for the heads up regarding the Sigma Chris as I myself will be needing a fast prime for an indoor event at the end of April. I shall wait until the end of February to see if the rumoured release of a replacement 50mm comes to anything and then compare the specs, price and reviews of course. From what I read on dpreview though, the Sigma is one very good lens and is now top of my list. If I do end up with the Sigma it will be the first time ever than I've used a non-Canon branded lens on any of my cameras - oh the shame.

[flake]

Beware the Sigma! I have a few Sigma lenses and they're very good, some of them are the measure of Canons own. The Sigma 50mm f/1.4 is a very good lens, but with a big 'but' surrounding it.

Quality Control, never Sigmas strongpoint is even more ciritcal when using a lens with such a shallow depth of field, and unfortunately this lens has major problems reported with focus accuracy. Not every copy, if you get a good one then it's very good, but there are reports of so many bad ones that it's difficult to over look. Just doing a quick Google search for the lens followed by focus problem returns 811 000 results.

Even Photozones test sample suffered from 'strong back focussing' and the worst part is that the problem changes from back focus to front focus with the focus point. It is not possible to adjust for this in microadjustments.

If you do go ahead and buy this lens, and it's certainly worth of consideration, make sure that you are able to spend sometime testing it for problems before you buy it.

[chris-p]

Originally Posted by Forseti

Thanks for the heads up regarding the Sigma Chris as I myself will be needing a fast prime for an indoor event at the end of April. I shall wait until the end of February to see if the rumoured release of a replacement 50mm comes to anything and then compare the specs, price and reviews of course. From what I read on dpreview though, the Sigma is one very good lens and is now top of my list. If I do end up with the Sigma it will be the first time ever than I've used a non-Canon branded lens on any of my cameras - oh the shame.

Glad to be of some help, although perhaps not as much as I'd hoped.....

Originally Posted by flake

Beware the Sigma! I have a few Sigma lenses and they're very good, some of them are the measure of Canons own. The Sigma 50mm f/1.4 is a very good lens, but with a big 'but' surrounding it....

I'd not heard about the problems you mentioned so certainly a lens to try out thoroughly. I've known a few people who've got this lens and heard nothing but good reports. They obviously got good ones!

[Forseti]

Originally Posted by flake

If you do go ahead and buy this lens, and it's certainly worth of consideration, make sure that you are able to spend sometime testing it for problems before you buy it.

Point taken flake. Interestingly, having a few hours free this morning I've also been doing a bit of *googling* across several German sites. The possible problems you highlight do come up but more often than not it's when the lens is used wide open and camera to subject distances are very small - it's almost as if some users are using it as a macro lens. That said, several users have owned/tried both this and the Canon 50mm lens and in almost all cases it is said that when the lens is used in the manner stated earlier the Sigma is no worse than the Canon and, in some cases, actually better. In terms of build quality itself there seems to be no contest with the Sigma winning hands down. Of course this last point is somewhat subjective so I'll reserve judgement on that aspect of it.

The reason I'm looking at a 50mm prime is because my best friends mother celebrates her 50th birthday at the end of April and is throwing a big party in a civic hall that she has hired for the occasion and has asked me would I mind capturing some memories of the day. It's not a paid job (I don't do those) and as I'm going to the party anyway I though well why not. Obviously personal pride comes into play here and I want later to present her with images worth keeping.

Unfortunately my present lens collection (see signature below) are just a little bit too long or too slow on the 1.6x crop camera and not really fast enough to get away without having to use a flash. With the 7D I'm able to really ramp up the ISO so I should be able to get away without the need for flash. It's just a case now of obtaining a fast quality lens to go with it without spending an absolute fortune. Money is not an issue really, but once the event is over I don't anticipate the lens getting that much use. Who knows though - I might find it opens another aspect of photography for me. Don't mention the possibility of hiring - around here one can hire anything from needle and cotton, to a private jet or even a Bigma - but a prime lens such as a 50mm - no chance.

@ Chris - every bit helps.

[murtzuk86]

Thanks again for the advice, I am going ahead and ordering a Canon 50mm f/1.8 and will see how I get on with that as a beginner. I looked at the f/1.4 but the price difference is huge and I think as I am just entering this field I'll be able to learn a bit with the f1.8 whilst saving a few pennys for another lens.

I'll take your advice and go to some shops to see what I think will work best for the kind of stuff I'll be doing. Although a 50-150mm would be great for conference type stuff I think something like the 24mm would be more versatile when I am out and about which is probably what I'll be doing a bit more of than conference/event shooting. Sorry for all the vagueness!

Thanks for all the help.